History of the Project
Since the signing of the Bologna Declaration
in June 1999, there has been explicit interest in developing and promoting joint programmes in Europe as a mainstay in the European Higher Education Area. The intention to promote joint degrees was similarly reinforced in the Prague Communiqué
(May 2001), where the sector was called upon "to increase the development of modules, courses and curricula... in partnership by institutions from different countries and leading to a recognized joint degree."
Despite this clear endorsement for joint programmes, very little has been known about the existence of joint degrees in Europe, nor about the implementation of second-cycle or "Master" programmes across Europe. To gain an overview of the current context, EUA commissioned Dr. Christian Tauch of the German Rectors' Conference and Dr. Andrejs Rauhvargers of the Latvian Rectors' Conference to undertake a survey of joint degrees and Master programmes in Europe.
The Survey on Master Degrees and Joint Degrees in Europe
published in September 2002, indicates that the structure of Master degrees remains loosely defined and varies considerably across Europe. For joint degrees, it was found that serious legal recognition difficulties exist, that there is a myriad of models and frameworks for degree recognition, that bilateral arrangements are most frequent, and that joint degrees are more common at the Master and Doctoral level.
In order to deepen this understanding, and to enable EUA to provide support and advocacy for its members on the issue of joint degrees, EUA developed the Joint Masters Project to further examine the operation of joint degrees offered at the Master level.
Although the project was not conceived with the future Erasmus Mundus programme in mind, it is clear that outcomes will also provide extremely useful input for the development of future European Masters programmes.