From principle to practice: Una Europa secures €1m to advance the European Degree label

The UnaFIED project will consolidate and enhance Una Europa’s existing and forthcoming joint programmes in line with the European Commission’s vision for the European Degree label through two key actions:

• Transforming six joint programmes in line with the European Degree label guidelines, ensuring a joint educational experience of the highest quality for our students.
• Reinforcing student support and services to lower the barriers specific to joint educational programmes, making them more accessible and inclusive.

In support of these actions, UnaFIED will also contribute to existing collaboration to tackle persisting barriers to developing joint programmes, using the European Degree label as a vehicle to address differences in national and regional regulatory frameworks.

"In the UnaFIED project, we continue our work on the European Degree that started with the ED-AFFICHE pilot project and was followed up with our involvement in the European Degree Policy Lab," reflects UnaFIED Coordinator Kurt Willems, Professor of Education Law at KU Leuven.

"We believe in the transformative potential that the European Degree has to shape a more facilitating framework for transnational joint programmes. We will continue our dialogue with Ministries and institutional stakeholders in this regard."

Una Europa’s existing and forthcoming joint educational programmes represent an unprecedented level of transnational cooperation between European higher education institutions. This reflects the European Commission’s vision for the European Degree label as a quality marker for a truly integrated, European educational experience.

The UnaFIED project features an educational portfolio of six existing and emerging joint programmes developed in the context of the alliance to be adapted to align with the guidelines for implementing the European Degree label. Drawing on lessons learned over the past seven years, the alliance brings a wealth of experience on developing high-quality joint programmes that, once fully aligned with the relevant criteria, will contribute to establishing the European Degree label as an indicator of quality joint education.

Una Europa is uniquely placed to take a leading role in the rollout of the European Degree label and establish it as a marker of academic excellence and quality at all levels of higher education. The alliance brings experience from all levels of study to the implementation of the European Degree label through the UnaFIED project: from bachelor’s, with two Joint Bachelor’s programmes in European Studies and Sustainability; to master’s, with two upcoming Joint Master’s programmes, in Applied Data Science and Managing European Cultural Heritage in a Mobile World, as well as a Double Degree in Law; to doctoral level, through the Doctoral Programme in Cultural Heritage.

"A common misconception about joint programmes is that they require little more than a few universities doing similar-enough things to be brought together under one umbrella," remarks Piotr Szwedo, Professor in Sustainable Development Law at Uniwersytet Jagielloński w Krakowie and Programme Director for the Una Europa Joint Bachelor in Sustainability.

"The European Degree label can serve both as an important guideline and as a safeguard, protecting the ambition behind joint programmes: a thoughtful, genuinely collaborative design that delivers significant added value for students and universities alike.”

Joint degree programmes offer a truly international, truly European study experience through exposure to different countries, cultures, academic environments and perspectives. Students of joint programmes gain not only a diploma but also intercultural awareness, adaptability and resilience, and an openness to diverse views and approaches both inside and outside the classroom. Such a unique educational pathway brings with it unique challenges that students must overcome in order to fully embrace their experience.

UnaFIED aims to tackle these challenges by taking a comprehensive approach to designing inclusive student services and supporting infrastructure, both digital and physical. Taking the six joint programmes in the UnaFIED portfolio as a starting point, the project will identify specific barriers faced by students of joint degree programmes, develop sustainable solutions to lower these barriers, and draw out relevant recommendations that can be adopted by joint programmes both in the alliance and across Europe.

“My journey through the Una Europa Joint Bachelor in European Studies (BAES), moving across two countries and four universities, shaped me not just as a student but as a person," shares Tommaso Rusin, graduate of the Una Europa Joint Bachelor in European Studies.

"It taught me resilience and connected me with people from across Europe and beyond.

"Moving between countries and universities requires a huge amount of collaboration between students and administration. As a BAES Student Representative, I worked with my cohort and the programme team to solve challenges like initial difficulties with the hybrid teaching of some courses, grade conversion, and transitioning between the different universities' administrations. The BAES coordination team was really good at listening to students’ issues, always trying to reach the best compromise within the regulations of the universities to enable the BAES to achieve its full potential.”

As demonstrated by UnaFIED and all selected projects under the European Degree Pathway Projects call, the European Degree label is transitioning from principle to practice, marking a critical moment in its implementation. Through UnaFIED, Una Europa is committed to delivering on the Commission’s vision for the European Degree label as an indicator of high-quality education and to making joint programmes an attractive and accessible opportunity for students all across Europe.

“The future of European higher education is borderless, open, and inclusive, principles that align closely with Una Europa’s mission and values," says Una Europa Secretary General Sophia Karner.

"The European Degree label has the potential to be a facilitator to this future by alleviating existing challenges to implementing joint degree programmes – for higher education institutions, their academic and professional staff, and their students. Una Europa is ready to act as a champion and driver for the European Degree and make this vision a reality.”