WRITTEN QUESTION E-0530/00 by Brigitte Langenhagen (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Implementation of the Socrates education programme.
Date: 2000-02-28
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU Member State, competence of the Member States, educational system, higher education, recognition of diplomas, recognition of studies, student, student mobility, university

C 330 E/182

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

21.11.2000

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(17 April 2000)

The Commission believes that developments taking place in the field of new technologies can and must be
used in order to create new employment opportunities for the disabled, including blind people. In addition,
the focus should no longer be on low-skilled and often repetitive jobs which do not reflect the vocational
skills or motivation of the people concerned.

impairment.

Technology is now available to allow adaptation of telecommunication switchboards for people with visual
impairment using standard flexible personal computer technology to interface with the operator.
In
addition, both software and hardware exists to increase the accessibility of computer technologies to
those with visual
It is therefore questionable to what extent it is necessary to impose
additional technical specifications to ensure a higher level of adaptation for such equipment. Directive
1999/5/EC of the Parliament and the Council of 9 March 1999, relating to radio equipment and
telecommunications terminal equipment (1) gives the Commission the possibility to consider whether
certain classes of equipment need to be re-designed to facilitate their use by people with different forms
of impairment. The Commission set up study groups (in which groups with various forms of disability
were represented) to assess the requirements for applying this provision. As a result of the discussions the
Commission concluded that, at present, there is no substantive justification to apply this provision, given
that the barriers to access identified were not of a technical nature.

Furthermore, under the Community policy on the standardisation of
the
Commission gave a standardisation mandate to the European standardisation bodies, namely the European
Committee for Standardisation (CEN),
the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation
(Cenelec) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), with the aim of identifying
specific standardisation needs in order to improve the integration of disabled people into the information
society.

the information society,

Lastly, in November 1999, the Commission adopted a proposal for a Council Directive establishing a
general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation (2). The proposal makes provision
for equal employment opportunities, in particular by requiring employers, within reasonable limits, to
adapt workstations for disabled people.

(1) OJ L 91, 7.4.1999.
(2) COM(1999) 565 final.

(2000/C 330 E/209)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0530/00

by Brigitte Langenhagen (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(28 February 2000)

Subject: Implementation of the Socrates education programme

that during the implementation of

My researches reveal
the Socrates student exchange programme
problems with the recognition of certificates at partner universities have been caused by differences in
academic systems. This appears to be especially true of exchanges between German and French
universities. If the certificates awarded for such post-graduate courses were recognised, it would be easier
to motivate young students to take part. As it is, they have the impression that the participants in
exchanges fall behind in the achievement of their academic objectives and do not develop any interest in
an exchange in the future.

Can the Commission answer the following:

1. To what extent were the differences between the Member States(cid:146) academic systems taken into account

when the Socrates programme was being established?

21.11.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 330 E/183

2. How does the Commission intend to increase the willingness of universities to recognise each other(cid:146)s
certificates or to change the practical aspects of recognition so that interested students may take part
without losing time at their home universities?

3. What measures does the Commission intend to take to approximate university education systems

throughout Europe?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(3 April 2000)

The academic recognition of diplomas falls within the competence of the Member States. At present there
are no Community provisions which cover this type of recognition. Under Article 149 of the EC Treaty,
each Member State is solely responsible for the content of its teaching and the organisation of its own
educational system and any harmonisation in this respect is excluded. The authorities are entitled to
subordinate enrolment in a course of education to the requirement of previous academic recognition of
qualifications acquired in another Member State. They are also free to determine the rules governing that
type of procedure, since there are no Community regulations laying down that a Member State is required
to recognise, for academic purposes, diplomas obtained in another Member State.

The Commission encourages mutual recognition for academic purposes between the various education
systems in Europe through the Socrates programme, in particular the Erasmus action. A tangible result of
the effort to promote understanding of the academic recognition of qualifications is the network of
national information centres for the recognition of diplomas (NARIC). These centres provide information
on national academic recognition procedures. This network, created in 1984, aims to assist in promoting
the mobility of students, teachers and researchers by providing authoritative advice and information
concerning the academic recognition of diplomas. The main users of these services are higher education
institutions, students and their advisers, parents, teachers and prospective employers.

The Commission also encourages and supports ECTS (the European credit transfer system), which provides
an instrument to create transparency, to build bridges between institutions and to widen the choices
available to students. The system makes it easier for institutions to recognise learning achievements of
students through the use of commonly understood measurements (cid:129) credits and grades (cid:129) and provides a
means to interpret national systems of higher education. The ECTS system is based on three core elements:
information (on study programmes and student achievement), mutual agreement (between the partner
institutions and the student) and the use of ECTS credits (to indicate student workload). The ECTS system
is currently used in about 1 300 institutions in the Community, the EEA-states and the associated
countries. The system has gained wide acceptance by national authorities, universities and students.

Following the debate on the possible synergies between academic and professional recognition, initiated in
1994, the Council invited the Commission, in conclusions of 6 May 1996, to examine the possibilities for
the introduction, on a voluntary basis, of a European administrative annex to academic diplomas. The
work on this (cid:145)diploma supplement(cid:146) is entrusted to a working party, which was established in December
1996 as a joint initiative of the Commission, the Council of Europe and Unesco/CEPES. Since then, a
model for a diploma supplement has been developed. It provides a description of the nature and the
contents of academic programmes, the level of the qualification obtained and information on the higher
education system in which the qualification has been obtained.

(2000/C 330 E/210)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0537/00

by Raffaele Costa (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(28 February 2000)

Subject: European standards for emissions and residues from incinerators

Could the Commission state what public health and environmental protection standards exist,
European Union, in respect of emissions of waste substances or other residues from incinerators?

in the