The Observatory and its tools offer a number of benefits for institutions:

1. Enhanced Visibility and Recognition: Participation in the EHESO increases a university’s visibility on a European scale. EHESO will be integrated into the official EU website. By contributing data, universities can showcase their achievements, strengths, and unique attributes to a broader audience of stakeholders, including policymakers, researchers, and prospective students.
2. Benchmarking and Self-Assessment: The EHESO benchmarking tool, which is based on the proven U-Multirank benchmarking tool, enables universities to benchmark their performance against peer institutions across Europe and OECD countries. Access to comparative data helps universities identify areas of excellence and areas for improvement, facilitating evidence-based decision-making and strategic planning.
3. Internationalisation and Collaboration: The EHESO promotes internationalisation and collaboration within the European higher education sector. Universities can leverage the platform to identify potential partners for collaborative research projects, student exchange programs, and joint degree initiatives, thereby enriching their academic offerings and global networks.
4. Student Recruitment and Retention: Visibility in the European Student Observatory, which will be implemented after 2024, enhances a university’s attractiveness to prospective students. By providing transparent and comparable information on academic programs, facilities, and student experiences, universities can effectively market themselves to a diverse pool of applicants and improve student recruitment and retention efforts.
5. Policy Influence and Advocacy: By participating in the EHESO, universities can actively engage in policy dialogue and advocacy efforts at the national and European levels. Access to comprehensive data enables universities to contribute valuable insights and perspectives to discussions on higher education policy, funding allocation, and institutional governance.

Overall, participation in the European Higher Education Sector Observatory offers universities numerous benefits, ranging from increased visibility and recognition to enhanced quality assurance, internationalisation, and collaboration opportunities. By actively contributing data and engaging with the platform, universities can position themselves as leaders in the European higher education landscape and contribute to its continuous improvement and development.

What does participation require from the universities?

All higher education institutions in Europe (ETER countries) will automatically be included in the EHESO Data Centre. In order to avoid redundant data collection, the data for the EHESO tools will be based as much as possible on data from national statistical offices. These data, the previous ETER data set, are part of the EHESO Data Centre. For additional, particularly new and innovative indicators, data have to be collected by surveys among the universities. This means that full data coverage on all indicators of the EHESO tools will only be possible by active participation in additional surveys, which will be based on the proven U-Multirank surveys.

More information on participation and registration

Here you can find more information on data collection.

You can register your institution for data collection using our online registration form.