European Commission – Bringing teaching in from the cold

By Androulla Vassiliou and Mary McAleese. Every year, close to four million students in the European Union enter universities and higher education colleges. They are ready to start a new chapter of their lives and hope to acquire the knowledge and skills that will equip them for future careers.
Many arrive with fresh memories of the teachers who inspired them to go on to higher education – and the teachers they are about to meet will be just as important for their success. Yet relatively few countries invest systematically in efforts to improve the quality of university teaching. Instead, university excellence is mostly conceived of in terms of research performance, as confirmed by the growing influence of current university rankings, based in the main only on research output. Another model is possible and should be promoted. Excellence in university cannot – and should not – be associated only with excellence in research. Universities fulfil many other, equally important missions in our societies and economies.