The european universities initiative and the case of the Charm-EU
For those unfamiliar with the European Commission's initiative, I recommend a short but fairly descriptive video of its key features: European Universities Initiative.
A quarterly publication of AQU Catalunya
For those unfamiliar with the European Commission's initiative, I recommend a short but fairly descriptive video of its key features: European Universities Initiative.
The European University model we are developing at CHARM-EU 1, different from other alliances, consists of an initial phase of creating all the parts of this alliance from scratch designed specifically to achieve the goals and encourage innovation: the governance model, the curricular model, teaching strategies, mobility integrated into the curriculum, inclusion, etc. The second phase is the test, the proof of concept of the model to eventually refine it and thence to offer other degree, master's and PhD programmes. In this exciting project – how many opportunities does one get to create an Innovative University from scratch with five top universities from five different countries – we are halfway to meeting the challenge: to implement the pilot master's degree (Master's Degree in Global Challenges for Sustainability).
The launch of this pilot master's degree has been (in fact still is) a real challenge (we like it, we are CHallenge-driven) for many reasons, one of which is verification of the pilot master's degree.
Designing truly joint programmes: trying to achieve a joint academic design and comply with the laws and regulations of each of the countries and universities, has proved impossible. Designing an innovative programme does not even meet the regulations of a single country. In the long term, the Commission and Member States will have to work to provide a different context if they want these alliances to thrive. In the short term, we have co-designed a process with the quality agencies (including ENQA as an observer) and the governments of the countries involved to ask for flexibility and help to overcome obstacles. Their recommendation was to use the European Approach to achieve verification within the project deadline, and not have to do the verification process five times. One for each country.
The European Approach allows a single evaluation (by an EQAR-registered agency) as long as at least one expert from another of the countries involved participates, and following a pre-established protocol and sections, which do not include compliance with national regulations, but quality standards and then this evaluation is recognised by the other agencies and the programme is entered on the corresponding national registers. But that is the theory. In practice, the countries review whether the programme complies with national regulations. As I said before, this is impossible, and in our case, at least two countries (including ours) are changing legislation to make international joint programmes more flexible and viable. In the case of CHARM-EU we have an exceptional committee composed of seven experts, from various disciplines but also experts in transdisciplinarity, students and entrepreneurs. Having experts from all countries has helped us build confidence in the process.
What has been most interesting, and key, is the joint work with the agencies of the five countries, with different cultures, different legislations (it surprised us just how different they can be in some things that seem basic). We started from a position of some scepticism but soon got excited about the idea of innovating in the procedures as well. AQU Catalunya, along with ANECA, has played a key leadership role amongst the agencies. In the case of Hungary and Spain, it has helped us to push for a change in legislation that would allow the use of the European Approach as a system for the verification and accreditation of qualifications.
We are still in the process and now comes the moment of truth: to see whether this programme will be officially registered and if we can launch the Master's degree as proof of concept of our model. At the moment only 10 degree programmes have been verified by this route in the last five years. It will be the first full degree programme to come out of the European Universities initiative and the eyes of other alliances and those of the Commission are on us to see if we can overcome the current barriers that limit joint programmes. Whatever happens, we’ve learned a lot along the way.
1 CHARM-EU (Challenge-driven, Accessible, Research-based, Mobile European University), coordinated by the University of Barcelona (UB), and involving Trinity College Dublin (TCD), the University of Utrecht (UU), Eötvös Loránd Budapest University (ELTE), and the University of Montpellier (UM).