Beginning of February, two inspiring meetings of representatives of the European Commission with representatives of the 41 currently existing European University Alliances took place. At a roundtable discussion with EU Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, the topic of "Micro-Credentials" was debated. E³UDRES² was represented by Pedro Dominguinhos, member of the E³UDRES² Executive Board and President of the Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal (Portugal). As courses designed to address coherent set of skills and competences, Micro-Credentials stand out for their compactness and flexibility. In order to benefit from the advantages of Micro-Credentials in the future, the European Union aims to adopt a joint, clear definition and European standards for them. This should also lead to mutual recognition of these learning achievements by employers, students and educational institutions and allow their composition for building more complex qualifications. The faster availability and flexibility of this form of further education makes it particularly interesting for E³UDRES² and its commitment to future-oriented forms of teaching and learning. Last but not least, Micro-Credentials also hold a great potential for addressing new target groups, finding new opportunities for cooperation with local companies and contributing to up- and reskilling.
EU-Degree & Legal Statue of the European Universities
Another discussion of European University representatives with representatives of the European Commission focused on the idea of a common EU degree and a legal statute of European Universities. Both of these key issues may be of a great importance to the higher education development in Europe – allowing to reach beyond diverse national regulatory frameworks, supporting a new, deepened and harmonised level of European cooperation, promoting European values and quality in higher education and research and their global attractiveness and competitiveness. The concepts still have to be discussed, yet the plan is to start pilot experiments this year and fully implement both concepts within the next two years.
