European university consortium ED-AFFICHE calls for a step forward towards European degrees

News | Institutional | Academic | International
(10/04/2024)

The European Commission has recently presented its project for the creation of European university degrees. This has been answered by the consortium of six European university alliances ED-AFFICHE, which has been working for two years aiming to facilitate the emergence of European bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees. In particular, ED-AFFICE calls on the European Commission to carry out “strong coordination work” between the different actors and it recommends measures such as funding mechanisms directly linked to the creation of a European degree and the development of a database of legal obstacles to the initiative.

News | Institutional | Academic | International
10/04/2024

The European Commission has recently presented its project for the creation of European university degrees. This has been answered by the consortium of six European university alliances ED-AFFICHE, which has been working for two years aiming to facilitate the emergence of European bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees. In particular, ED-AFFICE calls on the European Commission to carry out “strong coordination work” between the different actors and it recommends measures such as funding mechanisms directly linked to the creation of a European degree and the development of a database of legal obstacles to the initiative.

The ED-AFFICE consortium recommends integrating the European degree into the quality assurance mechanisms established through the Bologna Process and the European approach; developing funding mechanisms linked to the European degree, with the support of the Erasmus+ programme; establishing and continuously updating a database of legal obstacles, as initiated by ED-AFFICE; developing a strategy to improve the visibility of programmes receiving the European label. The consortium also calls on the European Commission to support the continuation and extension of the close collaboration initiated in the framework of ED-AFFICHE itself and with other European degree experimentation pilot projects. ED-AFFICHE urges the European Commission to build on the achievements of these pilot projects “as a basis for broadening and deepening the collaboration between key actors to make European degrees a reality for European students”.

ED-AFFICHE is a consortium of 51 higher education institutions belonging to six European university alliances: One Europe, 4EU+, CHARM-EU (coordinated by the University of Barcelona), European Campus of City-Universities EC2U, EU-CONEXUS and Unite!. The consortium has worked together with ministries of higher education, quality assurance agencies, students and employers. In addition to the UB, the 51 universities represented by the ED-AFFICHE consortium include the following Spanish institutions: the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, the Complutense University of Madrid, the Catholic University of Valencia and the University of Salamanca.

​​​​​​​Joan Guàrdia, the rector of the UB, said: “We are witnessing the launch of a new way of understanding European university education. The European degree is a strong commitment to a more solid European construction, as was the Erasmus programme years ago. We are witnessing a new momentum of European creation led by universities”.

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