The results of the 2013 call for proposals of the European Union’s Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) brought good news for ACA. The proposal to conduct the third round of Europe-wide survey on English-taught programmes (ETPs), submitted for consideration under the Erasmus actions, was positively received by the European Commission and was selected for funding.

The one-year project, entitled Rethinking the role of English-taught Programmes in European Higher Education Area (ETPs-3), will be jointly delivered by ACA and Gesellschaft für empirische Studien bR, Maiworm & Over (GES) in Germany.

Since the completion of ACA’s previous studies on ETPs in 2002 and 2008, there are signs showing that the number of ETPs has again tripled in the past five years, reaching 7 500. It is also believed that more Bachelor’s level ETPs are provided in Europe and a new species of 'liberal arts colleges' has come into play in field of ETPs. All these beliefs will be clarified with the third Europe-wide surveys on ETPs to be carried out in the ETPs-3 project. In general terms, the project aims to:

• describe and analyse the status quo of the ETP landscape in Europe using the data to be gathered from two large-scale Europe-wide online surveys;   
• discern possible trends based on the new data and ACA’s two previous ETP studies conducted in 2002 and 2008;  
• share best practices of structured cooperation in ETPs gathered  through the study; and
• provide policy recommendations for the future development of ETPs as an instrument to advance the global agenda of the European higher education area. 

The online survey questionnaires, targeting over 4 000 European higher education institutions and an estimate of 8 000 English-taught study programmes, are scheduled to be launched in early 2014. More information about the project and surveys will be made available on ACA’s website in October 2013. Stay tuned!