POLICY BRIEF: Innovating Higher Education – EIT launches a EUR 27 million call

Our Associate Research Fellow Katarína Svitková has written the third article of the new publication series EUROPEUM: 2021–2027 Horizon Europe. In her policy brief, Katarína focuses on the issue of education, which, like many other sectors, underwent a fundamental change during the pandemic. She also presents the Innovation Capacity Building for Higher Education program.

The year of 2020 and its series of abrupt and unprecedented changes did not spare the field of higher education. With the start of the global pandemic in the spring of 2020, universities and research institutions were forced to transition a remote form of work, research and instruction. Having overcome the initial shock and transformation phase, a majority of higher education institutions are currently running their third semester partially or entirely online.

The past year thus brought fundamental changes in the way universities work, and boosted the debate about the very objectives and purpose of higher education. Debates over its efficiency and effectiveness were revived, deepening the existing argumentation divide between the advocates of quantitative outputs measurement (such as employability or GDP) on one hand, and qualitative social sciences approach geared towards intangible skills such as critical thinking, on the other.

The program titled Innovation Capacity Building for Higher Education falls under the 2021 – 2027 EIT Strategy, and its overall objective is to boost innovation and entrepreneurship at European higher education institutions. In line with the general funding priorities of the EU’s Horizon framework, it builds on connecting higher education and research organizations across the EU to build capacities in the sector, which is key for future development and prosperity of Europe.

You can read the full policy brief in PDF.

Katarína Svitková
Associate Research Fellow

Expertise: Climate policy, sustainability, city resilience and urban governance, security policy, international higher education

2021–2027 Horizon Europe
Publications series

A series of articles by EUROPEUM's Associate Research Fellow Katarína Svitková, focusing on “Innovative Europe” – the third dimension (or the 3rd pillar) of Horizon Europe. Horizon Europe is the EU's key funding programme for research and innovation.