Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on strengthening cooperation with third countries in the field of higher education
Date: 2001-07-18
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, EU programme, cooperation policy, education grant, educational exchange, higher education, third country

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

Brussels, 18.7.2001
COM(2001) 385 final

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN
PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL

ON STRENGTHENING COOPERATION WITH THIRD COUNTRIES IN THE
FIELD OF HIGHER EDUCATION

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INTRODUCTION

Article 149 EC (Education) makes clear
that Member States retain primary
responsibility for education policy within the Community. Action at Community
level is justified where it can provide ‘value-added’: where, by acting together, the
Member States can achieve more than if they were to act alone. The European
Community supports education in its Member States in a number of ways. Since
1987 it has developed programmes to stimulate educational co-operation and
mobility within the Community, and these activities have recently been extended to
cover the associated countries as well1. They involve mainly student2 and trainee
exchanges, teacher and trainer exchanges, exchanges of experience (usually through
networks) between projects and partners, and the joint development of innovative
activities. Networks and partnerships between institutions – schools, training, centres
and universities – have been a backbone of these activities since their inception.
Expenditure on such activities currently runs at about

500m per annum.

€

Article 149 EC stipulates, in its third paragraph, that “The Community and the
Member States shall foster co-operation with third countries…”. Some Member
States have a well-established tradition of, mainly bilateral, co-operation with third
countries on education. For its part, the Community, in the field of higher education,
has established a number of initiatives with third countries drawing on experience
gained from ERASMUS and similar programmes. Examples of these are the two
agreements with the US and with Canada, just renewed for a further five years; the
TEMPUS programme, originally launched in 1990 as part of the original Phare
activity, but now (since the EC’s main education activities are open to associated
countries) embracing Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Western
Balkans; and ALFA, a programme that seeks to develop higher education in Latin
America through links with EC institutions.

FIRST STEPS IN RESPONDING TO NEW CHALLENGES

In developing its higher education systems the Community must seek to prepare its
citizens and its workforce for a global environment by including the international
dimension in an appropriate way. This point is clearly made in the recent report of
the Education Council to the Stockholm European Council on the objectives of
education systems3.

Several Member States (eg the UK, France, Germany or the Netherlands) have taken
measures to respond to the same need. For example, the British Council, the United
Kingdom’s international organisation for educational and cultural relations, uses its
considerable resources at home and abroad (243 offices in 110 countries) to develop
the international dimension of British education and culture and to build the UK’s
role as a leading provider of educational and cultural opportunity for people
overseas. In 1998, France created Edufrance, an Agency whose main aims are to
promote world-wide France’s potential as a destination for foreign students and
researchers, provide international students with global hosting services and co-

In particular, the Socrates and Leonardo programmes, OJ Nos. L146 of 11.6.99 and L28 of 3.2.2000
Hereafter ‘students’ covers all those persons following learning or training courses or programmes
which are run by higher education or vocational education and training institutions
Cf. Sub-heading 2.3, Council document No. 5980/01

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ordinate the French “educational offer”. The German Academic Exchange Service
(DAAD), an institution with a long tradition in the advancement of international
education in Germany, has in recent times intensified its efforts to promote education
in Germany by positioning itself as a service provider and endorsing the label
“Qualified in Germany”.

Community programmes in education, and particularly ERASMUS, have had a
substantial impact in boosting the capacity for international co-operation among
European universities. In addition to changes in the design of education programmes
and new possibilities offered for study in other Member States, many universities
have set up or reinforced their offices for international relations. To a large extent
this is a response to the increased volume of international activities that has resulted
from their involvement in Community programmes. A further effort is required at EC
level, to encourage institutions systematically to integrate new co-operation with
third countries into a wider partnership framework.

This effort
is also needed because there is an ever-increasing demand for
international education and student mobility. The number of international exchange
students has never been greater; but they flock mainly to the US (over 500,000
international students in 1999/2000). Over 3/4 of the approximately 400,000 students
from non-European countries studying in the EC go to the UK, France and
Germany4.

While there may be healthy competition between Member States countries to attract
international students, the role of the EC should be primarily to encourage co-
operative approaches so that the benefits can be shared more widely within the EC
and partner countries. In doing so, the EC must acknowledge that Europe’s status as
a centre of excellence in learning is not always appreciated or understood by third
country universities, or by students looking for an international education.

