The Council of Europe’s Sub-Group on Higher Education Policy convened on 4-5 September 2025 in Brussels to discuss issues impacting the higher education landscape across Europe.
The two-days’ meeting brought together experts and policymakers to share insights and provide feedback on the current key Council of Europe projects and initiatives.
The Sub-Group was updated on the preparation of a legal instrument on automatic recognition of higher education qualifications in Europe. For the last three years, the Ad Hoc working group set up by the Council has been exploring the possibility of developing a standard-setting instrument to accelerate automatic recognition and trust among higher education systems.
A discussion on the work on Artificial Intelligence and Higher Education was started. While a Working Group on Artificial Intelligence and Recognition of Qualifications has been set up and will convene for the first time on 10 October 2025, the Sub-Group strongly advocated examining the links between education and research and the « third mission », emphasising the social dimension of Higher Education. The group was informed about the third working conference on “Ensuring Quality Education in the AI Era - Introducing the Council of Europe Compass for AI and Education” to be organised in Strasbourg on 8 and 9 October 2025.
The Sub-Group also discussed the ongoing work on “Academic Freedom in Action project” and took note of the high-level international conference convened by the Council of Europe to strengthen academic freedom as a core pillar of democracy on 25-26 November 2025 in Strasbourg.
The Sub-Group was updated on the work of the Council of Europe ETINED (Ethics, Integrity and Transparency in Education) platform and its current projects. An important initiative brought forward by the ETINED Platform is the establishment of a Centre on Preventing and Countering Education Fraud thanks to the Voluntary Contribution of Italy. The group was also updated on the newly formed Working Group on the Student Rights Charter, which held its first meeting in Paris on 2-4 July 2025. Such a Charter would aim to consolidate and protect students’ rights across Europe, ensuring that every student has access to quality education, is empowered to participate democratically in their academic community and can contribute to societal change.
The group then visited KU Leuven, where they met with the management and the Leuven Association. The meeting concluded with an inspiring presentation of the work focused on research engagement towards society based on inclusion, sustainability and solidarity.
