On Wednesday 5 April, one year after the adoption of the EU strategy ‘empowering higher education institutions for the future of Europe’ (see EUROPE 12871/4, 12927/22), the European Commission welcomed the “progress made”. From the sector’s point of view, while the initiatives are promising, it is still early to assess the impact on the ground.
‘European Degree’ label
The Commission recalls that 90 universities and 17 ministries are participating in 10 Erasmus+ pilot projects to develop a ‘European Degree’ label (see EUROPE 13111/29). This label will attest to knowledge acquired in programmes delivered in several institutions, countries and languages, including through the mobility opportunities offered by Erasmus+.
This label represents a first step towards the creation of a European degree. More broadly, its development is in line with the desire of the Commission and the Member States to move towards automatic recognition of qualifications in the EU (see EUROPE 13157/22).
University Alliances
The Commission also welcomes the creation of 44 European University Alliances, bringing together 340 institutions. These are provided for in the strategy’s European Universities initiative and are, in turn, funded by the Erasmus+ programme.
As alliances face funding and governance challenges (see EUROPE 13106/4), four of the 10 Erasmus+ pilot projects will explore the possibility of establishing a new legal status for alliances.
A European student card
Finally, the institution highlights the introduction of a unique identifier for EU students, through the European Student Card Initiative, which is supposed to facilitate student mobility and digitalise administrative procedures.
While acknowledging the efforts, Anna-Lena Claeys-Kulik, deputy director of the European University Association, believes that “one year after the adoption of the strategy, it is still too early to see what these newly launched initiatives might concretely change on the ground”.
Furthermore, “it is also important that member states work to further address regulatory barriers and obstacles to transnational cooperation at national level”, she added, stressing that European measures can only be “complementary” to national policies. (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)