The European Network on Teaching Excellence (E-NOTE) was an Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership for higher education implemented from September 2020 to August 2023. It was led by Leiden University (Netherlands) and brought together Charles University (Czech Republic), the University of Copenhagen (Denmark), the University of Coimbra (Portugal), the Global Governance Institute (Belgium), and the Coimbra Group (Belgium). It responded to a persistent European higher education challenge: while the European Higher Education Area had advanced mobility and cooperation, approaches to the training, qualification, promotion and reward of higher education teaching and doctoral supervision remained fragmented, nationally bounded, and difficult to compare across countries. The project therefore aimed to contribute to greater transparency, coherence and convergence in this field by developing a blueprint for a common higher education teaching qualification scheme, supported by a comprehensive mapping exercise, best practice guidance, elements of a common curriculum, and evaluation and self-assessment tools.
A central part of the project was a comprehensive mapping of how teaching excellence was understood and organised across different systems. This mapping examined how teaching excellence was defined and measured, what teaching qualification and doctoral supervision qualification schemes existed, which other training schemes were available for BA, MA and doctoral supervision, what kinds of reward, promotion and incentive structures were in place, and how the Covid-19 crisis had affected teaching excellence policies and practices. The work focused in particular on the contexts of Denmark, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Portugal, while also drawing on wider European perspectives through additional research and network input. The mapping combined desk research, a standardised survey addressed to teaching staff, administrators and higher education managers, and further follow-up input from broader European contacts.
On this basis, E-NOTE produced a set of practical outputs to support universities and policymakers. These included best practice guidelines on the evaluation, reward, promotion and qualification of teaching excellence, including doctoral supervision, as well as a common curriculum for training teaching excellence. The curriculum brought together 22 syllabi focused on BA/MA studies and 14 on PhD supervision, designed as a flexible resource for universities, supervisors, programme managers and administrators rather than as a single universal model. Alongside this, the project worked on the implementation and evaluation of a pilot common teaching qualification scheme and training course, as well as measures for rewarding and promoting teaching excellence in the four participating universities, drawing also on the lessons from two teacher training courses and two PhD supervision training weeks. Across these outputs, a consistent conclusion was that there is no one-size-fits-all model: meaningful progress depends on institutional and national context, and the development of teaching excellence through standards, training and reward takes time.
E-NOTE developed a set of best practice guidelines on the curriculum development, evaluation, reward and promotion of teaching excellence, including doctoral supervision. Building on the mapping carried out in IO1, it identified and synthesised practices from the four partner universities, their national contexts, and the wider European environment in order to support the design of stronger teaching qualification schemes, stand-alone training offers, and recognition mechanisms. The guidelines focused in particular on how teaching excellence at undergraduate, graduate and doctoral levels is evaluated, how it is rewarded and promoted through both material and non-material incentives, and how qualification schemes and awards can be designed in ways that strengthen teaching quality and professional recognition. At the same time, the report stressed that these examples should be read as flexible and adaptable, not as a universal template: the core aim was to offer inspiring, student-centred practices that could be adjusted to different national and institutional realities.
E-NOTE examined how teaching qualification schemes, training courses for higher education, and measures for rewarding and promoting teaching excellence were implemented and evaluated across different university settings. Building on IO1, IO2 and IO3, and drawing in particular on the lessons of the project’s two teacher training courses and two PhD supervision training weeks, it moved from mapping and identifying best practices to looking at what implementation actually requires in practice. The report explored forms of regulation, implementation and evaluation, then considered examples of a common teaching qualification scheme, a common training course for higher education teaching, and different approaches to promotion schemes, teaching awards, teaching academies, allowances and bonuses. Its central conclusion was clear: there is no one-size-fits-all model. The development of teaching excellence through standards, training and reward depends on national and institutional conditions, and meaningful change in this area takes time.
The E-NOTE Handbook was designed to help carry the project’s results beyond its formal lifetime and to support wider reflection on European standards for teaching excellence and recognition. It is structured around six main areas: what teaching excellence is, what doctoral supervision excellence is, training excellence, rewarding and promoting excellence, evaluating excellence, and a teaching excellence toolkit.
