WRITTEN QUESTION E-1793/98

by Michael McGowan (PSE) to the Commission

(11 June 1998)

Subject: Mutual recognition of university qualifications

In view of the fact that not all countries require a second university degree for higher studies, has the Commission a programme to facilitate graduates in taking up courses in other Member States?

Is the Commission aware that there are problems for graduates from the United Kingdom progressing to doctorate studies following the completion of a first degree?

What are the different degree qualifications in different Member States?

What is the status in each Member State and does the Commission have a programme to allow free movement of graduates to continue their higher education and research in other Member States?

Answer given by Mrs Cresson on behalf of the Commission

(27 July 1998)

Article 126 of the EC Treaty stipulates that "the Community shall contribute to the development of quality education by encouraging cooperation between Member States and, if necessary, by supporting and supplementing their action, while fully respecting the responsibility of the Member States for the content of teaching and the organisation of education systems and their cultural and linguistic diversity".

Since 1987, the Community's Erasmus programme has enabled a considerable number of students and teachers to take advantage of mobility. This mobility, which takes place at all levels, including master's and doctorate levels, always forms an integral part of the university course. For example, in the 1998/1999 academic year, 198 315 students from the Community, the European Economic Area and the associated countries should be spending a period of study in another country, 149 941 of them at first-degree level, 43 194 at master's level and 5 180 at doctorate level. The figures for the United Kingdom are 23 180, 2 634 and 256 respectively.

Apart from the possibilities offered by Erasmus, there is no other Community programme to encourage graduates to undertake post-graduate studies in other Member States.

As far as the structure of qualifications is concerned, the second edition of the Guide to higher education systems and qualifications covering EU/EEA states will be published by the Commission in a few weeks' time. The contents of this guide will also be made available to the general public on the Internet site of DG XXII for Education, Training and Youth, on the page devoted to the Erasmus programme.

It should also be pointed out that, through its Erasmus programme, the Commission encourages universities to cooperate in developing advanced-level (master's) curricula which not only encourage mobility but also provide an introduction to research.

Finally, as regards research, within the Fourth framework programme(1), the aim of the specific programme "Training and mobility of researchers" (TMR) is to promote, through the stimulation of training and the mobility of researchers, a quantitative and qualitative increase of human resources within the Community and in the States associated with the TMR programme. This specific programme is exclusively oriented towards researchers at post-graduate or post-doctoral level. Although, in the case of post-graduate students, the emphasis is on the research project and the training of the young researchers rather than on the degree obtained, the TMR programme contributes significantly to the free movement of researchers throughout the Community.

(1) OJ L 117, 8.5.1990.