Representatives of the University of Bucharest and the CIVIS Alliance, on the scene of the most important European event dedicated to the European degree

Over 1.000 higher education institutions and representatives of the EU member states present to support the implementation of European degrees

Monday, April 29^th 2024, representatives of the University of Bucharest were present on the scene of the conference A blueprint for a European degree, at the final event aimed at disseminating the results of the projects dedicated to European degrees and the legal entities for the new European Universities. The event reunited over 1.000 representatives of the EU member states, of higher education institutions, and also numerous decision factors and experts in the field of higher education and educational policies. The participation of UB representatives at the event is due to the fact that the University of Bucharest is the only university in Romania coordinating, next to the Autonomous University in Madrid, one of the 6 strategic projects to design and implement European degrees, SMARTT (Screening, Mapping, Analysing, Recommending, Transferring and Transforming higher education international programmes).

During the event, three of the four interventions of the CIVIS Alliance and project SMARTT belonged to the representatives of the University of Bucharest, professor Romiță Iucu, PhD, coordinator of the Subgroup for the European Degree at FOR EU level within the European Commission and UB coordinator of the SMARTT project, lecturer Simona Iftimescu, PhD, teaching staff at the UB Faculty of Psychology and Social Sciences and leading expert of the project, and assistant Alexandru Carțis, PhD student, coordinator of the CIVIS Unit for Education, expert of the project.

For the future, there are a few essential ideas: to keep our promise to remain aligned with the Bologna process, to concentrate on students’ needs and their role in defining the transformation of learning, to connect this endeavor with the field of qualifications, to think on a larger, global scale, and, not lastly, to continue to develop the vision of our future, underlined professor Romiță Iucu, PhD, in his presentation in dialogue with the moderator of the session, Vanessa Debiais-Sainton, the representative of the European Commission.

10 Erasmus+ pilot-projects, among which the SMARTT project, have tested, in the course of the last year, offering a European degree and the possibility of establishing a European legal status for university alliances. During the event organized by the pilot-projects and the European Commission, these presented the results of the pilot stage, as well as reflections regarding the future enterprises needed to transform the results of the project into reality.

At the same time, the event accurately pointed, starting from the strategical aspects defined by the new package for higher education and the results of the pilot-projects, key elements concerning the challenges of implementing joint study programs at transnational level, the added value of the European degree, but also the general conclusions on the set of criteria unanimously agreed upon, dedicated to the European degrees, and which will become the main topic of discussion at the highest European level  in the following period, as well as of the future policy lab  which will be developed in the second half of this year. In what concerns legal entities, discussions approached subjects such as the added value and possible directions of development for the near future, starting from case studies and applied analyses concerning the legal frame and various characteristics of the present legal entities’ typology and the needs of university alliances.

The European degree can contribute to the competitivity of Europe by equipping graduates with abilities for the future, by sharing resources and expertise within the entire European space, by uniting different education systems, connecting their strengths and learning from one another and together, as we have shown here today, remarked Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen, Director-General of the General Direction for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture of the European Commission.

The recording of the event and the resources used during it are available here. The enterprises to develop the European degree will continue after the closing of the pilot projects by developing a public policy lab within the European Commission, in which the criteria tested will be developed and recommendations and necessary processes to implement the European degree at European level will be elaborated, either by higher education institutions, or by European university alliances, endeavor in which the consolidated efforts of the University of Bucharest and the CIVIS European Alliance will be valorized and continued.

Already, at present, the University of Bucharest is developing, next to its partners in the CIVIS European Alliance, new joint study programs with a strong inter- and trans-disciplinary character, which will include civic engagement programs, challenge-based learning, integrated mobility, and the connection with current global crises. Thus, on themes such as climate change, South-European studies, biochemistry research, cultural and societal studies, urban development and its crises, technological transformation and its implications, the University of Bucharest will launch, in the following period, new joint study programs, with joint and multiple degrees, in partnership with other European universities members of the alliance, for all three levels of study – bachelor’s, master’s and PhD.

Developed by the CIVIS European Alliance in partnership with the alliances of the European universities EUTOPIA, NEUROTECHEU and UNITA, next to 29 other higher education institutions and other 15 European and national stakeholders, the SMARTT project was chosen by the European Commission as pilot-project for the future European degrees.