EU Cooperation in Higher Education

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EU Cooperation in Higher Education Education and Culture NC-52-03-304-EN-C EN > Europe by degrees EU cooperation in higher education Publications Office Publications.eu.int European Commission Directorate-General for Education and Culture Table of contents European Commission Europe by degrees EU cooperation in higher education Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities 2003 — 16 p. — 17,6 x 25 cm ISBN 92-894-6119-5 Foreword 1 Context 3 Background 4 Challenges 6 Mobility 7 Recognition 11 ploteus.net Cooperation on curricular reform 12 Ploteus, the portal of the European Commission on learning opportunities will help you find out about education and training available throughout Europe: International cooperation 14 www.ploteus.net Conclusion 16 Eurydice, the information network on education in Europe, produces reliable, readily comparable information on national education systems and policies: www.eurydice.org A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu.int). See also : www.europa.eu.int/comm/education/index_en.html www.ploteus.net www.eurydice.org The European agency Cedefop can provide you with the latest information www.cedefop.eu.int on vocational education and training in the European Union: Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication. www.cedefop.eu.int Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2003 ISBN 92-894-6119-5 © European Communities, 2003 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. Printed in Belgium PRINTED ON WHITE CHLORINE-FREE PAPER Foreword ‘It's never too late to learn’. Education is a lifelong process and, in the end, an individual responsibility. At the same time, education and training are huge public and private sector responsibilities. Economic, social and cultural developments are greatly dependent on the quality of schools and, especially, higher education. All European countries are well aware of this and education has moved up the poli- tical agenda, accompanied by a great expansion of learning opportunities beyond conventional school-leaving age. Now education systems are under pressure on a number of fronts. Among the challenges they face is increasing internationalisation, in a global economy that calls for qualifications that are of undisputed quality and recognised abroad. While education remains a national or regional responsibility in the European Union, over the years the Member States have brought it increasingly into the EU sphere, encouraging opportunities to learn or teach abroad, creating European networks and new learning methods, promoting lifelong learning and jointly agreeing education and training targets to be met throughout the EU. Our potential in Europe is enormous. We have the biggest single market in the world. Thousands of universities produce hundreds of thousands of graduates every year. Many universities, many individual departments, maintain world-class standards of teaching and research. But we do not use this potential to the full. There are still too many barriers to the mobility of students, teachers and researchers. Universities still do not cooperate enough, the transmission of new knowledge to the world of enterprise is not well organised and funding is often inadequate or used inefficiently. 1 Europe by degrees According to the Treaty on European Union, the EU ‘shall contribute to the develop- ment of quality education by encouraging cooperation between Member States’. With this political mandate, the European Commission has created, launched and nurtured numerous initiatives - such as the popular Socrates-Erasmus programme - to promote closer cooperation in education, increase access to learning opportunities and develop world-class education systems in Europe. This collaborative effort is promoted not just at government or EU level but, vitally, by those in the front line: the staff and students in schools, training institutions and universities. Working together in government and higher education, we can make the most of our potential and create a ‘Europe of knowledge’ that truly offers the best education in the world. Viviane Reding Member of the European Commission, responsible for education and culture 2 EU cooperation in higher education Context Education is being driven by both economic Yet education in Europe already faces tough and social factors. European Union policy is challenges. Resources are stretched through- focused on the potential of education as a out the public sector. In many countries, means to promote economic growth and attracting and retaining young teachers is create a fairer, more integrated society, becoming harder. Students with the means while giving every individual the best and the ambition increasingly have the opportunities for personal development choice to study anywhere in the world, not throughout life. just in their home country or in Europe. Faced with globalisation, the emergence of Within this changing context, the EU coun- a knowledge-driven economy and society, tries have taken up the Lisbon challenge, the enlargement of the EU and the devel- increasing their cooperation in the field of opment of a single European employment education in order to learn from each other market, EU leaders at their Lisbon Council and exchange good practice while respec- meeting in 2000 set Europe the ambitious ting the particular character of their 10-year mission of becoming ‘the most national education systems. For today's competitive and dynamic knowledge-based students and young professionals, this economy in the world, capable of sustain- opens up new opportunities for career able growth, with more and better jobs and development across Europe and beyond. greater social cohesion’. In Barcelona, in March 2002, the Council added that European education and training systems should become a ‘world quality reference’. The Lisbon strategy relies on a combination of policies based on economic and struc- tural reforms, the promotion of research and innovation, the improvement of elec- tronic services, support for employment policies and ‘social cohesion’. Education evidently has a central role to play in this strategy: the Lisbon summit meeting placed education at the centre of EU policy by emphasising investment in human resources and lifelong learning, and the importance of defining common goals for the develop- ment of education. 3 Europe by degrees Background The integration of education at European level has helped to establish a into EU policies climate of trust which allowed education ministers of the wider Europe, meeting in The Treaty of Rome in 1958 made no Bologna in 1999, to take a bold commitment mention of education. Only matters related towards creating a European higher educa- to the training of the workforce could be tion area by 2010. addressed at European level and only gradually was it recognised that education The objective of the 'Bologna Declaration' is and training issues should be better inte- to provide access to a Europe-wide higher grated into EU policies. education offer which is transparent and quality-assured. The signatory countries In 1987 the Erasmus programme was agreed to establish comparable degrees launched, promoting inter-university coop- based on two cycles (Bachelor and Master), eration and the mobility of students and promote mobility (studying and teaching staff across the EU. In 1995 the European abroad), and step up cooperation in quality Commission initiated the first Socrates assurance. programme. Unlike Erasmus, Socrates for the first time covered all levels of education The Bologna process is a commitment for all ages. undertaken by some 30 European countries to reform their higher education systems in Over the years, the European programmes a convergent way, with the assistance of the have helped to create thousands of partner- European Commission. ships and hundreds of networks throughout the higher education sector, involving not only students but also rectors, deans, professors, international relations officers, qualifications experts, quality assurance agencies, etc. This process of familiarisation 4 EU cooperation in higher education THE HISTORICAL EDUCATION POLICY PERSPECTIVE – KEY DATES Date Event Outcome 1958 Treaty of Rome No mention of education. 1963 Informal meeting of ministers in charge of Creation of two working groups by the Commission training to discuss issues at a European level to reflect on future cooperation. 1971 First meeting of the six ministers of education Adoption of the first resolution on cooperation in to discuss future cooperation in education the field of education. 1973 Presentation of the Janne Report to the Proposals on cooperation in education. European Commission 1974 Creation of Education Committee Representatives of Member States preparing positions for education ministers. 1976 First action programme in the field of Establishment of a programme for studies, research, education educational visits, documentation and statistics. Also created the first basis for Eurydice and Arion, the Lingua and Erasmus programmes. 1987 The Single European Act. Introduction of the notion of human resources as a Launch of the Erasmus programme central policy objective. 1989 Tempus programme EU programme for the development of higher education systems in partner countries. 1992 The Maastricht Treaty – article 126 Introduced education into the EU treaties. 1993-1994 White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness
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