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The Erasmus Student Network has contributed to the open public consultation for the interim evaluation of the European Education Area (EEA), which was closed at the end of June. The vision for the European Education Area (EEA) was set by the Commission in 2017. Later on, in 2019, the Commission’s President, Ursula von der Leyen, committed to making the EEA a reality by 2025.
This contribution is a more consolidated version of the one submitted in 2023 - that can be found here.
The EEA aims to create closer and deeper cooperation between higher education institutions, joint curriculums, seamless mobility and transnational cooperation between HEIs. In this contribution, ESN presents evidence-based feedback and recommendations for the future development and roll-out of initiatives that build up the EEA.
ESN is pleased to see many positive developments made by the European Commission towards achieving the European Education Area. ESN is fully supportive of the key initiatives under the European Strategy for Universities, such as the European University Initiative and the Blueprint for a European Degree, and celebrates the progress of many of the university alliances. At the same time, ESN is mindful of remaining challenges, such as automatic mutual recognition of credits from a study period abroad, student engagement and representation in new university structures, and last but not least, sufficient funding to meet both the needs of students and the ambitious goals set by these initiatives.
In this contribution, ESN addresses recent policy developments aiming to contribute to the deepening of the European Education Area, such as the new mobility targets in higher education introduced with the Council Recommendation “Europe on the Move”. ESN also pays closer attention to the remaining challenges in implementing the Erasmus+ programme and shares 25 recommendations for improving the programme.
Finally, ESN calls for an enhanced co-creation of the European Education Area, in partnership with stakeholders and civil society organisations, and calls for full use of the potential of the European Education Summit as a major platform for the co-creation of European policy in education.
The full contribution can be found below.
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