Dear Director Scalisi,
Dear Professor Prodi,
Dear representatives of the UNIMED member universities,
Dear participants,
Thank you very much for inviting me to address your General Assembly today.
This year is indeed especially important for the Euro-Mediterranean landscape.
- We celebrate 30 years since the launch of the Barcelona Process.
- And we are well under way in designing the New Pact for the Mediterranean.
In the New Pact, we want to put people first.
Higher Education will be one of our priorities.
Drawing on inspiration from the excellent groundwork of Romano Prodi, our ambition is to develop a true Euro-Mediterranean Higher Education Area.
With deeper university cooperation, we want to address labour market needs, especially for the youth.
We want to support inclusion, and position the region as a hub for investment, innovation, and growth.
Concretely, we will launch a Med University Initiative.
We will:
• First, expand the Erasmus+ framework, doubling the number of exchange students from around 4,500 to around 9,000 per year.
• Second, launch a University Alliance between universities from the European Union and universities in North Africa, the Middle East, and the Gulf.
We will establish a secretariat to support and coordinate this effort.
• And third, we want to achieve joint curricula and joint diplomas.
This is long overdue and will greatly boost academic mobility in practice.
Additionally, we aim at establishing a Mediterranean University, with campuses in both the European Union Member States and partner countries.
It is an ambitious goal, but we must make the extra effort. Together, and with contributions from everyone, we will have the necessary elements to achieve it.
Dear UNIMED members,
I believe your General Assembly can be instrumental in
- implementing these ideas, and
- creating bonds essential to the Euro-Med higher education area.
The European Commission will support you politically, practically, and financially.
Ultimately, people will be at the center of our efforts to realize a common Euro-Mediterranean Higher Education Area.
I wish you a successful and engaging General Assembly.