New EU-funded projects towards making the European Degree a reality

Two new EU-funded projects involving several ECIU member universities will help advance innovative approaches to joint European education and bring Europe another step closer to making the European Degree a reality.

The first project, EDL-STEP (Scalable Transition towards Joint European Degree Programmes) will jointly design, pilot, and evaluate innovative joint programmes aligned with the emerging European Degree Label framework.

What makes the EDL-STEP project particularly exciting is that it builds on the successful FOCI (Future-proof Criteria for Innovative European Education) policy experimentation project, where the same three alliances worked together to help shape the criteria for the European Degree Label. The new project now takes the next step: moving from policy experimentation to implementation by adapting existing joint programmes, developing new ones, including programmes in engineering, and creating scalable models that can support the wider rollout of the European Degree across Europe.

Beyond developing joint degree programmes, EDL-STEP also advances educational concepts that have become hallmarks of ECIU University, such as flexible learning pathways, modular learning, and learner-centred mobility, demonstrating how these approaches can contribute to the future European Degree.

Coordinated by ECIU member Łódź University of Technology, the project brings together nine universities from the ECIU University, YUFE, and EPICUR alliances. Within ECIU, Kaunas University of Technology and Tampere University are also key partners.

The second project, PROCEED (Proof of Concept for a European Degree in Engineering), aims to adapt existing joint programmes and develop new ones aligned with the European Degree Label, using criteria tailored to the specific expectations of engineering. Going one step further, the project will explore a proof of concept for a European plurinational degree in engineering, based on common criteria, coordinated quality assurance, and close cooperation among participating Member States, accreditation agencies, and higher education institutions.

Like EDL-STEP, PROCEED builds on established collaboration between European University Alliances and combines expertise in joint programme development, quality assurance, and educational innovation to help shape practical models for the future European Degree.

PROCEED is coordinated by the EUT+ European University Alliance and brings together two other alliances: ECIU University and EELISA. ECIU members INSA Toulouse, INSA Lyon, Linköping University, and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona will participate in the project, while University of Trento joins as an associated partner.

Both new projects are funded under the Erasmus+ European Degree Exploratory Actions, a new European Commission initiative supporting higher education institutions in adapting existing joint programmes and developing new ones that pave the path towards a European Degree Label.

Together with our partners across Europe, we look forward to contributing to the next phase of the European Degree journey. More updates on both projects will follow soon.