It is the quality of European higher education institutions, measured (among other
ways) through the volume and scope of institutions’ scientific – in the widest sense
of the word - and technological research activities, which is crucial. Co-operation in
higher education and training therefore goes hand-in-hand with co-operation in
science and technology, which mobilises scientific resources in universities in the
Community as well as in third countries. Increasing the attractiveness of our
universities requires an assurance of quality that is widely understood in the world.
The absence of such an assurance means that Europe will not perform as well as the
other leading providers of education services. From another angle, Europe’s political
and commercial success in the world is dependent on future decision-makers in third
countries having a better understanding of, and closer ties with, Europe.

Many third countries see potential benefits in systematic co-operation with European
higher education institutions, especially within multilateral networks involving
institutions from more than one Member State. Such co-operation enhances the value
of bilateral education arrangements with individual Member States. This is the
reason why in almost all agreements between the EC and third countries, education is

Source: UNESCO Statistical Yearbook 1998, chapter 3.14: « Education at the third level: foreign
students by country of origin, in the 50 major host countries ».

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mentioned as a field for potential co-operation. In practice the follow-up to these
commitments is contingent on availability of resources.

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The following conclusions can be drawn:

• The Community should ensure that

its education activities

include the

international dimension in a more systematic way;

• The Community should give greater visibility to its action in this field in order to
promote Europe as a centre of excellence, and to attract students seeking an
international education.

This Communication proposes some immediate actions that can be taken to respond
to these challenges in the short term. In the medium term, the Commission will
develop an overall strategy building on the debate flowing from the present
Communication, on experience gained, and on a fuller analysis of the issues at
stake5.

OBJECTIVES

Two immediate objectives can be identified that the EC should pursue in its co-
operation with third countries in this field:

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(2)

develop high quality human resources in partner countries and within the EC,
through reciprocal human resource development,

promote the EC as a world-wide centre of excellence for study / training as
well as for scientific and technological research.

The extent
to which these objectives can be realised will guide the European
Community in its choice of co-operation activities as well as the partnerships it may,
where appropriate, envisage establishing with third countries. In pursuing these
objectives,
co-operation with third-country
institutions that have achieved a level of development comparable to that of EC
institutions. The Community will also be responsive to requests from third countries
to establish co-operative activities.

the Community will encourage

In the area of development co-operation, the inclusion of higher education in co-
operation efforts may, if appropriately designed, contribute to the eradication of
poverty in the world, which is the overarching objective of EC development policy.
Given the particular nature of this challenge, and the level of resources devoted to it,
this will be the subject of a separate Communication that the Commission will
prepare for the end of 2001.

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5 A study has already been completed in this respect, which provides some of the background to this
Communication. See “The Globalisation of Education and Training : Recommendations for a Coherent
Response
2000.
Union;
http:/europa.eu.int/comm/education/infos.html

Bernd Wächter,

European

Reichter,

Sybille

the

Dr

of

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MEASURES TO BE TAKEN

The following measures will be taken to initiate progress towards achieving the
objectives set out in paragraph 12. The Community will:

• use, wherever possible,

intra-Community
programmes in its relations with third countries. ERASMUS, in particular, has
attracted interest and requests to participate from around the world. We should
build on this.

experience gained in the

the

• provide for diversity in the arrangements with each country and where
appropriate, with each region. Actions arising from this Communication will
focus on higher education co-operation, while ensuring that these actions are
compatible with countries' National Education policies and EC development co-
operation strategy.

focus on multilateral networks and partnerships involving
Co-operation will
countries that have achieved a level of development in higher education comparable
to that of European institutions. Working within an agreed framework between
universities such as those set up under the EC/US and EC/Canada programmes or, in
a different context, Tempus or ALFA, requires the partner institutions to agree on the
academic content of courses to be taught to exchange students. Institutions also have
to agree in particular on the arrangements for recognition of the work done by the
home and host universities, and arrangements for care of the student while he or she
is abroad.

The possibility of increasing the numbers of student exchanges within these
frameworks and other co-operation schemes will be examined. However, we should
avoid exchanges which are not linked to a partnership between higher education
institutions as far as possible because they limit
to the institutions
concerned. Exchanges that take place within a university partnership are more likely
to enable other students and teachers to share in the experience and to benefit from it
– albeit to a lesser extent. The advent of virtual mobility, thanks to the development
of e- and open and distance learning and the generalised use of information and
communication technologies, also increases the importance of (and facilitates the
creation of) structured, mutually beneficial, partnerships between universities.

the benefit

Student exchanges, however, are not by themselves enough. The full benefit of co-
operation can only be obtained where student exchanges are accompanied by staff
exchanges, by virtual mobility, by joint programme development, by proper
recognition arrangements, etc. These provide the full academic framework within
which the investment of time, skill and resources is most fruitful.

