Brussels, 16/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - Around 50% of universities have an internationalisation strategy and more than 90% believe an EU strategy can bring added value. These figures were compiled in a survey carried out by the European University Association (EUA). At the organisation's annual conference in Ghent on 11 April, Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou, in charge of education and training, announced a new European education internationalisation strategy that will be published in June. She thanked the EUA for the information provided in its survey and declared that “we need to be prepared at European level to take on educational challenges that go beyond national borders ... The EU has an important role to play in helping universities respond to these challenges, even if many already are. But it is our combined efforts at all levels that will enable us to ensure quality higher education across Europe”.
Internationalisation improves the quality of higher education in Europe and helps contribute to innovation and job creation by attracting students and skilled workers from abroad. By 2020, the number of students in the world studying abroad will be 7 million as opposed to the current 4 million. The majority will come from Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. According to the most recent OECD figures, the number of European students studying abroad stood at 22.7% in 2010. Three quarters chose another European country to continue their studies. The European Commission is committed to promoting the student mobility process by proposing the new “Erasmus for All” Programme (2014-2020) and greater support to universities. It aims to end the current fragmentation of different existing higher education internationalisation programmes by creating synergies between the different instruments, explained Vassiliou. This will be done by increasing the attractiveness and excellence of higher education in Europe, in addition to supporting the development and modernisation of higher education systems in third countries. In practical terms, Erasmus for All will support three types of action: 1) stronger support will be put on degree mobility and more specifically on Joint Master degrees which will be offered by consortia of EU and non-EU universities; 2) opening the internal Erasmus programme to non-EU universities, students and staff and 3) focusing part of the action on the capacity building of high quality higher education systems in third countries. In the research field, the Commission is planning to provide financial assistance through the Marie Curie action programme in an effort to support the mobility and training of researchers in Europe and elsewhere in the world. The commissioner also welcomed the support provided by EUA to the new international university league table published by the Commission in December, which will be more realistic and practical than current rankings (see EUROPE 10754). The EUA will take part in the advisory board, a commitment encouraged by Vassiliou. She pointed out that the new “U-Multirank is not an initiative which is done to the universities but with the universities”.
New EUA report on university rankings
During its annual conference, the EUA presented a new report on “Global university rankings and their impact II”. Its first report was published in 2011. This report concludes that: 1) new rankings have appeared since 2011; 2) rankings are having an increasingly significant impact on universities and public policies; 3) the approach adopted by these new rankings is more focused on users (such as the Commission's 2012 U-Multirank); 4) these new rankings still focus much attention on the reputation of the universities in research and continue to ignore research carried out in the arts, human and social sciences. Higher education quality performance is also not taken into account enough.
According to the EUA, and the increasing number of rankings and their growing impact is in danger of putting too much pressure on the universities, which are anxious to maintain the best placings. The EUA has decided to monitor these new developments more closely and will publish its conclusions, once the research work has been concluded. (IL/transl.fl)