Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2024)147 - - Main contents
Please note
This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2024)147 - . |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2024)147 |
| date | 28-03-2024 |
1. CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL
Context and purpose of the proposal
In her 2019 Political Guidelines1, Commission President von der Leyen expressed her commitment to making the European Education Area2 a reality by 2025. The objective is to create a space where everyone has an opportunity to learn or to study abroad.
Higher education plays a key role for Europe’s future, its citizens, societies and economies. We need to continue encouraging transnational cooperation and learning mobility in higher education (i.e. going abroad for university studies), as highlighted in the 2022 European strategy for universities3.
The purpose of quality assurance systems is to ensure that higher education meets the needs and expectations of students, employers, society and other stakeholders. It lays the groundwork for trust between education systems, which is the condition for the automatic recognition of qualifications and ultimately learning mobility. According to a survey4, one third of higher education institutions check the quality assurance arrangements of other institutions when deciding whether to recognise a qualification.
Quality assurance refers to the processes, carried out by a higher education institution (internal) or quality assurance agency (external), to ensure the quality of a higher education institution. Quality assurance activities have the twin purposes of:
- accountability: to assure the quality of the higher education institution’s activities and compliance with a set of standards; and
- enhancement: to provide recommendations on how higher education institutions improve their performance.
Taken together, accountability and enhancement form the basis of trust. In most cases, quality assurance is part of the process whereby national higher education systems grant universities the right to enrol students, award degrees or use public funds.
Contents
- An institutional approach means that the institution undergoes a periodic external quality assurance review at institutional level only. It allows the institution to develop and deliver programmes without an additional external quality review.
- A programme approach means that each single programme (or group of programmes) by one or more higher education institution(s) needs to go through a periodic external quality assurance review.
- A combined approach refers to a situation where a higher education system uses both institutional and programme approaches. This is the approach most used in the EU5.
Automatic recognition is the right for a qualification holder (for example, of a bachelor’s degree) that has been issued by one Member State to enter a higher education programme at the next level (for example, a master’s degree) in any other Member State, without a separate recognition procedure6.
The purpose of this proposal is to ensure that quality assurance and recognition systems in higher education support transparency, mobility and transnational cooperation, as well as maintaining high quality and mutual trust. This would benefit students engaging in learning mobility and hosting higher education institutions.
Building on experiences with European Universities alliances7, this initiative will facilitate partnerships between higher education institutions and help develop more joint programmes and other joint education provision, with the aim of leading to a European degree8.
The review of quality assurance at EU-level is well-timed, as the Recommendation of the Council and European Parliament on further European cooperation in quality assurance in higher education9 dates from 2006. While that initiative brought about progress (notably the set-up of the European Register of Quality Assurance Agencies, allowing Member States to choose which one they used), implementation remains uneven10. Since 2006, higher education has changed, particularly with the creation of European Universities alliances and the development of more joint programmes and micro-credentials.
There is a strong case for simplification. European Universities and other alliances of higher education institutions face obstacles to developing joint education provision. Quality assurance procedures either diverge between Member States (different regulations) or are lengthy and complex (same regulations but varying administrative approaches).
Quality assurance systems can evaluate the extent to which higher education systems respond to societal and economic developments. Stakeholders support an increased focus on this area, in respect of higher education autonomy and Member State responsibility for their systems11.
Revisiting quality assurance is an opportunity to link it better with recognition of qualifications and learning periods abroad, which until now have been completely separate areas. The implementation report of the 2018 Council Recommendation on promoting automatic mutual recognition of higher education and upper secondary education and training qualifications and the outcomes of learning periods abroad12 reveals room for improvement.
The intergovernmental Bologna process13 involving 49 countries including all EU Member States, has brought about progress in quality assurance and recognition in higher education. The tools it developed include the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG)14 and the European Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes (the European Approach)15, which seeks to facilitate accreditation and avoid duplication. The latter tool has not been widely used, due to a lack of enabling frameworks at national and regional levels. This initiative builds on existing tools and encourages their full exploitation. Notwithstanding this progress, the vision of the European Education Area is more ambitious.
