The European Commission proposed today, Wednesday, to go beyond the classic Erasmus program and take the most significant leap to date towards the creation of a European higher education space through the launch of European diplomas, university degrees resulting from collaboration between institutions from different countries. which will require students to spend at least one year abroad and study in two or more languages.
“I am convinced that, in a few years, European degrees will find their place alongside the Schengen area, the Erasmus program, the single market or the euro, achievements that make Europe more tangible and present in people’s lives,” he said. assured the vice president of the community executive, Margaritis Schinas, in the presentation of the proposals, which must now be debated by the Ministers of Education of the Twenty-seven.
The objective is not only to stimulate mobility, offer more varied educational programs and promote European university culture, but also to attract international students from third countries and compete with universities in the United States, among others. “This is about making higher education more competitive and better interconnected, as well as guaranteeing Europe’s place in the global race for talent,” stressed the European Commissioner for Education, Iliana Ivanova.
Brussels proposes two ways to advance towards these objectives. Universities that already offer shared degrees, something more common in masters and doctorates, may start by applying for a European label. Recognition will only be granted to centers that meet a list of criteria that will be examined by national evaluation agencies, so it is expected to function as a seal of quality. Another option, more ambitious and the final objective of the plan, will be the creation of new European degrees, both bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees and doctorates, based on the same quality criteria. Universities that choose this path may function as alliances or create legal entities to facilitate their cooperation.
“We propose that each member state can move forward and integrate at the pace it wishes, starting, for example, with the European label and then moving on to diplomas,” says Ivanova. All this, in fact, is already happening on the ground. Since the idea of ??creating European university degrees was launched in 2017, inspired by a proposal from the French president, Emmanuel Macron, a total of 60 alliances have been formed in which a total of 500 universities collaborate with each other so that the plan comes true. Spain is the third country with the most institutions involved, around 40.
Brussels maintains that the proposal responds to requests that come to them from the universities themselves, which complain about the many administrative obstacles they face when collaborating with other centers or, in the case of students, validating credits. studied in another country. The new European framework proposed today aims to reduce bureaucracy. “There are still many obstacles holding back the European dimension of education, from exam rules to the thickness of the paper on which degrees must be printed, but we cannot let this stop us,” says Schinas.
The project will be financed from the general budget of the Erasmus program. “It is the universities that must decide if they are interested,” but “there will not be a specific budget,” clarifies Ivanova, who denied that it is an elitist project. Students who want to apply for a European degree will be eligible for the same aid as the Erasmus programme. And the most interested entities, adds Schinas, are not exactly the most elitist institutions, but rather the rest, which “see it as an opportunity.”
