Magna Charta Observatory welcomes EHEA Ministers Communiqué

Education Ministers of the 47 countries that comprise the European Higher Education Area met in Tirana on the 29th of May and adopted a Communiqué which put fundamental values to the fore.

The Communiqué starts: ‘The world is facing complex and interrelated geopolitical, social, economic, and ecological challenges, including rising polarisation, and inequalities between peoples, communities, and regions. Higher education as a public good and a transformative power for society plays an irreplaceable role in addressing those challenges and promoting democratic societies.’

‘Higher education institutions should be safe spaces of open-mindedness and diversity, and they should seek to promote, through learning, teaching and research activities, critical mindsets, tolerance, non-violence, science-based dialogue, and the peaceful exchange of different perspectives.’

It goes on to say: ‘Higher education can only fully develop its missions when its fundamental values are respected. While they are now more threatened than they were a decade or even four years ago, we reaffirm our commitment to protect, promote, and uphold academic freedom, as defined in the Rome Communique. In addition, we commit to upholding, promoting, and protecting the following values:’ and then lists:

• Academic integrity
• Institutional autonomy
• Participation of students and staff in higher education governance
• Public responsibility for higher education
• Public responsibility of higher education.

Annex 1 to the Communiqué, which contains details of the values, states: ‘This document, developed in consultation with a range of experts and stakeholder organisations, complements the Rome Communiqué. Together the documents make explicit the shared understanding of these six values, which are equally important: academic freedom, academic integrity, institutional autonomy, student and staff participation in higher education governance, public responsibility for higher education, and public responsibility of higher education. These values need to be reflected in laws, regulations, and frameworks, and also to be put into practice. Public authorities are responsible for creating conditions conducive to making these values a reality.’

Responding during the session after the adoption of the Communiqué, the MCO’s Secretary General, David Lock, warmly welcomed the strong emphasis on values and the imperative for them to be put into practice. He referred delegates to the MCO’s Living Values project, which had been developed and piloted internationally since 2017, as an effective means for universities to implement their values.

In conclusion, the Communiqué says: ‘While each value is essential, all six of them need to be implemented as a coherent whole. As a reliable monitoring of their implementation within all our education systems is required, we welcome the work on creating a technical monitoring framework, and we ask the BFUG to report back to us at our 2027 Ministerial Conference.’

It goes on: ‘We will support higher education institutions in strengthening their contribution to society and their local communities, responding to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the green

transition in the area of higher education, to the ongoing digitalisation and the combination of physical and online learning and teaching. We will also ensure synergies with the European Education Area (EEA) and the European Research Area (ERA).’

Commenting after the Ministerial meeting, David Lock said ‘The very close alignment of fundamental values listed in the Ministerial Communiqué with the principles, values and responsibilities set out in the Observatory’s MCU 2020 is very pleasing. The MCU 2020 was drafted by representatives from universities globally and it, and its predecessor, have now been signed by 975 universities from 94 countries. The MCO’s Living Values project has been piloted globally and proved to be valuable to universities for clarifying and implementing their values. The MCO would welcome enquiries from other universities wishing to join and benefit from its community.

The EHEA Communique, Annex 1 on values and supporting papers can be found at:
https://ehea2024tirane.al/2024-tirana-communique/

Details of the MCO’s Living Values project can be found at:
https://www.magna-charta.org/activities-and-projects/living-values [2]

The MCU 2020 and information for universities wishing to sign it can be found at:  https://www.magna-charta.org/magna-charta-universitatum

MCO Team,
Magna Charta Observatory
Via Zamboni 25
40126 Bologna – Italy
Email: magnacharta@unibo.it
www.magna-charta.org