What is a joint European degree?

• a new type of joint degree awarded after transnational Bachelor, Master, or Doctoral programmes delivered at national, regional, or institutional level
• automatically recognised everywhere in the EU
• awarded jointly on a voluntary basis by a group of universities across Europe
• based on common criteria agreed at European level (see Annex II in EUR-Lex)

Objectives

• contribute to Europe’s competitiveness by equipping graduates with future-proof skills
• provide a strong symbol of our common European identity and strong sense of European belonging, reinforcing our common academic values and bringing people and universities together

Who will benefit?

Students

Students will have

• more opportunities to study at various universities in different EU countries and to graduate with one universally recognised joint diploma
• access to innovative learning opportunities across campuses to acquire the future-proof skills that Europe needs

Higher education institutions

The European degree will

• make it simpler to set up a joint programme with several universities across Europe, by removing unnecessary barriers
• help participating universities to increase their competitiveness and attractiveness

Employers

Employers will be able to recruit highly skilled qualified graduates ready to face the challenges of a rapidly changing world.

How will we build the joint European degree?

Building the joint European degree is a collaborative process involving

• European Commission
• national authorities from EU countries
• higher education sector
• social and economic partners

This collaboration uses insights and recommendations from outcomes of Erasmus+ pilot projects that have involved more than 140 higher education institutions from all EU countries.

Next steps

The joint European degree will be rolled out as a label for joint degree programmes as from mid-2026.

Quality assurance agencies and/or self-accrediting higher education institutions will award the label based on the European criteria.

In the meantime, the European Commission will continue to work with national and regional authorities on

• a mapping of persisting barriers for joint programmes and possible solutions
• exploring a possible joint European degree as a type of qualification

How will the Commission support EU countries and the higher education sector?

Policy lab

A policy lab to develop detailed guidelines and action plans to put in place a joint European degree label with national experts and representatives of higher education institutions, quality assurance/accreditation agencies, students, and economic and social partners.

European Degree Forum

A new annual European degree forum that takes stock of progress and provides input, gathering representatives from EU countries, key organisations in quality assurance and recognition, and economic and social partners.

Erasmus support

New Erasmus+ support for

• European degree pathway projects enabling EU countries, together with their accreditation and quality assurance agencies, universities, students, economic and social partners, to implement a joint European degree label and explore the possibility of a joint European degree in their national context
• European degree exploratory actions to enable higher education institutions to adapt existing joint programmes or to create new ones leading to a joint European degree label