This initiative is part of a package announced in the 2024 Commission work programme16, under ‘Promoting our European way of life’. The package includes a Communication on a blueprint for a European degree and a Council recommendation on attractive and sustainable careers in higher education. The two Council recommendations support the Communication, while covering more than just the aim of developing a European degree.
Structural and operational issues addressed by the proposed Council Recommendation
The initiative is based on consultations with stakeholders and Member States. It seeks to address the following issues:
- Uncertainty, cumbersome and lengthy recognition procedures of qualifications and learning periods abroad deter students from pursuing their education in another country.
- Current quality assurance arrangements are complex and can increase administrative burden. The uneven use of existing tools, such as the European Approach, is a barrier to transnational cooperation, as a single Member State not allowing its use can have a disproportionate impact on cooperation within an alliance.
- Quality assurance is sometimes too focused on formal requirements rather than advising on educational provision improvement, such as through thematic reviews of higher education institution incorporation of cross-cutting issues like the green and digital transitions, academic freedom or social inclusion.
Therefore, the initiative proposes to:
- Simplify, where possible, the procedures to help deliver on the European Education Area, notably with joint programmes developed by European Universities alliances, Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters, Marie Skłodowska-Curie (MSCA) Joint Doctoral Programmes, European Institute for Innovation and Technology labelled programmes and specialised education programmes funded via the Digital Europe Programme17.
- Develop specific enhancement-oriented and thematic reviews to enhance learning and teaching quality, fully respecting institutional autonomy. Proper follow-up of recommendations made in these reviews by higher education institutions may also improve quality assurance process fitness for purpose.
- Shift towards an institutional approach to external quality assurance. The Recommendation would help to address the problem of bureaucratic, lengthy and costly procedures. In addition, providing quality assurance of alliances, such as European Universities alliances, would facilitate cooperation and more rapid response to fast-changing needs.
- Make recognition procedures automatic. This depends on credible and trustworthy quality assurance. This initiative sets out a new, integrated approach linking recognition and quality assurance better.
Objectives of the proposed Council Recommendation
This initiative invites Member States and their higher education institutions to scrutinise existing tools and practices with a view to making them fit for purpose.
With regard to external quality assurance, joint transnational programmes would benefit from moving away from programme approaches to external quality assurance, to avoid multiple (national) quality assurance procedures. A more efficient solution would be for national quality assurance procedures to use a single quality assurance procedure instead. This would cut red tape, avoid duplication, and meet the challenges of increasing international cooperation. For those countries still using a programme approach, however, the Recommendation proposes to make full use of the European Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes.
In supporting the transition to an institutional approach, the proposal aims to give higher education institutions the possibility to demonstrate the trustworthiness of their internal quality assurance arrangements by going through an institutional external quality assurance. This would then give them the possibility to self-accredit programmes in line with the ESG and become exempt from (external) programme accreditation.
In the mid- to long-term, once alliances such as European Universities have a well-established common/joint internal quality assurance system, they should be able to evaluate externally the quality assurance system at cross-institutional level in a European framework, covering their joint education provisions. This would be a quantum leap in simplification, and a major incentive to develop more joint programmes and move towards the establishment of a European degree. Annex I to this proposal outlines the proposed building blocks of this European framework, as a first step towards co-creating a common framework between the Commission, Member States, quality assurance and recognition authorities and higher education stakeholders. The Commission plans to set up a European degree policy lab as the platform to guide this co-creation process.
Consistency with existing provisions in the policy area
This proposal constitutes a key deliverable of the European strategy for universities. It builds on the Council Recommendation on building bridges for effective European higher education cooperation18, which called for the strengthening of ‘mutual trust through external quality assurance and accreditation of joint educational programmes and other forms of joint educational offers developed by institutional transnational cooperation models, including European Universities’. Also, the Council Recommendation on promoting automatic mutual recognition of higher education and upper secondary education and training qualifications and the outcomes of learning periods abroad19 calls for reinforced quality assurance systems based on trust.
