WRITTEN QUESTION E-4171/97 by María Sornosa Martínez (GUE/NGL) to the Commission (21 January 1998)

Subject: Problems encountered in obtaining recognition of Erasmus scholarships

A student at the University of Vigo had her academic career interrupted because of problems involved in obtaining recognition of a course she had completed under an Erasmus scholarship. I am informing the Commission about this because I am convinced that it is not an isolated incident. Many students admitted to the Erasmus programme are suffering the consequences of inadequate coordination between the various administrative bodies of the Community and in the Member States.

The information enabling the universities in the Member States to issue recognition does not circulate satisfactorily and sometimes, as in the case of the university faculty at Pontevedra, belonging to the University of Vigo, they take unilateral action, ignoring the agreements concluded between the European Union and the universities. Similarly, the curriculum of exchange universities differs so radically that many students discover, during the period of study at the host university, that it is not always possible to obtain recognition of the courses as promised.

1. What steps does the Commission take in cases such as that of Vigo, when official qualifications resulting from programmes financed by the European Union are not recognised?

2. Can the Commission, as the body responsible for these programmes, contact the universities which, despite participating in the programmes, do not recognize their validity?

3. What action does the Commission take with regard to the irregularities most frequently reported by students?

4. How does it intend to harmonise the different curricula in the various educational establishments to ensure that the objectives of the Commission's various educational programmes are achieved?

Answer given by Mrs Cresson on behalf of the Commission (27 February 1998)

Article 126 of the EC Treaty states 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.

It follows from this that each Member State is responsible for the content of its teaching and the organisation of its own education system. There are no Community provisions imposing the mutual recognition of diplomas (except for certain regulated professions), hence there is no diploma available today that can be automatically recognised in all Member States. The universities, as autonomous institutions, are entirely responsible for the content of their curricula and for the diplomas and certificates that they award to their students. These diplomas and certificates are recognised by the authorities of the Member State concerned.

However, as regards recognition for academic purposes, the Commission has encouraged mutual recognition between the different education systems in Europe via Community programmes such as Erasmus. Although participation in Erasmus is entirely voluntary, the programme has contributed significantly towards a better understanding of and better mutual recognition of what are often very different education systems. In particular, the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS), which has been adopted by a thousand educational establishments in the Community and is entirely based on cooperation between universities, facilitates academic recognition of periods spent in an educational establishment of another Member State.

Although approximately 180 000 students are authorised to participate in mobility under the Socrates/Erasmus programme each year, the Commission receives very few complaints of non-recognition of academic qualifications within the context of the programme. But whenever it comes across a problem of this type the Commission makes direct contact with the establishments or authorities concerned with a view to resolving the situation as satisfactorily as possible for the student.

As regards the University of Vigo, it should be pointed out that 494 students have so far benefited from mobility under the institutional contract that the University signed with the Commission in 1996 (Vigo has sent out 253 of its own students and has hosted 241 students from elsewhere). Not one of the students or partner establishments involved has made a complaint to the Commission. The Commission would therefore be grateful to receive from the Honourable Member full details of all cases known to her of non-recognition of academic qualifications by the University of Vigo, so that the Commission can take the necessary action.

Finally, the aforementioned Article 126 stipulates that the Commission must fully respect the cultural and linguistic diversity of the Member States' education systems. Consequently, there can be no question of harmonising the curricula at European level.