Francesc Xavier Grau i Vidal
Vicepresident, Vives Network of Universities
With the last ten years having been spent on committing to the creation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), the social dimension of higher education is now a matter that requires an unimpeded focus across Europe. This dimension encompasses the socio-economic component that is university students, their living conditions and learning environments, the return that students get from the courses they take and their possibilities of being able to benefit from international mobility programmes, among other things. The social dimension of higher education therefore also refers to equity in terms of opportunities, social class, family support, required study time, social advancement, satisfaction with the institution and the time spent there and, overall, a wide range of quantitative and qualitative variables. These factors can only attest to the realities of any university system through the undertaking of systematic data-based, comparitive studies.