One of the main added values of the EIT is to integrate the education dimension into the innovation web, as it has often been absent from the more traditional research-business partnerships. The EIT delivers a unique brand of educational programmes at Masterand PhD levels that foster students to become more creative, innovative and entrepreneurs.
To set these programmes apart, the EIT has introduced the EIT Label as a certificate of quality that is awarded to excellent educational programmes focused on innovation, entrepreneurship, creativity, and leadership and are based on the knowledge triangle paradigm - the integration of business, education and research.
This page outlines the main characteristics of the process for preparation, submission, evaluation and selection of proposals in response to the 2020 assessment call launched by the EIT for awarding the EIT Label to its education programmes.
The basis for awarding the EIT Label
Master and doctoral programmes that apply for the EIT Label will be assessed according to five groups of quality criteria:
- The EIT Overarching Learning Outcomes (EIT OLOs)
- Robust entrepreneurship education
- Highly integrated, innovative ‘learning-by-doing’ curricula
- International and cross-organisational mobility - the European dimension and openness to the world
- Outreach strategy and access policy
The EIT OLOs specify — on a generic level and suitable to all Innovation Community themes — that programmes should ensure that students achieve skills and competencies in the EIT specific knowledge forms of Making Value and Sustainability Judgments, Creativity, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Research, Intellectual Transforming and Leadership, all related to the field of their studies. These overarching intended learning outcomes complement the intended learning outcomes of the Qualification Framework of European Higher Education Area (QF-EHEA, ‘the Bologna framework’).
The EIT OLOs should be transformed into more specific outcomes for programmes, modules and courses, as well as being connected to fit-for-purpose forms of assessment, teaching and learning activities. They should not be treated as separate components, but instead be integrated in a well-balanced manner within the context of the programme’s subject specific intended learning outcomes (either in the embedded or modular way) to create programmes that foster innovative and entrepreneurial mindsets based on the Knowledge Triangle.
Submission of applications: general rules
Registrations and proposals can only be submitted by partners to the Innovation Communities and through the designated Innovation Community's Single Point of contact (S.P.O.C.).
- It is suggested to applicants to register the intention to submit a proposal and contact Innovation Community staff prior to submitting their application, to receive further advice.
- Every application must include a self-assessment report for the submitted programme, produced by the applicant in accordance with the requirements stipulated in the EIT Label Handbook (see below).
- The application file should be structured according to the quality indicators and accompanied with relevant supporting evidence.
- The main working tool for both processes are the templates that have to be used by the applicants. The templates include a list of the assessment fields which represent requirements for a programme to be awarded the Label.
- All assessment fields must be answered by applicants with an explanation in the form of a narrative answer and the provision of supporting documents as evidence.
- The general principle for the choice of material to be used in both the labelling and the review process is the portfolio principle. That is, the person(s) who is (are) responsible for the self-assessment report chooses the necessary documentation in order to give evidence for the requirements of each assessment field for each quality indicator. The assessment field questions found in the templates should guide this selection, together with the examples that are given in each template under the heading ‘Examples of material to be provided’.
- Providing material for both labelling and reviewing includes clearly indicating for reviewers where the relevant information can be found in the chosen documents (including page numbers).
- As far as possible, official documents from the Innovation Community and/or from Innovation Community partner universities should be used as appropriate as well as any relevant supporting official documents from the Innovation Community (especially in the case of Modular way Master’s programmes).
- All assessments reports should have an introductory page providing the title of the assessed candidate programme, Innovation Community, the submitting partner (leading university).
- A list of all material, by Quality Indicator, should be attached together with the name and contact information for the Innovation Community contact person.
Deadline and timeline for 2020 assessment
The full application file for new programmes (Qi0, Qi1, Qi2) must be submitted by Tuesday7 July EOB,
Timeline and milestones
|
Call of applications |
May 2020 |
|
Online info session with Innovation Communities / applicants |
by end of May 2020 |
|
Deadline for applications (Qi0, Qi1, Qi2) |
7 July 2020 |
|
Kick off meeting with the experts |
13 / 14 July 2020 (TBC) |
|
Remote evaluation |
July - September 2020 |
|
Expert visits at the Innovation communities' HQs |
First week in August 2020 |
|
Expert submit final assessment (consolidated) |
15 September 2020 |
|
Result announcement |
End of September 2020 |
|
Official feedback from the rejected applications |
13 October 2020 |
|
EIT decision |
13 November 2020 |
The assessment process and responsibilities of the parties
- Every application (a self-assessment report and accompanied material as an evidence) for the candidate programme is produced by the applicant Innovation Community partner (university) together with Innovation Community education teams, in accordance with the requirements stipulated in the EIT Handbook.
- Full application and all the accompanying documents are submitted to the EIT through the Innovation Community's designated Single Point of Contact, who will upload the files in the Sharepoint (DUNA) in the relevant folder(s) by the deadlines above.
- The EIT will nominate the external experts that are assigned to review the applications and the self-assessment reports for the award of the EIT Label.
- The applications will be considered by the experts who must confirm compliance by answering “Yes” to all Template Qi0 criteria before proceeding to the full review for new programmes using the Templates provided for Qi1 and Qi 2 (labelling of new candidate programmes).
- The experts review teams submit their evaluation reports to the EIT. The EIT Director having considered the evaluation reports of the review teams and the corresponding comments of the EIT Labelling Committee decides as to the initial award of the EIT Label for each of the submitted programmes.
- In cases where there are recommendations for improvement for a particular programme prior to the award of the EIT Label, those recommendations are forwarded to the relevant Innovation Community which then informs the applicant.
- The EIT Officer in charge of Label reports on the application of the recommendations to the EIT Director who consults with the EIT Labelling Committee and decides on the award of the EIT Label.
- The EIT HQ reports on the outcomes of the given round of the EIT labelling process to the Innovation Communities, informing them on the relevant validity period regarding the positive decisions and any other conditions underlying the granting of the EIT Label.
- The EIT HQ also updates the information on the EIT’s website regarding the EIT Label awards on the basis of the outcome of the given evaluations.
Guidelines and supporting documents
For further description of the EIT Label and the awarding procedure, see the document EIT Label Handbook, the EIT Label Framework and the EIT Label assessment 2020 presentation.
Recording of personal data
All personal data are processed by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) in accordance with the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data.
To find out more about data protection, please visit our page at: eit.europa.eu/who-we-are/legal-framework/data-protection.