Press release: 31 October 2014.
The European University Association (EUA) has today published a statement with regard to the ongoing negotiations on the draft EU budget for 2015 and the problems posed by payment shortages for the EU budget.
In September, the Council of the European Union (EU member states) formally approved its position on the EU draft budget for 2015, which has been proposed by the European Commission. The Council position recommends making considerable cuts to payment appropriations, notably in the areas of research and innovation. By contrast, the European Parliament, which negotiates the EU budget with the Council and approved its position on the 2015 draft budget last week, is proposing in its position to reverse these cuts and further invest in priority areas. From the 28 October, three weeks of “conciliation” talks are due to take place between both EU institutions with the aim of agreeing a Council/Parliament deal by mid-November. More...

Press release: 6 November 2014.
For EUA, this study has been a follow-up to its two previous reports on rankings, published respectively in 2011 and 2013, which analysed the methodologies used by the main international rankings. These reports outlined a number of EUA’s concerns with regard to the shortcomings of some of the methodologies used and the potential impact of the rankings. Given that rankings are firmly established in the higher education landscape and their number has risen in recent years, the RISP project set out take EUA’s work on this topic forward by studying in more detail the way rankings are used by universities. It also sought to provide some guidance for universities on how they can constructively use rankings to promote institutional development while also at the same time avoiding certain potential pitfalls that had previously been outlined by EUA. More...

EUA today publishes a new report entitled “Rankings in Institutional Strategies and Processes (RISP): Impact or Illusion?”. The publication, presented at an event in Brussels, is the outcome of a 2.5 year EUA-led project* which has carried out the first pan-European study of the impact and influence of rankings on European higher education institutions.
The study consisted of three steps, an online survey followed by a series of site visits to institutions and a roundtable with senior university managers and stakeholders. The online survey, which gathered responses from 171 higher education institutions in 39 European countries, confirmed that rankings have an impact on institutions and their activities albeit in a number of different ways.
The report ends with a series of questions that are designed to help university leaders in developing institutional responses with regard to rankings.
The full report can be downloaded here. More...

The European University Association (EUA) has this week published a statement with regard to the ongoing negotiations on the draft EU budget for 2015 and the problems posed by payment shortages for the EU budget.
In September, the Council of the European Union (EU member states) formally approved its position on the EU draft budget for 2015, which has been proposed by the European Commission. The Council position recommends making considerable cuts to payment appropriations, notably in the areas of research and innovation. By contrast, the European Parliament, which negotiates the EU budget with the Council and approved its position on the 2015 draft budget last week, is proposing in its position to reverse these cuts and further invest in priority areas. More...

In spring 2015 Ministers responsible for higher education from the member countries of the Bologna Process will gather in Yerevan, Armenia, for the next Bologna Ministerial Meeting.
As a consultative member, EUA participates in the Ministerial conferences and their preparation. Like in previous rounds of the Bologna Process, therefore, EUA has actively contributed over the past two years to the work of the Bologna Follow-Up Group (BFUG) that manages the Process between the meetings. It has participated in all BFUG working groups and contributed to the ongoing development of policy papers and reports that will be tabled at next year’s Ministerial Meeting.
From the present 2012-2015 Bologna round, a number of important outcomes are expected: The BFUG Working Group on Implementation is currently drafting the 2015 Bologna Implementation Report, which will assess progress made since the last report in 2012, and can be expected to become once again an important reference document, both for policy makers and institutions.
Together with other European stakeholder groups, another key aspect of EUA’s work has been preparing a proposal for a revised version of the “Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area”, commonly known as the ESG.
The revised version, proposed by the E4 Group (European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), European Students’ Union (ESU), European University Association (EUA), European Association of Institutions in Higher Education (EURASHE)), in cooperation with Education International (EI), BUSINESSEUROPE and the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR), has been endorsed by the BFUG in September 2014 and is now subject to approval by the Ministerial Conference in May 2015. More information is available on the ESG revision website.
Another important element of the Ministerial Conference next year will be discussions on the future of the Bologna Process post-2015. This is expected to result in a new type of outward-looking Bologna Ministerial Communiqué, which will set out the priorities for the years ahead. In preparation, EUA has started to discuss with its collective members, the national rectors’ conferences, the principal elements that will be crucial from the perspective of universities in the years ahead particularly in terms of the goals and content.
EUA will also be contributing to next month’s Future of Higher Education - Bologna Process Researchers’ Conference which also aims to contribute to discussions at next year’s meeting. More information on the event is available here. More...

European agencies and associations managing the Brazilian Science without Borders (SwB) programme joined over 100 representatives of Brazilian universities and other international partners in Recife, Brazil, on 14 October, to further discuss and enhance Brazilian and European research and higher education exchange, a primary objective of the project ALISIOS* (Academic Links and Strategies for the Internationalisation of the Higher Education Sector).
Held in conjunction with the 6th International Seminar and the 7th General Assembly of the Coimbra Group of Brazilian Universities (GCUB), this workshop was the second edition of a series of three. The first hosted by EUA in Brussels in January 2014,  focused on national and institutional internationalisation strategies in Europe and Brazil as well as the potential for enhanced synergies in European national cooperation towards important emerging countries in the HE sector, like Brazil. More...

The EUA Council for Doctoral Education has published a call for presentations for its upcoming thematic workshop on “Regional Engagement and Doctoral Education” to be held at Aix-Marseille University, France, from 22 to 23 January 2015.
EUA-CDE invites its members to propose presentations which highlight examples and good practices concerning regional engagement and the role that doctoral education plays in these activities.
The deadline for proposals is 21 November 2014.
For more information, please see the call for presentations.
The thematic workshops of EUA-CDE are accessible exclusively to EUA-CDE members. To learn more about EUA-CDE, please visit this website. More...

Last week the European Parliament approved the new college of European Commissioners, as presented by the European Commission’s President-elect Jean-Claude Juncker. Meanwhile, the European Commission announced that the European Union's High-Level Group on the Modernisation of Higher Education had published its report to the EC on new modes of learning and teaching in higher education and that the Eurydice Network had released the report on “National Student Fee and Support Systems in European Higher Education 2014/15”.

European Parliament elects new European Commission 

On Wednesday 22 October, the European Parliament approved the new college of European Commissioners, as presented by the European Commission’s President-elect Jean-Claude Juncker, paving the way for the new Commission to take up duty on 1 November for a five-year term. Carlos Moedas has been confirmed as the next Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation while Tibor Navracsics will be the next Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport. Full details of the next Commission are available here. More...

SocialErasmus (SE) is an international project of the Erasmus Student Network with the aim of involving international students participating in university exchange programs into social and volunteering activities in their host countries. The project promotes a social attitude among international students and facilitates their social integration into the local community while exploring the added value that resides in diversity in Europe. More...

The Europe 2020 strategy was launched in March 2010 as the EU's strategy for promoting smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. It aims to achieve a knowledge-based, competitive European economy while preserving the EU's social market economy model and improving resource efficiency. It was thus conceived as a partnership between the EU and its Member States driven by the promotion of growth and jobs.
Please, find attached the PDF document with the answers to the Europe 2020 questionnaire. More...