Since their creation, universities have set the concepts of peace and universality as their focal points. Both concepts are at the basis of our academic life and without any of the two,our institutions would have not existed. Nowadays, more than ever, we are the beneficiaries of those inherited concepts and we have to preserve their importance. Indeed, if there is a place on our planet where peace and universality matter in a very special way, that place is the Mediterranean.
One of the greatest civilizations of the world, with its culture, humanism and the constant research for knowledge and wisdom was born around this sea. From North to South, from East to West, scholars have historically looked for the reapproachement between the diverse communities. The vocation for science and for humanistic knowledge has kept us together united in front of the attempts of barbarism and ignorance.
In the 21st century, we,the academics of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, continue to support this aptitude and desire to contribute to peace, harmonic development and human, intellectual, scientific, technological and commercial exchanges between all our communities.
In order to be loyal to this vocation and to develop mechanisms that could bring together our different university models, we propose the creation of a EuroMed Area of Higher Education, following the example of the Bologna Process, to foster the harmonization of qualifications, education systems and quality assurance.
The objective of the EPUF is to empower universities so that they could meet the needs of the Mediterranean citizens of both shores, in order to guarantee their progress and enhancement, in line with the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, the European Union, the member states, the already existing networks, the institutions committed to the development of our societies.
Francesc Xavier Grau i Vidal
President of the EPUF
Rector of the Universitat Rovira i Virgili - URV. Tarragona