In a decisive step toward transforming higher education across Europe, the EELISA Alliance has released a joint statement reaffirming its commitment to creating impactful, transnational joint degrees – aligned with the European Degree initiative proposed by the European Commission- that address today’s global challenges. Signed during the EELISA Governance Meetings recently held in Paris and titled ‘Education for Impact – EELISA Joint Degrees Empowering the Next Generation of European STEAM Leaders’, the statement positions joint degrees as strategic tools for advancing innovation, sustainability, and democratic values within the European Higher Education Area
Amid geopolitical instability, climate crisis, and technological change, the Alliance emphasizes the urgent need for universities to shape graduates who can lead with purpose in science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM). EELISA’s model for Joint Degrees builds on the European Engineer Profile developed by the Alliance and aims to create flexible, inclusive educational pathways rooted in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Central to this vision is the EELISA Joint Education Roadmap, a strategy that embeds joint degrees into existing programs, recognizes learning outcomes through micro-credentials and mobility supplements, and promotes pedagogical innovation. The launch ofthe first EELISA Joint Master’s degree, DigiTwins, marks a milestone in this direction.
The statement also highlights EELISA’s leadership in the JEDI (Joint European Degree Label in Engineering) policy experimentation project and its cooperation with key accreditation bodies like ENAEE, ensuring the academic rigor and recognition of these multisite degrees. Looking ahead, EELISA is preparing to expand globally, using Joint Degrees as bridges to non-European institutions and as magnets for international talent and research collaboration.
Concluding the statement, EELISA’s leadership reaffirms its strong commitment to shaping a truly European knowledge space—interdisciplinary, inclusive, and rooted in shared democratic values—with Joint Degrees as a central pillar of this educational transformation. They also pledge to champion and implement Joint Degree initiatives in all their forms—across disciplines, institutions, and borders—through close collaboration with students, academic communities, alumni networks, industry partners, and society at large.
This joint statement is officially endorsed by the leadership of all EELISA member institutions and representatives from across the alliance. Signatories include Rector Hassan Charaf (Budapesti Műszaki és Gazdaságtudományi Egyetem), Rector Mihnea Costoiu (Universitatea Națională de Știință și Tehnologie Politehnica București), Director Anthony Briant (École nationale des ponts et chaussées), Rector Oscar García Suárez (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid), and Vice-President for Outreach Kathrin Möslein, on behalf of President Joachim Hornegger (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg). Also signing were Rector Regula Jöhl (Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften), Rector Hasan Mandal (İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi), Rector Nicola Vitiello (Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna), Christian Lerminiaux Director the École nationale supérieure de Chimie de Paris – PSL on behalf of President El Mouhoub Mouhoud (Université PSL) and Elected Director Alessandro Schiesaro (Scuola Normale Superiore).
The statement also bears the signatures of Dale A. Martin (EELISA President), Sofia D’Aguiar (EELISA Executive Director), Luis Salgado (EELISA 2.0 Coordinator, Vice Rector for International Affairs of Universidad Politécnica de Madrid), Merve Çalımlı Akgün (EELISA staff representative), and student representatives Ayda Kurt (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg) and Dóra Eszter Baranyai (Budapesti Műszaki és Gazdaságtudományi Egyetem).
