Frederick University: Towards the transformative potential of European degrees

• Six university alliances’ joint proposal to pilot the European Degree label funded by the EU

A Europe-wide consortium of six university alliances has secured the European Commission’s support for ED-AFFICHE, a joint proposal to pilot the European Degree label funded by the European Union’s Erasmus+ program.

This unprecedented collaboration among European University Alliances will enable them to take bold steps towards realising the transformative potential of the European Degree label. Pooling their collective expertise, the consortium will seek to improve the process of developing joint degrees as a central strand of the project. The ED-AFFICHE project members are EU-CONEXUS, Una Europa, 4EU+, CHARM-EU, EC2U and Unite! European University alliances, consisting of 51 higher education institutions from 22 European countries. Frederick University is the only University in Cyprus to participate in the consortium, as a full member of the EU-CONEXUS European University alliance.

The European Degree Label will allow for the recognition and issuing of high-quality joint degrees in the European Higher Education Area, based on common criteria. This is a bold step taken by the six European Universities alliances with the aim to alleviate the obstacles currently encountered in the creation and implementation of joint programs of study. The European Degree Label will initially be piloted in the six alliances and later open to all higher education institutions in Europe, promoting all types of transnational cooperation between members of each alliance and other European higher education stakeholders.

"Frederick University's participation in the DE-AFFICHE project through the EU-CONEXUS European University alliance, is a step further towards the implementation of our University’s strategic goal of internationalization and extroversion. A new vision for transnational university collaboration is pioneered under the European Degree label and we are particularly proud to be part of it. Through our participation in international university networks, we seek to offer unique opportunities for our students to obtain degrees at bachelor, master and doctoral level and combine high quality education in other European countries", says Frederick University’s Rector, Professor George Demosthenous.

Frederick University is a full member of the European University EU-CONEXUS which focuses on Smart Urban Coastal Sustainability. The Joint Master Program in Marine Biotechnology offered by EU-CONEXUS is one of the joint degree program created under the "European Universities" initiative, accredited in accordance with the European procedure and secured the support of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters Scholarship of the Erasmus+ program.

The European Degree Label is a flagship initiative of the European Strategy for Universities along with the European Universities initiative for boosting transnational collaboration in European higher education and positively impacting the attractiveness and competitiveness of the European Higher Education and Research.