What do we mean by a European Degree? In a this position paper, CIVIS Alliance advocates for clear conceptual harmonisation in both the definition and the formats it can take.
For CIVIS, 'While current approaches tend to mostly favour joint programmes that lead to the award of a single joint degree by multiple providers (based on some criteria in use for the EDL process), we recommend that the focus remains at programme level'.
Setting innovative and relevant criteria for a Joint European Degree will be key to achieve results, says CIVIS, drawing on the expertise developed in the SMARTT project, which brings together four European University Alliances, 29 higher education institutions, and 15 ministries and quality assurance institutions, brought together to analyse, test, and pilot the new European Degree Label criteria (EDL).
CIVIS advances 11 policy recommendations to insure innovative and relevant criteria are at the centre of the design of a Joint European Degree. They include the need to clarify criteria such as “transnational” and “transparency of learning outcomes”, to enhance virtual mobility and the connection to the labour market and to include a new criterion relating to institutional development of the academic and research components through the joint degrees, with a potential integration with the European Research Area, among other recommendations.
How to cite this document: CIVIS. (2024). CIVIS’ position on a Joint European Degree. Input for European Commission call for evidence. CIVIS, Europe’s Civic University Alliance. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10614063
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