The Erasmus Student Network brings forward their ideas to strengthen the European Universities Initiative, for example creating a 7-year funding framework.
The European Universities Initiative is still one of the most prominent and promising initiatives in EU education policy and Erasmus+. On 12 October 2023, the Erasmus Student Network (ESN) published a policy brief on the future of the European Universities Alliances from a student perspective. The Erasmus students are “fully supportive” of the initiative and are actively working with the alliances on a university-level via local ESN chapters promoting student engagement but also on a policy level in Brussels. The policy brief addresses questions on the social dimension and on the future of the initiative.
ESN considers, much like the European Commission (EC), the alliances to be “drivers of integration” in Europe. They act as role models for best practises to provide excellence in higher education and increase the higher education institutions’ (HEI) global attractiveness and competitiveness. On the other hand, the alliances are also meant to link with citizens, businesses and local authorities. This fourth mission of universities has been lacking mostly during the implementation of the alliances over the last few years, especially with regard to the research and innovation activities of the HEIs (see SwissCore article). ESN suggests three elements to improve the “networking potential” of the alliances. First, the alliances are considered pivotal in making progress towards “achieving seamless mobility”. The policy brief mentions specifically the alliances’ new flexible learning pathways, the mutual recognition of ECTS and the focus on learning outcomes as factors in helping learning mobility. ESN hopes that these factors, if successful, would be spilled over to other HEIs. Another element that must have an impact on the increase in mobility figures is the requirement of the Erasmus+ call: The call text stipulates famously that “at least 50% of the students within the alliance should benefit from [such] mobility”. While this target is widely considered very difficult to achieve in the set time frame, it sets the ambition. This is also in line with the upcoming new EU mobility framework which will call for learning mobility to become a norm, rather than an exception. The second point concerns access and outreach. ESN found in their survey that 18% of non-mobile students were aware of the European Universities Initiative. Therefore, more outreach and awareness-raising is required. ESN had then done another survey specifically about students’ views on the alliances. The respondents found four elements of the alliances very important: i. providing increased learning opportunities, ii. increasing international connectivity “going beyond single-project collaborations and mobility”, iii. facilitating more learning mobility due to simplified processes, iv. fostering a European identity. Yet, the report also concludes that many of these expectations from students (and policy makers) have not been fully realised because the initiative is still in early stages but also due to a lack of information on the alliances and the concrete opportunities they provide for students. Unsurprisingly, ESN therefore calls for an increased collaboration with student organisations and representatives in the design and implementation of outreach and communication activities. In this regard, the policy brief does not fail to mention that there are already student bodies engaged in the alliances. The third point addresses the automatic mutual recognition of learning outcomes. ESN attributes an important role to European University alliances in advancing automatic recognition, as they are in a “unique position to […] obtain administrative data from mobility taking place between their HEIs”. Alliance-wide collaboration should also lead to “new levels of synergy and deeper trust”, which is an important factor in moving automatic recognition forward. The policy brief mentions the possibility of embedding mobility windows in learning programmes as an opportunity to “significantly improve credit recognition”.
The report further gives the student perspective on the future of the initiative. ESN advocates for the creation of a long-term (seven-year) funding framework for the alliances, providing stability for the period of the next programme cycle. The brief further brings forward the idea of a mechanism for HEIs to request additional funding during “mid-term reviews” depending on a set of performance indicators. A future funding scheme should also enable non-university partners in projects to receive funding from the European Universities call(s). And on the debate whether the initiative should fund the creation of further alliances beyond the 60 or simply consolidate the existing ones, ESN advocates for openness to do both and fund the creation of new ones in the next funding periode. Additionally, ESN calls for national Erasmus+ agencies to be given a role in monitoring the holders of Erasmus Charters for Higher Education (ECHE), as the recognition of learning outcomes and transferability of ECTS is very relevant for successful alliance cooperation. On the future legal framework for university alliances, ESN is in favour of these efforts that are currently going on in pilot projects. According to the report, this would lead to better grant portability, simplified automatic recognition and quality assurance processes. Lastly, with regards to monitoring, ESN states that a new monitoring framework, as it is currently being designed, should not only analyse new practises but also study existing mobility and internationalisation projects and how they are improving through being engaged in an alliance. The monitoring of alliances’ activities should also include how students are included.
In conclusion, ESN supports the European Universities Initiative as a means to foster mobility for all. The challenge will be finding the finances to support additional mobility numbers generated by the European Universities Initiative through Erasmus+.