"Joint programmes are meaningful for students and needed to combine knowledge" (M. Chaves, Charm-EU)

"We were the first alliance to put on a joint degree in 2021, we started a Master's in Global Challenges for Sustainability, and we are now in the fourth edition", says Meritxell Chaves, Secretary-General for Charm-EU and project coordinator at the University of Barcelona (Spain), in an interview with News Tank on 11/12/2024. Charm-EU is among the most advanced European University alliances in joint degree programmes.

According to Meritxell Chaves, "the first year was a miracle: we made the accreditation process in five countries in just four months, it was very difficult". The alliance first tried working with the European Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes, which establishes a single external quality assurance procedure enabling cross-border recognition, in order to harmonise regulations between countries, but had to go through national accreditation, as France and Spain were not able to make exceptions to their regulations.

However, in 2021, Hungary and Spain "changed the legislation using our case to facilitate the accreditation process through the European…