Empowering higher education in the EU

The role of universities and cross-border cooperation continued to be high on the EU’s political agenda. From this policy perspective and echoing high-level reports on the future of Europe’s competitiveness, the most innovative pedagogies should allow students to acquire future-proof skills sought by employers and to contribute to innovative efforts.

Last year the European Commission presented a higher education package with a roadmap for a European degree at its core, followed by a call for more attractive and sustainable academic careers and improved quality assurance processes and practices.

These initiatives were supposed to drive the implementation of the European Education Area and facilitate transnational cooperation for the European Universities alliances and the sector as a whole. Of course, the majority of the work rests on the national and regional bodies to resolve structural barriers that hinder collaboration, but also on universities to reflect on self-imposed regulations which often limit flexibility and new types of collaboration.

jan palmowski and pia ahrenkilde hansen at the guild office

The Guild’s response to the higher education package

In May 2024 The Guild issued a statement on the higher education package. Members agreed that the European degree should be ambitious enough to transcend traditional ways of approaching study programme design.  For programmes which could benefit from a European degree or label, we emphasised that universities must retain institutional autonomy in the choice of disciplines and curricula design. The European degree should not become a vehicle to fund programmes in “critical technology areas” only. It should take advantage of a full range of disciplinary and pedagogical approaches, including social sciences and humanities.

At the heart of the European degree lies the benefit of increased mobility opportunities for students and staff members. Therefore, our message was clear: ambitious mobility targets coupled with calls for more inclusiveness and pedagogical innovation require an increased investment in the Erasmus+ programme.

The Guild members agreed that universities need to lead on changing the narrative and practices about academic careers, taking into account different institutional settings and career stages. Although new recognition practices of diverse academic career paths have already been introduced at many institutions, The Guild noted that substantive change is possible only with support at the national and EU level.

Read our statement on the higher education package

Towards the new Erasmus+ programme

The Guild’s Erasmus working group consisting of experts and Erasmus+ enthusiasts once again provided excellent input on how to make the student grant system fairer, simpler and more sustainable. As we look towards the new programme period, we believe that the recommendations developed by our members shows what can be improved if we want to make mobility a norm within the sector.

We highlighted the need to simplify the grant system by focusing on stability and simplification over flexibility. The Guild recommended adopting a lump sum model for intra-European student grants with two additional top-ups to emphasise the programme’s focus on sustainability and inclusiveness.

We also suggested that intra-European mobility and International Credit Mobility should be better aligned. Erasmus+ has a unique capacity to become a strategic tool for internationalisation, hence its global dimension needs a significant boost in the next programme period. Here, external policy funds should be used to support international mobility on a greater scale.
To promote sustainable travel, The Guild supported a top-up grant as a better way of motivating students to use low emissions means of transport compared to a separate travel grant. Also, the programme should ensure greater transparency in the selection criteria for top-up grants, particularly for the inclusion criteria.

Read our position paper on Erasmus+ student grants

Union of skills: new ambition, old barriers?

In anticipation of the European Commission’s flagship strategy in the area of education, the work of The Guild’s Strategic Leads on Education and the Innovation working group resulted in recommendations to improve existing EU programmes (EIT, EIC, MSCA and Erasmus+). In our position paper ‘Skills and Competencies for Innovation’, we advised policymakers to focus on supporting competences for a resilient and dynamic workforce that will enhance competitiveness not only in the short run, but also in the long run, across all economic and societal domains. The Guild members identified six key challenges in delivering on this ambition – ranging from resources, regulation to knowledge valorisation. We also noted a proliferation of initiatives across different EU programmes addressing similar objectives.

In our response to the Union of Skills strategy, The Guild emphasised the need for flexible regulations at national/regional levels, since specific challenges remain in bringing together pedagogical innovation, interdisciplinary learning and the recognition of professional qualifications (within and across borders). In addition, more should be done to facilitate talent attraction and shorter visits that underpin collaboration. Brain circulation that strengthens international partners presents clear benefits for Europe. We also insisted on the importance of strengthening skills and knowledge for responsible internationalisation among European researchers, students and university staff.

We urged the Commission to adopt a broader understanding of innovation, including non-technological forms of innovation like social innovation and the important contribution from other disciplines to technology-based ventures. Similarly, we warned against prioritising only curricula focusing on immediate industry needs since universities equip students with both transversal and disciplinary skills to address the challenges of the future.

Read our position paper on the Union of Skills

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