European Commission publishes ERA progress report

On 23 September the European Commission published a European Research Area (ERA) “progress report”. The report follows the EC’s 2012 Communication “A Reinforced European Research Area Partnership for Excellence and Growth” which states that the Commission would develop an ERA monitoring mechanism to monitor ERA policy reforms and their implementation, to provide transparency to Council, the European Parliament and the scientific community.
The ERA Progress Report takes account of activities being undertaken by EUA and other European Stakeholder organisations in the framework of the voluntary Memoranda of Understanding and Joint Statement on the ERA signed with the European Commission.
In July 2012, EUA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the European Commission DG Research and Innovation, and a Joint Statement with the Commission and four other European stakeholder organisations (EARTO, LERU, NordForsk and Science Europe), committing the signatories to working in partnership towards achieving the ERA goals.  Actions taken by EUA in the context of the MoU concern topics where universities’ own initiatives are already helping to overcome the identified barriers and bottlenecks to achieving the ERA, and where EUA has been working with its membership to promote wider “take-up” and development of good practices already in place.
The ERA progress report and accompanying facts and figures can be downloaded here.