The European Commission proposed yesterday to go beyond the classic Erasmus program and make a more significant leap so far to create a European area of ??higher education through the promotion of European diplomas, university degrees resulting from the collaboration between institutions of various countries that 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 together with the Schengen zone, the Erasmus program, the single market or the euro, successes that make Europe more tangible and present in people’s lives ”, 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 aim is not only to offer more varied educational programs and foster European university culture, but to attract international students from third countries and compete with the Ivy League universities in the United States.
Brussels proposes two ways to move towards these goals. Universities that already offer joint degrees, somewhat more common in master’s and doctorate degrees, will be able to start by applying for a European label. Recognition will only be granted to centers that meet a list of criteria that will be scrutinized by national assessment agencies, so it is expected to act 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 and master’s degrees and doctorates, based on the same quality criteria. Universities that choose this path will be able to 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”, explained the European Commissioner for Education, Iliana Ivanova. All this, in fact, is already happening on the ground. Since the idea of ??creating European university degrees began in 2017, inspired by a proposal by Emmanuel Macron, 60 alliances have been formed in which 500 universities collaborate with each other to make the plan a reality. Spain is the third country with the most institutions involved, around 40.
Brussels states that the proposal responds to the requests they receive from universities, which complain about the many administrative hurdles that centers have to face when collaborating and students who want to validate credits taken in another country The new framework proposed yesterday 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 that hold us back.” Schinas said.
The project will be financed with the general budget of the Erasmus program. “It is the universities that have to decide if they are interested”, but “there will not be a specific budget”, clarified Ivanova, who denied that it is an elitist project. Students who wish to choose a European degree will opt for the same grants from the Erasmus program. And the entities most interested, added Schinas, are not precisely the most elitist institutions, but the rest, who “see it as an opportunity”.
