In 2020, and on the 70th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration, the President of the European Commission recalled his speech on 9 May, Europe Day: “We are experiencing a moment of fragility in Europe and we need more courage to face these challenges. In our continent, more than 100,000 people have died as a result of coronavirus in recent months. Hundreds of millions of people are suffering unprecedented reductions in their daily lives to help sustain the spread of the virus ... Only a strong European Union can protect our citizens, our common heritage and the economies of our Member States ”. More than ever, the European Union's slogan "united in diversity" can be complemented by "united in misery".

The pandemic has had a profound effect on European education and the education model; in fact, education and training centers in most EU countries have been closed and educational classrooms and centers have been converted to online format. Therefore, universities / professors / researchers / managers and university staff in general have had to be reinvented in the short and long term and students have had to adapt to the digital model. Until now, in the European Union, digital education was offered in a very limited way, but the sudden needs caused by the crisis have forced universities to move to the digital world, which has had to overcome many limitations in order to activate virtual platforms in a very limited time.

Digital educational models and tools and new skills / specializations are gaining strength; As a result, the traditional model of European mobility promoted through projects and initiatives in the framework of the Erasmus and Horizon Europe programs is placed in some parentheses, as well as the “credits” and scales of education and dual education. As Marya Gabriel, Member of the European Commission for Education, Innovation and Research, pointed out, despite the challenges, it is necessary to take this opportunity to explore in more depth the importance and inherent value of digital teaching models and the experiences that emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. More needs to be invested and researched in good practices in virtual teaching models; in fact, to provide quality online teaching, it is not enough to put a teacher in front of a camera.

For many of the social and global challenges we face today as a society, universities have a key role to play, specifically in the development of innovative creative solutions to overcome them. They are also essential to overcome the challenges of the current European and international agenda (Sustainable Development Goals) and to act in the context of COVID-19 and its short- and long-term consequences. It is important to focus on European and international agendas and to follow closely the role of education and research in the strategic axes of the current European Union, all in relation to the European Green Treaty and the European Digital Agenda.

Some experts and European institutions make it very clear that we need to ask ourselves what skills, experience or knowledge people would need in order to effectively overcome these global challenges. In this reflection and proposal, the European Commission is encouraging dialogue with the different European networks that bring together European universities, but also capitalizing on the work done so far and significant initiatives such as "European universities" (alliances of European universities, including Basque universities); as well as the capitalization of Erasmus projects in the Basque Country and Erasmus Mundus Masters.

In this new dialectic and narrative of education for the future of European education and the future of Europe, the European Union promotes more than ever the dialogue between the educational family and social and economic actors in the regional and geographical ecosystem, prioritizing cross-border cooperation / Euroregions. . The necessary excellence and reputation for European education as set out in the European Union's next Skills Agenda and the current Smart Specialization Strategy are not incompatible with the so-called quadruple helix, nor with the European University-European Strategy, an advanced European partner. On the other hand, the model to be followed would be a multidisciplinary approach to challenge-based work, without excluding specialization, to enable and develop future professionals with educational experience and to include partnerships between social and economic sectors, offering sustainable solutions and collaboration with European and international universities.

In order to meet the goals of global challenges, new approaches to work are needed. To adapt to future demands, key points will be innovation and collaboration, collaboration and the creation of an active multidisciplinary learning environment related to teaching methods.