The Council Conclusions on further steps to make automatic mutual recognition in education and training a reality20 call on Member States to reinforce efforts to achieve automatic mutual recognition of qualifications and note the key role played by quality assurance in building trust by highlighting methods and improving transparency.
The proposal would also support the Commission proposal for a Council Recommendation ‘Europe on the Move’ – learning mobility opportunities for everyone21.
Consistency with other Union policies
This Recommendation fosters effective transnational cooperation and supports higher education institutions to deliver on the European Green Deal22, the Digital Decade23, and the European Skills Agenda for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience24 by promoting quality assurance procedures to cover these aspects and the Skills and Talent Mobility package25 by boosting automatic recognition.
As part of Global Gateway, the EU supports partner countries with the development of a harmonised quality assurance and accreditation system at institutional level, national, regional and continental level, for example with the initiative on Harmonisation of African Higher Education, Quality Assurance and Accreditation.
2. LEGAL BASIS, SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY
• Legal basis
The proposed Council Recommendation is based on Article 165 i of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). According to Article 165(1) of the TFEU, the EU is to ‘contribute to the development of quality education by encouraging cooperation between Member States and, if necessary, by supporting and supplementing their action, while fully respecting the responsibility of the Member States for the content of teaching and the organisation of their education systems’. Article 165(2) of the TFEU further specifies that EU action in education is aimed at ‘developing the European dimension in education’, ‘promoting cooperation between educational establishments’ and ‘at encouraging mobility of students and teachers, by encouraging, the academic recognition of diplomas and periods of study’. This proposal respects the responsibility of Member States for the organisation of education systems (including teaching content, and cultural and linguistic diversity), reflecting the supplementing and supporting role of the EU, and the voluntary nature of European cooperation. The initiative does not propose any extension of EU regulatory power or binding commitments on Member States that will decide, according to their national circumstances, how they implement this Recommendation.
• Subsidiarity (for non-exclusive competence)
The proposal is in conformity with the principle of subsidiarity laid down in Article 5(3) of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and respects Member States’ competence on the organisation of education systems and content of teaching and learning. Facilitating learning mobility and fostering transnational cooperation can be better achieved through joint action at EU level.
• Proportionality
The proposal is in conformity with the principle of proportionality laid down in Article 5 i of the TEU. Neither the content nor the form of this proposed Council Recommendation exceeds what is necessary to achieve its objectives. The actions proposed respect Member States’ practices and the diversity of systems across the EU. Any commitments by Member States are voluntary in nature, and each Member State remains free to decide on the approach to take to implement them. This initiative fulfils the TFEU’s commitment that ‘The Union shall contribute to the development of quality education by encouraging cooperation between Member States’ (Article 165(1)). The added value of action at EU level is to facilitate and foster deeper transnational cooperation between higher education institutions from different Member States, to improve the functioning of the higher education sector across the EU and increase its global attractiveness and competitiveness.
• Choice of instrument
To achieve the objectives referred to above, Article 165 i TFEU provides for the adoption by the Council of Recommendations, based on proposals by the Commission. A Council Recommendation is an appropriate instrument in the field of education where the EU has a supporting responsibility. It is a frequently used instrument for EU action in this area. As a legal instrument, a Council Recommendation signals the commitment of Member States to the measures included and provides a strong political basis for cooperation in this area, while fully respecting Member-State competence.
3. RESULTS OF EX-POST EVALUATIONS, STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATIONS AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS
• Stakeholder consultations
This proposal for a Council Recommendation has been discussed with relevant stakeholders, both at the time of the creation of the European strategy for universities, and more recently on its specific components. Feedback from these discussions is reflected in the proposal.
- The proposal has been discussed with Member State representatives and key higher education stakeholders in the European Education Area Higher Education Working Group, in four meetings since autumn 2022, and with Directors General for higher education26 at three meetings since autumn 2022.
- Consultations took place during the annual meetings of National Academic Recognition Centres (NARIC) in November 2023, the network of European National Information Centres and the National Academic Recognition Information Centres27 (ENIC-NARIC network) in June 2023.
