The debate on European Degrees represents a new frontier in European integration. After decades of academic cooperation, from the Erasmus programme to the Bologna Process, from joint degrees to the European Universities alliances, Europe now faces the possibility of taking a qualitative step forward: moving from the coordination of national systems towards the construction of a more genuinely European framework for higher education.

The paper by Professors Capone and Torrebruno examines this transition in light of the broader debate on the 28th regime. Applied to higher education, a European regulatory framework could provide a common legal basis for the recognition, accreditation, governance and funding of truly European academic qualifications, overcoming some of the fragmentation that still limits academic integration.

European Degrees should therefore not be understood merely as technical instruments to facilitate mobility or design transnational curricula. Their significance is deeper: they may become one of the instruments through which Europe strengthens its strategic capacity in the fields of knowledge, research, innovation and the education of younger generations.

European Degrees are therefore not simply about diplomas. They are about the kind of Europe that is being built: whether it remains primarily a space of coordination among states, or whether it becomes a common political, cultural and intellectual project, capable of shaping its own future through the education of its younger generations.