34 Reform and modernisation of European
universities
| (26525)
8437/05
COM(05) 152
+ ADD 1
| Commission Communication: Mobilising the brainpower of Europe: enabling universities to make their full contribution to the Lisbon strategy
Commission staff working paper: European higher education in a worldwide perspective
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| Legal base | — |
| Document originated | 20 April 2005
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| Deposited in Parliament | 17 May 2005
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| Department | Education and Skills
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 17 May 2005
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| Previous Committee Report | None
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| To be discussed in Council | No date set
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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Background
34.1 In 2000, the Lisbon European Council set the strategic goal
for Europe to become the world's most competitive and dynamic
knowledge-based economy by 2010.
The document
34.2 The Commission begins its Communication by stating that universities
are crucial to the achievement of the Lisbon strategy.[133]
In the Commission's view, however, they need to be reformed and
modernised if they are to make their full potential contribution.
The Communication suggests ways in which this might be done.
34.3 The document is based on consultations launched in 2003 by
the Commission's Communication on The role of the universities
in the Europe of knowledge.[134]
The Commission says that the consultations led to the identification
of three main challenges for European higher education:
· achieving
world-class quality;
· improving
governance; and
· increasing
and diversifying funding.
34.4 The Commission comments on what it sees as weaknesses
in European higher education (which are also discussed, with many
supporting statistics, in ADD 1) compared with Europe's competitors.
These weaknesses include:
· only
21% of the EU population of working age has had tertiary education,
compared to 43% in Canada, 38% in the USA and 34 % in Japan;
· with
the exception of some UK universities, the EU has no universities
in the world's top 20;
· the
EU has 5.5 researchers per 1000 of population compared with 9.7
in Japan and 9 in the USA;
· European
universities are largely isolated from industry and too many of
their graduates lack the entrepreneurial and other skills employers
are looking for;
· European
universities are over-regulated;
· the
EU invests 1.9% of its GDP in research, compared with nearly 3%
in the USA, Japan and South Korea; and the EU invests 1.1% of
GDP in higher education, compared with 2.5% in Canada and 2.7%
in the USA — in both cases, the main reason is that industry
invests less than in the comparator countries; and
· European
higher education is under-funded and too dependent on state funding,
leading to too few teachers and researchers, difficulties in attracting
and retaining top talent and failure to prepare students for employment.
34.5 The Commission says that the consultations indicated
that solutions to these problems exist. They include:
· introducing
greater diversity into teaching methods, the content and structure
of courses, entry requirements and the mix of disciplines;
· identifying
the potential for excellence and providing funding to enable it
to be realised;
· making
courses and teaching more responsive to the needs of the labour
market;
· widening
access to higher education, and supporting this with grant and
loan schemes, affordable accommodation and opportunities for part-time
work;
· improving
the recruitment, retention and motivation of academics by, for
example, enabling them to move easily to and from industry and
across boundaries, rewarding innovation and excellence and giving
academics a share of fees for consultancies, patents, research
contracts and so on;
· creating
a European framework for higher education qualifications, including
systems for quality assurance;
· giving
universities greater freedom to innovate and reform themselves
within clear strategies and objectives set by the Member States;
· building
more and closer partnerships between universities and industry;
and
· providing
more funding for universities willing and able to reform and modernise.
34.6 The Commission:
· urges
Member States to make multi-annual agreements with their universities
for reform, containing strategic objectives and funding commitments
and empowering the universities to make the necessary changes;
· urges
Member States to acknowledge that sufficient funding is a pre-condition
for achieving the Lisbon strategy (recognising that the mix of
public and private funding may vary from country to country);
· invites
Member States to ensure that their tax systems encourage partnerships
between universities and industry; and
· invites
Member States to consider whether their present funding arrangements
ensure fair access to higher education for all qualified students.
34.7 While recognising that reform and funding are
primarily the responsibility of the Member States, the Commission
says that it intends to provide more EU support for universities
through the Structural Funds, loans from the European Investment
Bank and other sources of EU financial assistance. The Commission
also says that it is considering how to take forward its proposal
for a European Institute of Technology.
34.8 The Commission refers to the importance of the
draft Recommendation on quality assurance in higher education,
which it hopes to begin implementing in 2006.[135]
It also invites the Council to adopt a Resolution supporting the
Commission's call for a new type of partnership between the Member
States and universities and for sufficient investment to enable
the modernisation of European higher education.
The Government's view
34.9 The Minister of State for Higher Education and
Skills at the Department for Education and Skills (Mr Bill Rammell)
tells us that:
"The UK has already recognised through the Bologna
Process the need for fundamental reform in higher education in
Europe if we are to create by 2010 a European Higher Education
Area that is truly world-class and competitive.[136]
We see the Bologna Process as a means of achieving the Lisbon
goals in the area of higher education.
"The Government welcomes the Communication and
considers it is helpful in relation to our higher education agenda,
particularly in terms of promoting competitiveness, institutional
autonomy and funding. The Government supports its views on the
need for greater autonomy for institutions, the need to consider
additional and different sources of funding and the need for stronger
partnerships with industry."
34.10 The Minister also tells us that, during its
Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Government
will consider whether there is support for the new Council Resolution
for which the Commission has called.
Conclusion
34.11 We are in no doubt of the importance of
the higher education sector for the prosperity and success of
the European Union and of the United Kingdom in particular. There
are — rightly, in our view — differences between the
higher education arrangements of the Member States, reflecting
differences in their histories, cultures and economies. Nonetheless,
there are issues which are of common interest and we see value
in sharing ideas and in cooperation between Member States on,
for example, establishing the conditions for the mutual recognition
of qualifications. Accordingly, we consider that this Communication
makes a useful contribution to the debate about ways to strengthen
and improve the contribution of the universities.
34.12 We welcome the Commission's recognition
that higher education is primarily the responsibility of the Member
States and we understand, therefore, why the Government attaches
importance to progress through the Bologna Process.
34.13 The previous Committee expressed concern
about some aspects of the draft Recommendation on further cooperation
in quality assurance in higher education. That document remains
under scrutiny.
34.14 If a Resolution of the kind the Commission
has in mind were proposed, it would come to us for detailed scrutiny
and so we shall not comment on the matter at this stage.
34.15 We are grateful to the Minister for his
clear statement of the Government's views. There are no questions
we need put to him and we are content to clear the Commission's
Communication from scrutiny.
133 The Communication uses the term "universities"
to mean all higher education institutions. Back
134
See (24283) 5355/03: HC 63-xvi (2002-03), para 5 (26 March 2003). Back
135
See (26046) 13495/04: HC 42-xxxvi (2003-04), para 4 (10 November
2004). Back
136
In 2000, the Education Ministers of thirty countries (including
those of the current Member States of the EU) issued the Bologna
Declaration. The Declaration contained a commitment to the creation
of a European higher education area and set out six actions relating
to, for example, cooperation on quality assurance and the mobility
of students, teachers and researchers. The aim of the Bologna
process is to make higher education systems in Europe converge,
with a common framework for the degrees of Bachelor, Master and
Doctor. The Bologna Process now involves 40 countries. Back
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