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Resolution 2250 (2018)
Encouraging the movement of international students across Europe
1. The Parliamentary Assembly is convinced
that student mobility benefits member States’ education systems
and economies, as the inclusion of international students brings
greater diversity and a broader range of skills.
2. The Assembly refers in this context to its Resolution 2044 (2015) on
student mobility, in which it stresses that student mobility is
one of the core goals of the Bologna Process, which set up the European
Higher Education Area. This has proved to be an important tool for
economic progress, social development and intercultural understanding.
3. It also refers to the Council of Europe/UNESCO Convention
on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education
in the European Region (ETS No. 165, “Lisbon Recognition Convention”),
which clearly states the States parties’ desire “to enable all people
of the region to benefit fully from this rich asset of diversity
by facilitating access by the inhabitants of each State and by the
students of each Party's educational institutions to the educational
resources of the other Parties”.
4. The Assembly urges member States to adopt measures in favour
of student mobility. These would address tuition fees, accreditation
and the need for compatibility between education systems. Such measures would
also help international students find jobs in the countries where
they have studied and would make them feel welcomed by the host
countries and their political leadership.
5. The Assembly therefore calls on member States to promote student
mobility both to and from their countries by:
5.1. providing a welcoming environment to international students
and promoting the destination country’s employment prospects, its
communities and its higher education institutions;
5.2. introducing policies that facilitate the admission of
international students, allow them to gain work experience and,
if they so wish, remain in the host country after graduation in
order to seek employment;
5.3. implementing fully the Bologna Process for the recognition
of higher education qualifications, aligning national qualifications
with the Framework for Qualifications of the European Higher Education Area;
5.4. once jobs have been secured, helping international graduates
to find accommodation and obtain longer-term residency permits and
citizenship, if they so wish;
5.5. removing language barriers during studies and, with regard
to finding employment, assisting international graduates with specific
procedures which may differ from country to country;
5.6. for certain smaller countries, where relevant, offering
more programmes in English in order to attract international students;
5.7. setting tuition fees for international students at the
same or similar rates as those for domestic students and establishing
tuition fees which are not prohibitive for some international students,
while maintaining grant and loan programmes for students where an
incentive is required for areas of study considered important.
6. With respect to the analysis of trends in student mobility,
the Assembly also calls on member States and relevant international
organisations to:
6.1. take into
account to a greater extent in policies and programmes the evidence
of surveys and studies to show the economic, social and cultural
benefit for host countries and countries of origin of encouragement
given to student movement;
6.2. agree on consistent definitions of student mobility across
countries to enable the collection of comparable data;
6.3. in view of current concerns about migration, produce subdivisions
within national immigration statistics distinguishing the annual
figures of international students coming to the different countries
from those of all other migrants.