Ensuring high standards with the IDEA League

5 December 2000

A strategic alliance of four leading European universities, the IDEA League, Imperial College, Delft University of Technology, ETH Zurich and RWTH Aachen, met on 23/24 November in Zurich for their first general assembly. This alliance, which was formed a year ago, brings together four very similar universities in Europe each with a very strong research profile and each being the largest producer of very highly qualified engineering and science graduates in their own countries.

At the meeting in Zurich, the four institutions reviewed progress made during the first year and committed themselves to still closer co-operation in achieving the highest international standards and quality in all their activities. Nico de Voogd, Chairman of the IDEA League and President of Delft University of Technology, said "The IDEA League has taken an important step forward by setting up new patterns for the achievement of high standards in engineering education. This is only the start of what we are sure will be a very fruitful partnership."

They have agreed to base their educational quality assurance systems on a set of common principles and approaches that have emerged from a study carried out by the four universities during the last year. The project looked at best practice and took into account the different national educational cultures and quality systems. The next stage is to agree on the desired academic profile for graduates and the standards to be expected.

The IDEA League reiterates the principle of integrated courses to Masters level as the norm for all engineering graduates of the four universities. In support of this they will initiate a new mobility programme which will allow students to move from one IDEA university to another after completion of the first three years of study (the Bachelors level) to take a Masters degree at the other university. For the purposes of this programme, they have agreed to treat the students of the other IDEA universities in the same way as their own. The programme assures the integration of studies to Masters level by the close co-operation between this small number of universities with similar high standards.

For further information please contact:

Professor Gareth Jones
College Delegate for Europe and Chairman of the European Committee
Department of Physics
Tel: 020 7594 7805
Email: w.g.jones@imperial.ac.uk

Susie Renshaw
Press Office
Imperial College
Tel: 020 7594 6701
Email: s.renshaw@imperial.ac.uk

Notes to editors:

1. The IDEA League was formed by the signing of a memorandum of understanding at an inaugural meeting held in Delft in October 1999. It is unique in being a strategic alliance of very similar Universities in Europe each with a very strong research profile and each producing the greatest numbers in their own countries of very highly qualified engineering and science graduates.

2. The development of common methodologies in the area of quality assurance and also the implementation of a structure allowing international mobility between the Bachelors and Masters level were both envisaged in the Bologna Declaration signed by the Ministers for Higher Education of 29 European countries in June 1999.