The University of Bucharest, strategic role in defining the future European university degrees

The pilot-project for the future European degrees presented Wednesday, March 27^th 2024, by the European Commission, for which the University of Bucharest (UB) is the only university in Romania involved at a strategic level, aims to create the conditions necessary for the automatic acknowledgement of university degrees in the European Union. UB is the only university in Romania coordinating, next to the Autonomous University in Madrid, one of the six strategic projects for the development and implementation of European degrees, SMARTT (Screening, Mapping, Analyzing, Recommending, Transferring and Transforming higher education international programmes). SMARTT  is developed by the CIVIS European Alliance, in partnership with the alliances of European universities EUTOPIA, NEUROTECHEU and UNITA, next to 29 other higher education institutions and another 15 European and national stakeholders (ministries, associations and student federations, representatives of employees etc.), and was selected by the European Commission as pilot-project for the future European degrees.

In a consolidated dialogue between the University of Bucharest and the European Commission, through the participation of the representatives of our university to the consultations and work sessions on this theme, preliminary key-recommendations were elaborated by the team of experts of the project, which address elements such as the attunement with the existing policies and instruments, transparent quality standards, flexible frames, digitalization and technological integration, financing and mechanisms that support excellence, intensified mobility and cooperation, inclusion and accessibility for all students, analyses based on research and evidence, but also the constant involvement of civil society and of the representatives of various interest groups (employees, civic engagement organizations), as they are mentioned in the CIVIS and SMARTT public statement concerning the process of defining European degrees.

In addition, anticipating future developments, the experts of the University of Bucharest have published, at the beginning of 2022, the first criteria proposal for defining the future European degrees, as well as a public statement document of the University of Bucharest concerning the European Commission’s proposal package for transforming higher education, which targeted three key-dimensions: European degrees, legal status of European university alliances and the key-organisms in ensuring the implementation of the European Strategy for Universities.

We are facing a crucial moment for the modernizing of the European and Romanian academic space, and the involvement of the University of Bucharest and the alliances and projects experts makes it possible for our vision to be put into practice at the highest levels. Our proposals, the constant involvement, top expertise and the rigor that characterize this enterprise makes our presence in this process active, strong and impactful, and the experts of the University of Bucharest continue in the sustained effort made in the last few years, managing to bring the Romanian academic community to the decisional table at European level. The educational policies reform proposals, on themes such as European degrees, micro-credentials, learning innovation, virtual mobility and many others are just some of the examples of the experts’ strategic involvement in contouring the future of higher education at European level. A European degree is in the benefit of students and the higher education community by stimulating mobility for educational purposes within the European Union, and by improving transverse competencies of students, as shown by the European Commission. This will contribute to the satisfaction of demand on the work market and will enhance the attractivity of graduates for future employees, at the same time attracting students around the world and stimulating European competitivity at global level, declared professor Marian Preda, PhD, the Rector of the University of Bucharest.

Because the concept of Joint European Degree has not been clearly defined yet, the CIVIS European Alliance, which the University of Bucharest is part of, advocates for a conceptual attuning both in what concerns its definition, as well as the formats that this can undertake. Since the beginning of 2021, a programmatic document was launched, in regard to the use of micro-credentials as a new vision of the European and Romanian academic curriculum, thus preparing a frame for the development of European degrees, with practical recommendations for different decision–makers in Romania. At the same time, at the CIVIS Alliance level, under the coordination of the team of the University of Bucharest, two guides were launched to support the innovation in teaching and learning in higher education, on themes such as innovative pedagogies and virtual mobility. UNESCO represents the CIVIS European Alliance as a good practices model, representative at European level in the development of virtual mobility, according to a global analysis.

The University of Bucharest is, through professor Romiță Iucu, the president of the Council for Orientation and Strategic Analysis, next to the Autonomous University in Madrid and the CIVIS European Alliance, the coordinator of the SMARTT project. Among the international partners associated in the project are some of the universities and institutions in Romania, such as the West University in Timișoara, “Iulia Hațieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Cluj-Napoca and the Romanian Agency for Ensuring Quality in Higher Education (ARACIS).

The active presence of the University of Bucharest in what concerns the transformation and innovation in the European academic space is due to an extended team of experts involved in different dialogue and construction components in the field of educational policies in higher education, next to professor Romiță Iucu, PhD, the university coordinator of the SMARTT project, sub-coordinator of the Subgroup for an European Degree within FOR EU (the representation group of the 50 European university alliances within the European Commission) associated professor Sorin Costreie, PhD, coordinator of the UNICA network (Network of Universities from the Capitals of Europe), coordinator of the CIVIS Alliance at the University of Bucharest, professor Lucian Ciolan, PhD, vice-rector for Development projects and lifelong learning of the University of Bucharest, and professor Anca Nedelcu, PhD, vice-dean of the UB Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences.

Already at present, the University of Bucharest is developing, next to its partners in the European CIVIS Alliance, new joint study programs with a strong inter- and cross-disciplinary character, which will include civic engagement projects, learning based on challenges, integrated mobility and the connection to current global crises. Thus, on themes such as climate change, south-European studies, research in biochemistry, cultural and society studies, urban development and its crises, technological transformation and its implications, the University of Bucharest will launch, in the coming 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.