Brussels in Brief: updates on EU developments in education and research

Last month, the European Commission put forward proposals for new rules covering non-EU nationals coming to the EU for studies, scientific research and other exchanges. It has also published the 2013 edition of the Innovation Union Scoreboard.
EC announces new proposals for non-EU students and researchers
The European Commission has proposed new rules that aim to make it “easier and more attractive” for non-EU national students, researchers and other groups to enter and stay in the EU for periods exceeding three months.
It said the proposals would seek to set clearer time limits for national authorities to decide on applications, provide for more opportunities to access the labour market during their stays and facilitate intra-EU movement. Experience with the implementation of current legislation had shown that “Member States were not able to fully address the difficulties that applicants face when wanting to come to the EU to study or conduct research”, it added. Under the new proposals the two current Directives on Students and Researchers will be modified and replaced by a single new Directive. The Commission proposals will now have to be discussed and agreed upon by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU. The Commission hopes for the new rules to take effect as of 2016. More information can be viewed here.
EC 2013 Innovation Union Scoreboard
The European Commission has published the 2013 edition of the Innovation Union Scoreboard which provides a comparative assessment of the research and innovation performance of the EU27 member states and the relative strengths and weaknesses of their research and innovation systems. According to the EC, the latest scoreboard shows that “innovation performance in the EU has improved year on year in spite of the continuing economic crisis, but the innovation divide between member states is widening.” The most innovative countries in the EU shared a number of strengths in their national research and innovation systems, it added, including a key role for business innovation efforts and those of the higher education sector. Meanwhile, it also highlighted that the business sectors of all innovation leaders perform very well in research & development (R&D) expenditure and patent applications and “also share a well-developed higher education sector and strong linkages between industry and science”.
The Scoreboard also covers Croatia, Serbia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland and on a more limited number of indicators, available internationally, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Japan, Russia, South Africa, South Korea and the US. More information is available here.