EU Commission Launches New Erasmus+ Call for Proposals to Facilitate Cooperation Between Universities in Europe

The European Commission has launched a new Erasmus+ call for proposals to test a joint European degree label as well as the cooperation between institutions in the EU, such as the possible European legal status for alliances as mentioned in the European Strategy for Universities.

In a press release, the EU Commission notified that the open call for proposals has a total budget of €2 million, and that the interested organizations can submit applications until October 6, Erudera.com reports.

The initiatives of the strategy intend to facilitate a deeper transnational collaboration between universities and colleges in Europe.

Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education, and Youth Mariya Gabriel said that the pilot aims to achieve progress on the flagship initiative highlighted in the European strategy for universities and push partnerships forward.

“We seek to develop a genuinely European dimension in the higher education sector, built on shared values for the benefit of students, staff and the higher institutions alike. We encourage the wider higher education sector to get involved,” Gabriel added.

The press release further notes that the joint European degree label would be issued as a complimentary certificate to the qualifications gained by students who graduated from programs that have been offered through the cooperation between several universities and colleges in Europe.

“Based on the results of this preparatory work, the Commission will report to the Council of the European Union on the way forward towards a possible joint degree based on co-created European criteria, building on the instruments of the Bologna Process,” the Commission explains in its website.

About the second topic, which is the testing of the institutionalized EU cooperation instruments, the EU Commission says that the piloting of existing European instruments will be supported, thus contributing to the facilitation of deeper, long-term, and flexible transnational cooperation between higher education institutions in the region.

The goal is to enable alliances on a voluntary basis to act together, decide together in terms of strategic decisions, experiment with joint recruitment, design joint curricula, or pool resources and human, technical, data, education, research, and innovation capacities.

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