A joint European degree

Key points

The EESC:

• believes that Member States and higher education institutions (HEIs) should enhance quality, fairness, equality, and social inclusion in higher education, adapting recommendations to their contexts;

• urges the EU to safeguard academic freedom and institutional autonomy;

• supports fostering joint programmes among HEIs within and beyond European University Alliance projects, ensuring quality assurance and including all relevant stakeholders in their implementation;

• emphasises the need for broad collaboration among stakeholders to effectively implement the initiatives, particularly highlighting the fundamental values of student and staff participation following the Bologna Process;

• calls for improvement in the monitoring of equal access for underrepresented and socio-economically disadvantaged groups in higher education, particularly in permanent teaching positions, research positions, and leadership roles;

• advocates for a European career framework ensuring job security, decent working conditions and equal access to academic positions, developed in collaboration with civil society organisations, respecting social and civil dialogue, academic trade unions and the social partners;

• calls for enhanced synergies between the European career framework for higher education and researchers in order to improve teaching and research quality;

• calls for the involvement of relevant labour market stakeholders in defining study programmes that have particular relevance to the labour market;

• highlights the importance of digitalising higher education and student services, while respecting copyright and using artificial intelligence responsibly;

• stresses the significance of multilingualism in joint higher education programmes;

• emphasises the need for adequate resources to implement these initiatives effectively.