ShareAQU Catalunya awards the first Joint European Degree Labels to two master's programmes led by the Universitat de Barcelona and the Universidad Católica de Valencia
The master's programmes delivered by the CHARM-EU and EU-CONEXUS alliances are the first to obtain the new European label promoted by the European Commission, and AQU Catalunya becomes the first quality assurance agency in Europe to award it.
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AQU Catalunya has awarded the first Joint European Degree Labels, the new label promoted by the European Commission to recognise joint programmes delivered by consortia of higher education institutions from different European countries that meet a common set of criteria.
The purpose of this label is to strengthen the transparency, visibility and recognition of high-quality joint programmes, foster transnational cooperation and promote a shared European approach to quality assurance aligned with the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area. In this regard, the initiative aims to move towards a single European framework that enables degrees to be designed, delivered, assessed and awarded in a coherent and integrated manner.
The first programmes to receive this label are the Master's Degree in Global Challenges for Sustainability, developed within the framework of the CHARM-EU European university alliance, academically coordinated by Trinity College Dublin and administratively coordinated by the Universitat de Barcelona, and the Joint Master Programme in Marine Biotechnology, promoted by the EU-CONEXUS European alliance and coordinated by the Universidad Católica de Valencia.
The awarding of these first labels is the result of a pilot project promoted by the European Commission to test the future European Degree Label model. The Basque quality assurance agency, UNIBASQ, also participated in this pilot project as an observer.
This milestone is particularly significant because it makes AQU Catalunya the first quality assurance agency in Europe to implement the evaluation process and award this new European label. It also places the participating universities and the evaluated programmes at the forefront of the construction of the European Higher Education Area. Students who obtain the degree after the awarding of this label will receive the certificate attesting to it.
The European Commission has organised a recognition event in Brussels that will bring together representatives of the programmes receiving the label, national representatives, representative organisations and members of the European Commission, with the aim of communicating that the Joint European Degree Label is becoming a tangible reality and recognising the pioneers who have made it possible.