U. of Europe?

The partisans of a united Europe like to hail its most famous successes, like the creation of a central bank, a single currency and a common market. For some reason, though, an achievement that is perhaps no less important gets almost no attention, at least outside Europe: the common university system. Begun only eight years ago, and it is largely complete. Who knew?

Not long ago, moving students and staff between Europe's largely state-controlled universities was next to impossible; U.K. admissions officers, for example, were baffled when confronted by Portuguese transcripts, which graded students on a 20-point scale. And the Portuguese were equally confused by what exactly differentiated a British first-class degree from an upper second. National funding systems across Europe discouraged mobility, rewarding institutions that retained students and providing no incentives to study away from home.

In Newsweek