- A targeted session took place at the Second European Universities Forum in Barcelona in September 2023, involving representatives from European Universities alliances, quality assurance agencies and Member States.
- Quality assurance arrangements for the European degree were discussed at the European Education Summit and at the Erasmus Mundus conference in November 2023. Workshops with quality assurance stakeholders also took place in November 2023 and January 2024.
- The Commission has also used the opportunity of participating in external stakeholder events to consult on the proposal. These included events organised by the European Quality Assurance Register (EQAR), the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) and the European Association of Institutions in Higher Education (EURASHE).
• Collection and use of expertise
The proposal for a Council Recommendation is based on several studies, reports, results of Erasmus+ projects, and contributions of stakeholder organisations, namely:
- A Commission-contracted study28 on the state of play of automatic recognition and quality assurance in the EU and the feasibility of a quality assurance and recognition system.
- A Commission survey to analyse the first developments following the adoption of the Council Recommendation on building bridges for effective European higher education cooperation. The results were then discussed with Ministries representatives.
- A study conducted by the Network of Experts working on the social dimension of Education and Training (NESET) on the incorporation of a social dimension angle into quality assurance systems29.
- An online peer learning activity on quality assurance in higher education, co-hosted by Austria in May 2023, and another on how to make effective use of the data and intelligence collected from graduate tracking to inform policy developments and quality assurance, organised in Madrid in November 2023 under the Spanish EU Presidency, as part of the activities of the European Network of Graduate Tracking.
- The results of the Erasmus+ funded EUniQ project, involving several quality assurance agencies across Europe, developed a proposal for a quality assurance framework for European Universities alliances.
- The ongoing progress of the Erasmus+ funded IMINQA project supporting the development of quality assurance in the European Higher Education Area, in particular on their work on quality assurance for European Universities Alliances, the implementation of the European Approach for quality assurance of joint programmes and the quality assurance of micro-credentials.
- The ongoing progress of the Erasmus+ funded QA-FIT project, which involves the main stakeholder organisations in quality assurance and aims to gather comprehensive evidence on the state of play of quality assurance in the European Higher Education Area and the need for any reforms to current tools.
- Results of six Erasmus+ joint European degree label policy experimentation pilot projects.
These studies have been complemented by several contributions prepared by stakeholder organisations, both before and during the call for evidence period.
• Impact assessment
An impact assessment was not carried out, given the complementary approach to Member State initiatives, the voluntary nature of the proposed activities and the scope of the impacts expected. The development of the proposal was informed by specific studies, consultation of Member States, the public consultation and numerous dedicated stakeholder consultations.
• Fundamental rights
This proposed Council Recommendation respects the fundamental rights of the EU. It promotes the principles recognised by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union30, namely the right of education under Article 14, the right to academic freedom under Article 13 and the right to the protection of personal data under Article 8.
4. BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS
While this initiative will not require additional resources from the EU budget, the measures in this Recommendation will mobilise sources of funding at EU, national and regional level.
5. OTHER ELEMENTS
• Implementation plans and monitoring, evaluation and reporting arrangements
To support implementation, the Commission proposes to develop, in cooperation with Member States, specific guidance material, handbooks or other concrete deliverables, based on evidence, peer learning activities and identification of good practice. The Commission intends to report on the use of the Recommendation through relevant EU monitoring and reporting frameworks.
• Outline of the specific provisions of the proposal
The proposed Council Recommendation suggests a differentiated approach that considers the diversity of quality assurance and recognition systems that exist in the European Education Area. The recommendations support a gradual shift towards stronger institutional external quality assurance and further steps to ensure automatic recognition based on trust. It builds on what has already been achieved in higher education, but with a more ambitious and EU-driven approach.
The Council Recommendation proposes actions that can be pursued by Member States to improve higher education systems. It sets out the Commission’s commitment to support and complement Member-State actions in this area. The accompanying staff-working document describes various recent research evidence and European stakeholder opinions and experiences to support the proposed Council Recommendation.