Considerations on COM(2024)147 - - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2024)147 - . |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2024)147 |
| date | March 28, 2024 |
(2) The main responsibility for the quality of their educational provision lies with higher education institutions, which should make the attainment of the highest standards a key institutional priority and develop quality assurance strategies and processes to ensure the achievement of that objective.
(3) The implementation of the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG)31 has been a fundamental step in the consolidation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), supporting the creation of a quality culture in higher education systems and institutions across Europe; however, they have not yet been fully implemented.
(4) Societies across Europe are experiencing dynamic transformation, such as the green and digital transitions, additionally heightened by artificial intelligence. Higher education systems should be able to react to this transformation. Quality assurance processes should support higher education institutions in this transformational journey by providing expert reviews to enhance their educational offer.
(5) The need to make quality assurance processes more agile, internationalised and fit for purpose should be tackled while ensuring that these processes remain focused on ensuring the highest quality standards. Obtaining feedback from graduates on their learning and career pathways and the relevance of their skills acquired through this learning constitutes a valuable monitoring tool for ensuring quality and relevance at institutional and system level. The European Graduate Tracking Initiative32 has contributed to making such tracking more systematic and comparable.
(6) Diverging national quality assurance arrangements still create complexity for transnational cooperation in higher education, hampering the development of joint educational programmes by alliances of higher education institutions and limiting educational opportunities for higher education institutions and students. Specific requirements or standards are sometimes more focused on process and not clearly linked with learning outcomes, limiting the quality enhancement impact.
(7) National external quality assurance requirements at the level of higher education study programmes tend to be especially challenging for the creation of joint educational opportunities between different countries. These quality assurance processes can be too costly, too lengthy, and sometimes contradictory, preventing higher education institutions from responding quickly enough to emerging needs and developing new educational opportunities for students.
(8) Existing instruments, such as the European Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes (European Approach)33, are highly valued by the higher education community and Member States, but implementation remains scarce due to divergent national approaches.
(9) The Council Recommendation on building bridges for effective European higher education cooperation34 encourages the use of the European Approach as an important step towards supporting the shift towards a stronger role for external quality assurance of institutions, rather than of individual study programmes.
(10) Joint programmes have become a hallmark of the European Education Area, highly valued by all higher education stakeholders. Adequate quality assurance arrangements are a pre-requisite to ensuring these joint programmes can be widely implemented across the Union. The establishment of a European degree, based on co-created European criteria and delivered at national, regional, or institutional level, could tackle existing issues related to quality assurance and accreditation of joint programmes by providing a framework that could be incorporated in Member State legislation.
(11) In accordance with the Recommendation on building bridges for effective European higher education cooperation, several Member States are gradually moving towards more institutional external quality assurance systems. Stakeholders have called for swifter solutions that support their commitments within their higher education alliances and other cooperation models. Reinforcing internal quality assurance systems could be an important step towards speeding up processes while ensuring the highest quality standards.
(12) Alliances of higher education institutions, such as European Universities alliances35, are at the forefront of transnational cooperation. These alliances commit to taking their cooperation to the next level by setting up European inter-university campuses where joint educational provision becomes the norm. As a key step in the creation of these campuses, alliances are building internal quality assurance systems that ensure that the quality of their joint educational provision is to the highest standards. There is a need to create a quality assurance framework that enables them to have their quality assurance system evaluated at the cross-institutional level, across all the joint educational activities of the alliances, to consolidate the identity of these alliances, to provide assurance to their stakeholders and to facilitate the joint provision of education. Key building blocks have been identified that provide initial steps to develop such a framework.
(13) Automatic mutual recognition of qualifications and learning periods abroad is necessary to make learning mobility a reality for all, to support brain circulation, and foster competitiveness. Member States agreed in the 2018 Council Recommendation on automatic mutual recognition of higher education and upper secondary qualifications and the outcomes of learning periods abroad36 that holders of a qualification of a certain level that has been issued by one Member State have the right to be considered for entry to a higher education programme in the next level in any other Member State, without a separate recognition procedure. Robust quality assurance systems are the foundation for building the necessary trust to ensure automatic recognition.
(14) In support of this Recommendation, the Commission intends to set up a European degree policy lab, an expert group involving Member States, higher education institutions, quality assurance/accreditation agencies, student representatives, and economic and social partners, to accelerate action and any necessary national reforms. The aim of the initiative is to provide guidance to the Commission and stakeholders on moving towards a European degree and on the implementation of a cross-institutional framework of alliances of higher education institutions. The policy lab would work closely with Erasmus+ recognition accelerator teams to support and accompany the process.
(15) The Commission intends to set up an annual European degree forum37, in synergy with the European Higher Education Area and in cooperation with stakeholders in quality assurance and recognition, including Member States, the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR)38 the organisations making up the E4 Group39, the network of European National Information Centres and the National Academic Recognition Information Centres40, representatives from National Qualifications Frameworks, economic and social partners, in order to provide guidance and monitor progress, at political level, on moving towards a European degree, including through the European degree policy lab, and on the follow-up of implementation of this Recommendation.
(16) The Commission intends to support the further development of the Database of External Quality Assurance Results (DEQAR)41, managed by EQAR, building on good practice by recognition information centres that use it for automatic recognition.
(17) The Commission intends to continue its support to the development and promotion of graduate tracking practices to enhance quality and relevance of higher education, as well as improving its comparison and benchmarking across countries and institutions.
(18) The Commission intends to continue sharing with the Member States and the wide higher education community the accumulated experience of transnational cooperation initiatives such as European Universities alliances and programmes like Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters, MSCA Joint Doctorates or the specialised education programmes funded via the Digital Europe Programme42.
(19) The Commission intends to encourage Member States to use the Technical Support Instrument (TSI) to receive tailor-made technical expertise to design and implement the necessary reforms in the higher education area, including by improving the governance and quality assurance mechanisms for higher education institutions.
(20) The Commission intends to support bench-learning between quality assurance agencies.
(21) This Recommendation fully respects the principles of subsidiarity, institutional autonomy and academic freedom, and will be implemented in accordance with national circumstances and in cooperation with Member States and all relevant stakeholders.