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Good morning and a very warm welcome to all of you.
It is a pleasure to host you all here Copenhagen. And more specifically in Eigtveds Pakhus.
This building carries an interesting history. Long before it became a meeting venue, it was the warehouse of the Danish Asiatic Company.
So, where we now sit – colleagues from all across Europe – there once stood crates of tea, spices and fine textiles from the East.
Back then, value across Europe was measured in cargo. Precious goods brought from distant colonies.
That has changed.
Europe’s true wealth is no longer held in warehouses. It can be found in classrooms and in universities. It lies in our knowledge, ideas and innovation. In our independence, our values and our ability to learn from one another.
And this is what today’s meeting is about.
We need to be a continent that can do more. Invent more. Create more.
A continent connected to the rest of the world, but not reliable on American safety, Russian energy or Chinese technology.
A continent full of thriving business sectors and highly skilled professionals who can compete in a global economy.
Higher education plays a key part in this.
The skills of tomorrow
It is in our education systems and on our campuses that ground-breaking ideas are born.
It is where talents are shaped. And it is often where the foundation is laid for the entrepreneurs of the future.
It is where the skills of tomorrow are being honed.
According to the Draghi and Letta reports, we have an undersupply of skills in Europe.
The good news is that the talent we have is of the highest quality. The bad news is that we do not have enough of it. This is a big problem for our competitiveness.
And this is why education plays a crucial part in the ambition to strengthen Europe.
The Union of Skills, the Action Plan on Basic Skills and the STEM Education Strategic Plan are all important parts of this.
The overall message is that we need to have a much more strategic and deliberate approach to our education, research, innovation and industry.
So that we move in the same direction and get better at honing skills and turning research into innovation, technology and business.
Some important goals are:
To make STEM programmes more attractive – also to young women.
To get better at turning promising research into real commercial value.
To create a stronger connection between education, skills and the labour market.
These are big tasks. But we have the talent, the resources and the will to solve them.
We need to work on this while also prioritising education, basic research and curiosity-driven science. Because this is what lays the foundation for the scientific breakthroughs that will shape our future.
We need to stand strong on language skills because this is what connects us. And we need to stand firm on democratic values and academic freedom.
European competitiveness, economy and independence is the main focus.
But we can never forget why we are working to strengthen Europe.
Especially when protectionist and anti-democratic winds blow around us.
Everything we are doing must come back to who we are – who we want to be.
Higher education is about more than skills, critical technologies and strategic autonomy.
Making the doors wider
It is about identity. It is about the validity of the European project. Where we’re going. How we relate to one another.
When young Europeans travel between countries to study. For instance, through the Erasmus+ programme.
They come home with much more than new skills.
They come home with experiences, culture, language and most importantly: New friends. Friends from all parts of the continent.
I support the Commission’s ambitions to make a more inclusive programme available to even more students.
Because Erasmus+ is a powerful reminder that higher education is about far more than diplomas and job skills.
It is about weaving a European fabric of understanding, identity and collaboration. It is about an exchange of knowledge, of culture, of language, of friendship.
This is the kind of wealth that cannot be measured through economic models, but will stand the test of time.
If Erasmus+ has shown us anything, it is that when we open doors between countries, our students are eager to walk through them.
The challenge before us now is to make those doors wider and to make the paths smoother.
That means strengthening the collaboration between our institutions. Too often, students face a maze of different systems, requirements and bureaucracies when they want to study abroad.
We can make it easier. Easier to transfer credits. Easier to recognise qualifications. Easier to travel across Europe to learn.
I support the idea of a European degree.
Because our students already think internationally. They are ready to study, work and live across borders.
It is our responsibility to make sure that our institutions and our policies are just as international as they are.
Stronger together
Internationality is Europe’s great strength.
No single country can prepare the workforce of the future alone.
But together, by pooling our resources and our knowledge, we can compete on the global stage – not as a collection of small players – but as one continent that values education, innovation and collaboration.
If we strengthen the connections between our institutions, we empower both our students and Europe.
Centuries ago, this building stored the treasures of a world connected by ships and trade routes.
Today, the treasures we discuss here are of a very different kind. They are the knowledge, ideas and friendships that flow between our students, our researchers and our institutions.
And unlike the cargo of the past, this wealth does not diminish when it is shared. It only multiplies.
The history of this building can be a reminder that European progress comes when we look outward. When we build bridges across borders and when we invest in what truly endures:
Education, knowledge and collaboration.
With these words I wish you a great meeting here today.
Thank you.