Higher Education and R&I
02INTRODUCTION
ERA Structural Policy 9 in the ERA Policy Agenda (2025-2027)
This Structural Policy aims to create a structured and focused exchange within the community to promote a more systematic approach, including in terms of governance and support, and involving both research and higher education representatives, for establishing robust partnerships between education and research & innovation actors, working together to set up new mechanisms and incentives to reduce fragmentation and bridge the regional divide.
Objectives
- Achieve better coherence between strategies, policies, programmes and funding for R&I and higher education. Closer cooperation and dialogue between those two areas at EU, national, regional and institutional levels;
- achieve stronger and more connected regional R&I systems and reduction of the European innovation divide;
- improve knowledge, indicators and tools for implementing comprehensive cross-sectoral strategies, aligning innovation with broader societal goals;
- higher level of awareness on, and improved complementarity between, research and education;
- reduce fragmentation and regional divide within Europe’s R&I landscape;
- strengthen cooperation between academic, public and private entities.
Expected outcomes
- Development of recommendations drawn up to design and implement strategies at institutional, regional, national and European level;
- identification of current legal obstacles at regional, national, and European levels; of principles and main components necessary for the development of the legal framework for establishing the Fifth Freedom; recommendations for consolidating European HEIs at the forefront of global R&I;
- identification of policies, mechanisms and incentives to foster more robust cooperation between HEIs and the other R&I actors;
- ambitions roadmap adopted for ERA/EEA (higher education-related) strategic alignment.
Background information
In the first ERA Policy Agenda (2022-2024), Action 13 dealt with "Empowering higher education institutions to develop in line with the ERA, and in synergy with the European Education Area". The Action followed the Council Conclusions on a European Strategy for Universities (6 April 2022).
Action 13 intended to strengthen investigator-driven research to reinforce Europe’s leadership in science and address the long-term trend of Europe’s decreasing share of research-intensive universities at global scale, notably after Brexit, by (i) supporting more inclusive and deeper cooperation between higher education institutions across Europe to accelerate institutional reform, and by (ii) better aligning Member States’ efforts to strengthen global competitiveness of their higher education sector. In synergy with higher education policies, an umbrella European Excellence Initiative was set up, consisting of a combination of policy measures and programme activities.
For more information:
Horizon Europe support for universities | European Research Area Platform