In increasing the number of exchanges, we must remain conscious of the serious
issue of ‘brain drain’. Short term mobility of the sort proposed by inter-university
agreements under TEMPUS or ALFA (in general not more than one academic year)
implies a return to the country of origin and is thus less likely to cause a brain drain.

However, the number of free moving students seeking an international education
today is greater than ever we should also consider the desirability of increasing the
numbers of longer-term grants for students from third countries seeking a full period
of study in the EC. This may be justified, for example, where courses are lacking in

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the country concerned, including in some cases advanced courses; or where students
would have gone abroad anyway and EC universities offer the most relevant courses.
Every country needs some international expertise amongst its best educated people.

The Commission will encourage the use of accreditation systems compatible with
well established European approaches, in particular the European Credit Transfer
System (ECTS), which is now the European standard in higher education. This
system makes the recognition of academic work done abroad much easier in the
country of origin. Interest in it from other parts of the world (e.g. in Latin America
and within the UMAP Pacific programme)
is already substantial. Further
development of this system would be in line with the “Bologna process” and with the
conclusions of the recent meeting of high education Ministers from over 30
European countries in Prague, on 18 and 19 May 2001. Mobility, accreditation and
quality assurance were identified by Ministers at those meetings as matters of
particular importance.

In co-operation with the Member States, a joint promotional operation for the EC as
a centre of excellence in learning around the world, concentrating at first on
countries with a high proportion of potential exchange students, should be launched
as a first step towards reaching the second objective set out in paragraph 12.

In support of this, it is important to strengthen European studies capacities in third
countries. For example, the Commission will extend the network of European Union
Studies Centres and Jean Monnet Chairs around the world, so as to provide a full
service to interested academics and to demonstrate the activity of the EC in this field
within universities. European institutions should be encouraged to develop truly
European educational ‘packages’ by, for example, developing joint courses which
allow foreign, as well as European, students to spend more than one academic year in
different Member States. This could lead, where appropriate, to joint diplomas.

therefore be offered in order

to help European universities’
Support will
collaborative efforts, inter alia, to develop joint European courses, to help with
promotion, and to deal with issues such as accreditation and the promotion of the
ECTS.

A PILOT PROGRAMME FOR LATIN AMERICA

Building on the achievements of ALFA, the Commission will quickly establish a
pilot, postgraduate, scholarship programme targeting the most suitable professionals
and postgraduate students from Latin American countries. The aims of this travel and
study scholarship scheme will be:

• to help recently graduated and high level professionals to benefit from excellence

in European academia;

• to allow future decision-makers in Latin America to develop closer ties with

Europe and have a better understanding of its cultural diversity;

• to foster the creation of further links between the two regions.

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In order to implement this programme and encourage visibility, transparency and
efficiency, the Commission will associate the institutionalised networks already
established to stimulate co-operation and foster mobility among professionals and
postgraduate students in the EC and Latin America. All higher education and training
institutions in the EC and Latin America will be eligible to take part in the pilot
programme, provided that they are officially recognised by the governments of their
respective countries and are part of one of these networks. This will at once
encourage participation and enhance transparency. The Commission will undertake
an information campaign aimed at the networks, students and public via the media, in
order to ensure a suitable profile for this pilot programme.

MEANS

These objectives
through existing
should be achieved, wherever possible,
programmes and legal bases. The aim is to fund the proposed actions through
existing agreements and protocols where these exist, in accordance with the normal
planning procedures and implementation modalities. Resources will be allocated to
the extent necessary, within the existing budgetary envelopes and legal bases and
within the framework provided by the financial perspectives. This attribution of
funds will be detailed in the respective country strategies and multi-annual
programming where appropriate. Where new bilateral schemes, modelled on the
existing co-operation schemes with the United States and Canada, appear feasible
and desirable, specific legal bases will be proposed according to the usual
procedures.

In addition, in order to encourage mobility of third country students within the EC,
we shall continue our efforts to establish harmonised conditions of entry and
residence for study purposes.

CONCLUSION

These first steps will be accompanied by a process of evaluation of results achieved
and fuller analysis of the challenges Europe faces as a result of global developments
in the field of higher education. The Commission hopes that
the present
Communication will help stimulate debate on the issues involved. The Commission
will aim to draw the appropriate conclusions from this process with a view to
possible further policy proposals. This is likely to come forward in 2003.

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This Communication is submitted to the European Parliament and the Council for
consideration.

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