International
Overview of the mid-term seminar of the "European Diploma" label pilot project ED-AFFICHE
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On 22 November, Hcéres was invited to the Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic to the European Union in Brussels for the mid-term seminar of the ED-AFFICHE European Diploma Label pilot project.
The aim of this strategic project is to enable alliances of higher education institutions and national authorities to establish common European quality criteria for joint programmes, on the basis of which it will be possible to award a European diploma label from mid-2024.
The ED-AFFICHE project, funded by the Erasmus+ programme, brings together six European university alliances (Una Europa, CHARM-EU, EU-CONEXUS, 4EU+, EC2U, Unite!), i.e. some 51 higher education institutions, 19 national and regional authorities and 15 national evaluation agencies.
Aware of the long-term transformative potential of this project, Hcéres is fully involved in order to contribute to the advancement of higher education across Europe.
The ED-AFFICHE mid-term meeting "Syncing Achievements: Collaborative Solutions to facilitate the Path to the European Degree Label" brought together stakeholders from across Europe - higher education institutions, European Universities (Alliances), the European Commission, ministries and evaluation agencies, agency networks - to address the complexities and obstacles associated with the development and implementation of the common European degree label.
On this occasion, the Hcéres reiterated that the evaluation agencies should play a leading role in the external evaluation of joint European programmes, as well as in the verification of the criteria associated with the "European diploma" label and the award of the label.
The Hcéres also had the opportunity to remind the project partners that evaluating and accrediting courses, awarding diplomas are the responsibility of different actors in the European Higher Education Area countries, and that an external evaluation process at joint programme level was important for the confidence that Europeans must share in the quality of joint programmes.
Finally, this European wide seminar was an opportunity to stress, with regard to the external evaluation of joint degrees, that there is a European approach to the quality assurance of joint programmes, adopted as part of the Bologna process in 2015. This European approach should be used more systematically but also revised in the short to medium term to take account of major developments in the European Higher Education Area in recent years.
The Hcéres therefore believes that a European label for joint programmes will and should provide real added value for universities and students, but also for Europe as a credible player in the production and dissemination of knowledge at global level.
Of course, we will have to overcome the many obstacles and compromise, but as Europeans, we must also be ambitious and demanding.
The Hcéres, aware of the issues and developments involved in the European Universities Initiative, will play a full part in the discussions on the criteria associated with the label, their link to evaluation, and the roles of the evaluation agencies, which are essential components of the final policy report and recommendations of the ED-AFFICHE "European degree" label pilot project.