Ministerial Conference on a Comprehensive Approach to Research, Innovation and Higher Education
Monday 11 April 2022
Press release from the European Commission
On 8 March 2022, a conference of the EU
ministers for higher education, research and innovation was held in
Marseille under the French Presidency of the Council of the European
Union. The aim of the conference was to ensure a coordinated approach
regarding international coordination of European policies in these
fields.
At the invitation of Frédérique Vidal, French Minister of Higher
Education, Research and Innovation, the European ministers discussed the
key values and principles that the EU and its Member States could
uphold together to promote international cooperation in the fields of
research, innovation and higher education.
Frédérique Vidal, on behalf of the French Presidency of the Council,
notably had the opportunity to present the Marseille Declaration on
international cooperation in research and innovation. This Declaration
sets out nine values and principles shared by the Member States and the
European Commission such as the freedom of scientific research, ethics
and integrity and open science. It provides a framework for the future
for fair, open, inclusive, participatory science that works for the
common good, which will form the basis for dialogue with non-EU
countries.
The delegations supported this initiative and highlighted the
importance of having a basis of shared values and principles to ensure
international cooperation in research, innovation and higher education
that is open and founded on trust and reciprocity. They insisted on the
need to provide researchers, innovators and students with a safe
environment that is conducive to fruitful collaboration. They also
insisted on the necessity of promoting balanced and reciprocal
collaboration with non-EU countries. The Council will then examine the
priorities of the initiative to establish a basis for multilateral
dialogue with the European Union’s key partners.
The delegations expressed their wholehearted solidarity with Ukraine
and their commitment to ensuring that the European Union remains a haven
of freedom for scientific research and democratic values, in
particularly by supporting establishments for higher education and
research through European and national programmes, to welcome students,
researchers and academics whose freedom is threatened. The Presidency
invited the Commission to support the coordination of Member States’
actions to assist students, teachers and researchers whose freedom is in
peril in the current context.
Download the Marseille Declaration
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