Forging Futures: FOREU4ALL’s Pledge to the European Degree Label

In the ornate halls of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, the EUTOPIA Alliance and FOREU4ALL marked a significant milestone for the future of European higher education with the first workshop in a new series dedicated to advancing the European Degree Label. The event, titled “Putting the European Degree Label into Action: Bridging Policy and Practice”, brought together a spirited mix of educators, policymakers, quality assurance experts, and student representatives with one shared task: to turn a clever European policy into a practical reality.

Over two days — 4 and 5 December 2025 — the hybrid conference welcomed around 110 participants onsite and nearly 400 more online, enabling a truly Europe-wide audience to engage in discussions that will shape joint degree programmes and academic cooperation for years to come.  

The workshop was co-designed by two topical groups from the FOREU4ALL Community of Practice — European Degree & Joint Programmes and Quality Assurance — and was intended to ensure that the European Degree Label becomes a concrete driver of academic integration, mobility and quality.

Policy and Practice

Sessions explored how to translate policy frameworks into everyday academic and administrative practices. Panels featured insights from alliances and quality assurance networks. They underscored the importance of aligning the Label with the European Standards and Guidelines (ESG) and the European Approach to quality assurance. Participants emphasised that the Label must deliver real added value for institutions and students alike, fostering trust, recognition and coherence across national systems.

Breakout groups addressed practical challenges, such as embedding Label criteria into curriculum design, aligning quality assurance procedures across diverse institutional landscapes, and clarifying governance roles within joint programmes. A co-creation session produced a first draft of a self-assessment checklist for the European Degree Label, along with good practice recommendations for consortium agreements — tools designed to support universities as they adapt to the new framework.

Looking Ahead

The Venice event is just the beginning. It launches a series of eight transversal workshops to be held between December 2025 and July 2028, each designed to deepen dialogue, broaden participation and foster innovation across the European Universities Initiative.

For EUTOPIA, as the European Degree Label moves from concept to action, the Venice workshop has laid groundwork for a future in which joint programmes are more connected, more coherent, and more meaningful for students across the continent.