Towards equity and inclusion in higher education in Europe

Insights for improvement

The report, ‘Towards Equity and Inclusion in Higher Education in Europe’, aims to help competent authorities and national policy-makers improve equity and inclusion in higher education.

It seeks to do so by contributing to a better understanding of the current state of play regarding the level of consideration given to equity and inclusion in higher education policy measures across Europe.

Scope of the report

The report takes its findings from the 2020-2021 academic year and concern 37 higher education systems across Europe, including

• 27 European Union (EU) Member States
• Albania
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Switzerland
• Liechtenstein
• Montenegro
• North Macedonia
• Norway
• Serbia
• Turkey

Conclusions

Its findings show that there is still a great deal of work needed to meet the commitments made to show consideration to equity and inclusion through higher education policy measures.

Policy context

At the Rome Ministerial Conference in November 2020, ministers of higher education from European countries adopted a set of principles and guidelines to strengthen the social dimension of higher education in the European Higher Education Area.

This latest report analyses the current level of alignment of European higher education systems with the ten principles and guidelines agreed by European countries.

The topic of equity and inclusion education is at the heart of EU policy development, as a central element of the European Education Area and the European Strategy for Universities. It is also a key topic of the European Higher Education Area.

Next steps

The ten indicators establish a prototype policy monitoring framework. The indicators could be incorporated into the future European Higher Education Observatory, which will provide insights into the progress achieved through concerted EU and national action.