Ideas for modernising universities

The European Commission outlined on Wednesday on how best to modernise Europe’s universities, identifying a number of areas where changes should be made so that Europe’s universities can become stronger players in the global knowledge society and economy.

The proposals put forward by the Commission include:

*Boost the proportion of graduates spending at least one semester abroad or in industry.

*Allow students to make use of national loans and grants wherever in the EU they decide to study or do research.

*Bring procedures for the recognition of academic qualifications in line with those for professional qualifications and make European degrees more easily recognised outside Europe.

*Introduce training in intellectual property management, communication, networking, entrepreneurship and team-working as part of a research career.

*Refocus courses to allow greater participation at later stages of the life-cycle, thereby addressing the skills needs of Europe’s workforce, and ensuring that universities are able to adapt to Europe’s ageing population.

*Review national student fee and support schemes so that the best students can participate in higher education and further research careers whatever their background.

*Review systems for funding universities, to be more focused on outputs and give universities more responsibility for their own long-term financial sustainability, particularly in research.

*Allow universities greater autonomy and accountability, so that they can respond quickly to change. This could include revising curricula to adapt to new developments, building closer links between disciplines and focusing on overall research areas domains (e.g. renewable energy, nanotechnology) rather than disciplines. It could also include more autonomy at individual institution level for choosing teaching and research staff.