Higher education package

SUMMARY OF:

Council conclusions on a European strategy empowering higher education institutions for the future of Europe

Council Recommendation on building bridges for effective European higher education cooperation

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE CONCLUSIONS AND THE RECOMMENDATION?

The conclusions and the recommendation collectively aim to:

support European higher education institutions’ contribution to shaping sustainable and resilient economies and to making the European Union (EU) greener, more inclusive and more digital;
take transnational cooperation to a new level of intensity and scope, and develop a genuinely European dimension in the higher education sector built on shared values.

KEY POINTS

Higher education package

In January 2022, the European Commission launched two new higher education initiatives:

a European strategy for universities – aimed at supporting universities across Europe in fulfilling and advancing their missions; and
a proposal for a Council of the European Union recommendation on building bridges for effective European higher education cooperation – aimed at enabling deeper, sustainable and more effective transnational cooperation between European higher education institutions.

The Council, representing the EU Member States, has responded to each of these initiatives with recommendations for the Member States and the Commission.

European strategy for universities

In response to the Commission’s initiative, the Council has put forward four key objectives to support transnational cooperation amongst European higher education institutions, to be pursued as part of a joint effort at the institutional, national and European level:

strengthening the European dimension in higher education, research and innovation, along with the synergies between them;
advancing Europe’s global role and leadership;
bolstering Europe’s recovery and response to the green and digital transitions;
deepening the European sense of belonging based on common values.

A number of measures are proposed to the Commission and Member States to achieve these objectives, including supporting alliances of higher education institutions such as those selected under the European Universities initiative.

The Council also proposes a number of further steps to achieve the key objectives.

Council recommendation on European higher education cooperation

In response to the Commission’s proposal, the Council set out a number of recommendations to the Member States and the Commission.

Its recommendations to the Member States include:

providing the opportunity for higher education institutions to explore the necessity, benefits, risks and feasibility of setting up institutionalised cooperation, such as a possible legal status for alliances of higher education institutions with the objective of facilitating deeper cooperation by sharing human, technical, data, education, research and innovation capacities, where appropriate;
making it easier for higher education institutions engaged in transnational cooperation to provide joint programmes and award joint degrees, in accordance with the Bologna instruments;
supporting higher education institutions in developing joint interdisciplinary transnational educational activities at all levels (short cycles, Bachelor, Master and Doctorate);
supporting embedded mobility in joint transnational educational programmes;
sustaining direct or indirect financial support for deeper transnational institutional cooperation in higher education, including for ‘European Universities’;
promoting and protecting the core principles of institutional autonomy;
strengthening mutual trust through external quality assurance and accreditation of joint educational programmes and other forms of joint educational offers;
supporting the development of high-quality virtual collaborative learning;
encouraging higher education institutions to involve learners, academics, researchers and staff in the governance of structures for transnational cooperation between higher education institutions.

Its recommendations to the Commission include:

supporting the Member States and higher education institutions in testing the use of existing European instruments from 2022 onwards;
examining the need for and feasibility of institutionalised cooperation instruments, such as a possible legal status for alliances of higher education institutions;
examining the options for and necessary steps towards a possible joint degree based on a common set of jointly created European criteria;
pursuing the further development of the European Universities initiative, following a bottom-up approach through the Erasmus+ programme;
supporting the widening of the European student card initiative.

European Universities initiative

In 2017, the Commission set out a vision for a European education area (EEA), to be built by 2025.
The European Universities initiative is a flagship initiative of the EEA and the European strategy for universities. The strategy sets the ambition to support 60 'European Universities' involving more than 500 higher education institutions by mid-2024. European Universities are transnational alliances of higher education institutions that will lead the way towards the universities of the future, by promoting European values and identity, and revolutionising the quality and competitiveness of European higher education.

BACKGROUND

For further information, see:

European education area – Higher education (European Commission).
The Bologna Process and the European Higher Education Area (European Commission).
European universities initiative (European Commission).

MAIN DOCUMENTS

Council conclusions on a European strategy empowering higher education institutions for the future of Europe (OJ C 167, 21.4.2022, pp. 9–17).

Council Recommendation of 5 April 2022 on building bridges for effective European higher education cooperation (OJ C 160, 13.4.2022, pp. 1–8).

Higher education package

SUMMARY OF:

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE CONCLUSIONS AND THE RECOMMENDATION?

KEY POINTS

BACKGROUND

MAIN DOCUMENTS

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