On 13 September 2017, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, delivered his yearly speech on the state of the Union. After the summer break, this is traditionally the moment to look back at the political developments in the European Union over the past year and discuss priorities for the year ahead. Jean-Claude Juncker called for a stronger, more united and more democratic Europe against the background of Europe’s achievements during 2017, particularly the economic recovery and falling unemployment in many European countries. He aims for Europe’s industry to be world leader in innovation, decarbonisation and digitisation and announced a new strategy to relaunch European industry and foster free global trade.

EUA welcomes this general pledge for a strong and united Europe, but is convinced that Europe can only meet these ambitions and tackle major societal challenges, such as climate change and migration, through a considerable boost of research and education. In the context of changing labour markets, it is furthermore not possible to envisage a free trading Europe of strong industries without thinking about how Europeans are trained to harness globalisation. Universities play an important role in this regard and this is why a continued dialogue between institutions as well as policy-makers and the society at large is needed to tackle those challenges together.

The full EUA response to the state of the Union address is available on the EUA website.

Last month, the European Commission published the 2018 Erasmus+ Annual Work Programme, which defines the structure and funding of Erasmus+ for 2018, outlining the link between the policies and changes from the previous year. In terms of policy priorities, the Commission proposes a high degree of continuity with 2017, with emphasis on activities that address social inclusion and equity in education, training, youth and sport, in line with the Paris Declaration of March 2015.
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Brexit and universities FAQ

The 3rd Academic and Knowledge Summit: Towards the construction of a Euro-Latin American and Caribbean common space of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, is taking place in the framework of the structured cooperation between the Heads of State and Government of the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), in which higher education, research, technology and innovation have been assigned particular priority.
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EQAF 2017 early-bird deadline approaching