The Riigikogu does not support the speedy introduction of a European degree

The Chairman of the Committee Peeter Tali emphasised that the European Union Affairs Committee fully supported a closer cooperation between the higher education institutions of Member States as well as the European Degree Label, but did not agree with the speed with which the degree was being introduced.

“A European degree would mean a new and parallel qualification and force us to make changes in the national legislation. Too much has remained unknown, too many questions unanswered, too many loose ends untied; this is why we find it impossible to support the creation of a European degree and its introduction along with the European Degree Label at this moment,” Tali said. He also stressed the importance of ensuring that there was a balance between the Estonian-medium and international curricula and that the higher education was provided in Estonian as widely as possible.

The initiative also involves creating a new quality ensuring system. Estonia’s positions say that we support improving the quality ensuring systems but see no reason to develop a new cross-institutional system. Estonia sees this as repetitive and inadequate to fulfilling the goal of reducing administrative burden.

Estonia finds that overall the package must respect the subsidiarity of the Member States in education, and may not interfere with the autonomy or academic freedom of universities. A better model and solution would be an agreement on the automatic recognition of qualifications, such as is already in place between the Baltic and Benelux countries. All EU Member States are welcome to join it, and Poland and Ireland have already expressed their interest.

The Government’s positions on the European higher education package initiatives presented by the European Commission were explained by the Lead Expert from the Higher Education Department of the Ministry of Education and Research Janne Pukk. The European Union Affairs Committee decided by consensus to support the positions, taking into account the opinion of the Cultural Affairs Committee.

Riigikogu Press Service
Merilin Kruuse
+372 631 6592; +372 510 6179
merilin.kruuse@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee

Link uudisele: The Riigikogu does not support the speedy introduction of a European degree

Source: Parliament of Estonia