Martine Reicherts began her career as a lawyer in Luxembourg. She joined the European institutions in 1984 and has worked in a wide range of senior positions, mainly within the European Commission – the executive branch of the EU. In September 2015, Martine was appointed Director-General at EAC, overseeing the Commission's policies in education, culture, youth, languages, and sport. She is responsible for strategic management of various flagship European programmes, including Erasmus+, Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions and Creative Europe, which together have a total annual budget of some €3.5 billion. |
Directorate-General Education and Culture (EAC) plays a key role in putting European Union (EU) policy into practice, contributing in particular to developing a knowledge-based Europe and reconciling a competitive economy with an inclusive society. EAC uses EU flagship programmes, particularly Erasmus+ and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (MSCA), to foster equity and excellence in education, cross-border cooperation and cross-fertilisation between education, research and innovation. Mobility of individuals is a key component.
- What does the Directorate General Education and Culture (DG EAC) of the European Commission have to offer researchers and HEIs outside Europe?
Erasmus+ has four main actions offering opportunities for students, researchers and university staff. They are fully funded by the EU and provide good conditions for those selected.
'International credit mobility' allows higher education institutions (HEIs) to develop partnerships for mobility of students, researchers and staff between 'Programme' and 'Partner' countries. The Programme countries are the 28 EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Turkey and North Macedonia; all other countries are Partner countries. The mobility project is on the basis of bilateral agreements setting out the mobility flows between the HEIs involved.
Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degrees (EMJMD) are high-quality and highly integrated international Master degree programmes, with EU-funded scholarships attracting the brightest students worldwide. Three Programme country HEIs must be involved but there are also opportunities for HEIs from any country to join consortia offering EMJMDs.
Cooperation projects allow for capacity-building in higher education, meaning EU-funded support to modernise and reform higher education institutions and systems in eligible Partner countries. High income and industrialised countries (such as Japan, Singapore, the USA or Canada) are not eligible for this action.
Jean Monnet activities develop excellence in teaching and research in EU or European integration studies worldwide. This may be of particular interest to EURAXESS Worldwide readers as a special budget is earmarked this year for applicants from a small number of countries including Japan.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (MSCA) focus on research excellence, starting with doctoral training but including individual projects for experienced researchers. The programme supports research projects which implement the triple "I" dimension (International, Inter-sectorial and Inter-disciplinary). It covers all disciplines and is also open to non-academic partners, such as industry, libraries, hospitals, etc. Within Horizon 2020 (2014-2020), MSCA will support 65,000 researchers including 25,000 doctoral candidates.
- How does DG EAC promote European integration studies and research abroad?
DG EAC promotes European integration studies and research worldwide through 'Jean Monnet activities,' part of the Erasmus+ programme. Jean Monnet activities also foster dialogue between the academic world and policy-makers. Professors in subject areas related to the European integration process (typically law, economics, social sciences, international relations, or history, but also less traditional areas such as medicine or hard sciences) can apply for a Jean Monnet grant to support specific activities.
As I said before, the EU relies on webinars, mass and social media, conferences, workshops and fairs to reach out to target audiences but word of mouth is equally important. A researcher or academic explaining to colleagues and peers how to apply, what the scope for activities is and what benefits these can bring in terms both of funding and visibility, can be a great ambassador for us.
Our message should be this: 'Jean Monnet' can help develop Japanese expertise in areas which improve understanding, enhance cooperation and indirectly boost trade with the EU.
- In Japan, HEIs usually cannot (legally speaking) setup courses or programmes with more than one other HEI. Therefore JMDs are quite difficult to setup since they require two or more European HEIs at least. But there is an alternative to that through the use of the bilateral action International Credit Mobility under Erasmus+. Could you tell us more about how it works, and what are its main specificities?
We are very aware that different countries have different approaches and different traditions but what we want to see overall is an ever-closer recognition of diplomas and credits for periods of study spent abroad. In the case of the Erasmus Mundus joint degrees, our basic rules are based on the higher degree of academic cooperation existing in Europe, where we have close links between HEIs and a 'European Higher Education Area' which provides comparable learning outcomes and academic certificates. If the legal structure in a non-European Partner Country does not allow its HEIs to join EMJMD consortia, it is possible to use the 'international credit mobility' route to establish cooperation and mobility flows with the Erasmus+ Programme Countries. For students, this can mean periods of study of 3-12 months in Europe which must be recognised as part of their home degree programmes – we are talking about any level of study here, undergraduate, graduate or even doctoral, and there are opportunities for staff including postdocs to spend 1 week to 2 months in a partner HEI. The arrangements are made between the HEIs but there is almost limitless scope.
- Under Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), organisations from so-called developed or emerging economies countries outside of Europe are not eligible for direct funding (as in other programmes of Horizon 2020). This includes countries like US, Japan, China but also India. Yet, MSCA Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE), the most popular MSCA funding scheme in many of the EURAXESS Worldwide countries, allows some funding to go to the Japanese institutions (through the agreement they have with the project leader institution in Europe). Could you tell us how Japanese institutions could benefit from the MSCA RISE programme?
Indeed, some countries do not receive direct funding under Horizon 2020 because of their advanced economic development allowing them to financially support their own organisations. However, there are exceptions and programmes like MSCA offer much more than just financing: enabling access to networks of European institutions collaborating at the highest level of research excellence. This can give a new dimension to research, not only at academic institutions but also in industry.
- Participation of women in Erasmus+ and MSCA actions: Which percentage of the total Erasmus Mundus grantees and Marie Curie Actions (2007-2013) are female? What is DG EAC doing to attract promising female students and researchers?
We do not set quotas but we do encourage consortia selecting students for scholarships to take gender and geographical balance into consideration and Erasmus+ also makes special provision for certain disadvantaged groups so that access reaches beyond the privileged few. Just to give one indication, last year there were 1347 Master students selected from over 24,250 applications. 673 of these were men, 674 were women, although there were actually more than 14,250 male applicants and only 10,000 female. In MSCA, the share of female researchers is just under 40%, which is relatively good, taking into account that women account for just 33% of the research population in Europe.
- Before we close this interview, do you have any tips for potential Higher Education Institutions in EURAXESS Worldwide countries wanting to apply for an Erasmus+, Jean Monnet or a Marie Skłodowska-Curie call? Where can they look for European partners?
Yes. I would say that there is real competition for Erasmus+ funding because it achieves what it sets out to do: develop innovative approaches and support modernisation and internationalisation of higher education, and support the best students, researchers and staff worldwide. But the EURAXESS Worldwide countries are the ones with highly developed HEIs and highly qualified researchers, meaning both Europe and our Partner Countries can benefit from the contacts. Putting together a good proposal takes time and effort but success is not only its own reward, it is a well-funded step ahead in this inter-connected and fast-changing world. European partners are also looking for opportunities to develop cooperation and close partnerships, whether through personal contacts made at seminars or conferences or previous joint activities, including via EURAXESS and the Participant Portal. These days, higher education and research are serious businesses: they are our future and that of all our young people and creative minds. And so, supported by our EU programmes, they deserve all the time and effort we can make together.
Thank you very much Director-General Martine Reicherts!