Who are we?

EURASHE is the European Association of Institutions in Higher Education that offer professionally orientated programmes and are engaged in applied and profession-related research within the Bologna cycles. EURASHE represents universities of applied sciences and university colleges; other members of EURASHE are national and sectorial associations of higher education institutions, and other individual institutions, such as universities. EURASHE members operate within and across different national systems whether these are unitary or binary, professional and/or academic.

EURASHE’s mission is to promote, within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), the interests of professional higher education and of relevant higher education institutions that are recognised or financed by the public authorities of a EHEA member country, either in binary higher education systems or in unitary ‘university’ systems. Its aim is to promote the interests of professional higher education in the EHEA and to contribute to the progressive development of the European Higher Education and Research Area (EHERA). In addition to offering professionally-orientated programmes, EURASHE members are specifically engaged in applied and profession-related research, and its technological applications. EURASHE focuses primarily on policy development and on higher education projects and research with emphasis on its professionally-orientated segments. Furthermore, it organises annual conferences, thematic seminars and tailor-made events for its members.

Why we are participating in the project

EURASHE as the umbrella organization representing professional higher education is one of the key stakeholders in European Higher Education Area and is the main voice for professional higher education. EURASHE is constantly working, among others, on the topic of lowering the gap of the skills mismatch, which is considered as a high problem for graduates when entering the labour market. Following the successful outcomes of the HAPHE and PHExcel projects, the need emerged to further support higher education institutions in their self-evaluation, leading to the overall development of the PHE sector.

Our role in the project

EURASHE as a member of consortium, is primarily responsible for contributing to the project development, in cooperation with all the partners. Additionally, EURASHE is leading the work of the Intellectual Outcome 1 – Self-Assessment and Improvement Methodology for Professional Higher Education Institutions. Here our main goal is to build a self-assessment framework on top of the earlier mentioned HAPHE project’s Core Quality Criteria, as well as a set of guidelines for involving all relevant internal and external stakeholders in the completion of such a self-assessment exercise.

During the “Stakeholder and Policy-Maker Briefing”, we will bring together European representatives of higher education, enterprises as well as various policy makers and representatives of EU Institutions involved in the field of HE,  to discuss how to most successfully mainstream improvements to processes, as identified during the project. A bigger focus will be given to policy implications and recommendations for mainstreaming of the process.

Our Team