HINGE: How to wIN the challenGE: internationalising EQF Level 5

The Europe 2020 Strategy whose ambitious objectives are smart, inclusive and sustainable growth

puts a strong focus on knowledge and innovation, sustainability, employment and social inclusion and calls for increasing the share of 30 –34 years old having completed tertiary education. In this context, higher education (HE) plays an essential role in society by creating new knowledge, transferring it to students and fostering innovation. HE systems and single Institutions throughout Europe are working to modernize, both in terms of the courses they offer and the way they operate and have to adapt to a growingly global environment that requires fast and continuous revision of activities.

The economic crisis calls for more well-educated graduates with the right types of knowledge, skills and experience, including transversal skills, and Universities must help students prepare for life and work. At the same time, Europe is facing talent shortages (talent crisis) in a wide range of occupations, because educational standards are not always sufficiently high but largely because the demographic decline is producing a dramatic fall in the number of traditional students.

The countries where the partners belong are severely affected by the crisis and are registering the highest rate of unemployment of young people thus making the achievement of the objectives agreed at the EU level very critical. Indeed the governments reduced investment in education and training also at tertiary level while promoting reforms in line with the directives. In this environment, the institutions must exploit all the opportunities offered by European policies to avoid that the reduced financing delays the positive results envisaged by the Strategy Europe 2020, with devastating consequences at all levels.

The «talent crisis» requires

A quick and strong response and again universities have to play a key role to increase Europe’s attractiveness. In a globalized higher education world, universities do not have a choice between going international or staying local: they must have an international strategy that should aim in the first place at enhancing the quality and relevance of higher education, to attract the best national and internationally mobile students.

In this critical and challenging environment, EU States are reforming their educational systems and applying the principles of transparency and visibility in describing their NQF and Universities are called to achieve the 5 priorities highlighted by the Agenda for Modernising HE:
1. Increasing attainment levels to provide the graduates and researchers Europe Needs
2. Improving the quality and relevance of higher education3. Strengthening quality through mobility and cross-border co-operation4. Making the knowledge triangle work: Linking higher education, research, and business for excellence and regional development5. Improving governance and funding