After the successful ambassador programme on open science which ran in 2018/19 and trained around 35 ECRs across Europe, Pil Maria Saugmann and Hannah Schoch are currently developing the second such programme for Eurodoc – no less ambitious than the first one: to anchor higher education in a shared understanding of values and democracy. Eurodoc sees here especially the further education of early early career researchers as an important lever for the future of academia, as current early career researchers will eventually become the senior faculty.
Addressing the Moment
The goal of the “Eurodoc Ambassador Programme for Values and Democracy in European Higher Education” is to move the research community closer to fulfilling the ‘democratic mission’ of higher education as formulated by the Council of Europe and to implementing the fundamental values of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA).
The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe formulated their recommendations for the public responsibilities for higher education and research already in 2007. Equally, while much has been implemented in the course of the Bologna Process, the EHEA fundamental values have not yet received due attention. Almost 20 years later, the importance of higher education for democracies in Europe is again at the forefront of conversations – and so are the crises experienced.
A Course for the Future
Particularly in this moment, then, when both democracy and many of the fundamental values, such as academic freedom and autonomy, are under threat across Europe, it is crucial to ensure that we as the academic community have a concrete, shared understanding thereof to strengthen and safeguard both higher education and democracy. Likewise, public trust and a fruitful dialogue with society can only take place if we hold ourselves and our peers accountable in terms of research ethics, integrity, and transparency. .
The ambassador programme has accordingly been designed to explore in detail what the ‘democratic mission’ of higher education institutions entails and how they can become a space where democratic practices align, where active citizenship is strengthened, and where the EHEA fundamental values are lived. Specifically, the course will comprise lectures by experts on the topics from across Europe and has been conceptualised in three parts: (I) The Democratic Context of HE in Europe; (II) The EHEA Fundamental Values; (III) Institutions, Legislations, and Questions of Alignment. This will ensure that the participants can develop a comprehensive understanding of the different intersecting topics, as well as for each of the topics gain a more nuanced grasp of the complexity at hand. Each part will be concluded by an online workshop held in real time to ensure that the ambassadors are provided a platform to articulate their own role regarding the democratic mission of HE, reflect on tensions between the different expectations, and at the same time become part of a network of peers.
Launch in Spring 2025
The ambassador programme is designed for academics on all career levels (PhD candidates onwards) and from all disciplines. It will not require any prior knowledge of higher education and research governance, philosophy of science, or political science. The aim of the ambassador program is to enable academics—particularly Early Career Researchers (ECRs)—to deepen their understanding and to become ambassadors for democracy and the EHEA fundamental values within their institutions, their research communities, and society.
If you want to be among the first to receive more details on the course in due time, we encourage you to register for Eurodoc’s newsletter if you have not already done so.
List of authors
This article was written by:
Pil Maria Saugmann, Eurodoc President – https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3548-0134
Hannah Schoch, Eurodoc Secretary – https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3987-4106