May 19th 2010 - A new partnership for the modernisation of Europe's Universities

Delivered by Derek Clark on 19 May 2010

Speech to Parliament 19th May 2010 Debate; A new partnership for the modernisation of Europe's Universities Madam President, why does this report seek more international co-operation at University level? Universities have shared information with each other for centuries, before the EU existed.

The Renaissance spanning the 14th to 17th centuries was a surge in intellectual development spreading from Florence right across Europe through the universities. The Arts, music, literature and the sciences became vibrant and spawned countless works which enrich us still today. So what of modernisation, do you look for the technological developments of the future? If so the scene today is just as promising.

Universities elsewhere may be overtaking us but they owe their beginnings to European universities. This tide of higher education often returns home. The universities of Britain take post-graduate students from across the world, pursuing their studies further and sharing their information, not least with commerce and industry. But we do not need to politicise higher education through such as the Bologna and Erasmus processes.

We do not need programs on "multiculturalism" or "multiligualism", or any other "ism"; that will happen anyway as students from around the world meet and mix on campus. If you wish to serve the modern and future worlds see that universities are funded properly, encourage those students who wish to study abroad, then simply leave them alone to get on with it.

Derek Clark MEP Strasbourg May 19th 2010