On March 27th, the European Commission took a significant stride forward by unveiling a comprehensive blueprint for the European degree. This blueprint sets forth the framework and guidelines for the implementation of a European degree, marking a pivotal moment for European higher education institutions and students alike. Over the past year, the FOCI project, a dynamic partnership between YUFE, ECIU, and EPICUR Alliances, has been diligently working on piloting and testing this concept, its implications for the regulatory frameworks, criteria for awarding a European degree, and a future policy framework necessary to sustain it.
ITEM-report
Within the framework of this project, ITEM researchers Susanne Sivonen and Pim Mertens recently published their report entitled ‘Analytical report on the procedural, organisational and legal aspects of awarding the European degree label’. The report, based on the analysis of legal, procedural and administrative pathways for awarding the European degree label is aimed at identifying these pathways for issuing a joint European degree label, by identifying possibilities and obstacles arising from current national and institutional regulations within the FOCI consortium.
Among other things, they found that it is essential to create standardized definitions to clarify their meanings and establish terminology that is applied consistently and uniformly in the policy discussions surrounding the European degree (label). Furthermore, the existence of diverse regulatory models, scattered regulations and the fact that English translations were often unavailable may also complicate the development of joint programmes. Moreover, the current form of the criteria may not be sufficiently comprehensive to address the complexity of successfully creating joint degrees or a European degree.
