EU presidency: two-day informal meeting of EU higher education and research ministers in Budapest

Hungary is proposing to European Union member states to acquaint themselves with the Hungarian model, “a possible answer to the EU’s competitiveness issues,” Culture and Innovation Minister Balázs Hankó said in Budapest on Monday.

Speaking ahead of a two-day informal meeting of EU higher education and research ministers, Hankó told journalists that the meeting would discuss the Hungarian practice of cooperating universities, training institutes and companies in the framework of a strategic partnership.

He said the meeting will also discuss the issue of a unified European degree, creating a more unified European Research Area, and scientific research.

Referring to Mario Draghi’s report on the future of European competitiveness, Hanko said the EU’s scientific performance had dropped by 8 percent “even as China and the US have left us behind.”

“We are drafting a proposal aimed at reducing the fragmentation of the European Research Area and that of European innovation. We need a sea-change in competitiveness and cooperation similar to that in the agreement scheduled to be signed between the Szeged Univesity, the Czech Republic and Germany on Tuesday,” he said.

Regarding a proposal for a unified European degree, Hankó said it would boost cooperation between European universities. However, he said, it is yet to be clarified whether such a degree would be introduced as a national or EU competency.

He said Nobel laureate Ferenc Krausz and neurobiologist Balázs Gulyás, the head of the HUN-REN Research Network, will attend the meeting.

Hankó said the ministers will also discuss the Erasmus and Horizon programmes.

“We believe in real cooperation and expect to make progress with the European Commission in the coming days or months,” he added.

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