The European University Association calls on policy makers to maintain explicit references to higher education in the regulation to establish a European Competitiveness Fund, as originally proposed by the European Commission.
Notably, the recent draft report on the ECF by the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) seeks to delete or reduce mentions of concrete links between the Fund and measures funded under Erasmus+ (Article 30 and Recital 21 respectively). These amendments would also remove any mention of the ECF’s role in supporting European Universities alliances ‘to improve their delivery on innovation and the development of skills and talent’.
In addition to retaining these important aspects, EUA also suggests that the proposed scholarships in strategic educational fields under the next Erasmus+ programme be included here. These are another concrete example of potential synergies in the area of skills, which higher education stakeholders have also put forward in their suggested amendments to the proposed legal basis for the 2028-2034 Erasmus+ programme.
Indeed, this approach is supported by the member states, as indicated in the Council of the EU’s initial position, which also highlights that this would also help to avoid altering the Erasmus+ programme’s core focus on learning mobility or have a disproportionate impact on the funding of other actions.
In general, synergies between Erasmus+ and other EU funding programmes, including the European Competitiveness Fund and the next Horizon Europe programme, are highly welcome. Yet, as higher education and research stakeholders have previously highlighted, to best contribute to Europe’s competitiveness, prosperity and resilience and complement each other, these programmes must remain distinct (i.e. in terms of identity and governance).