Deca calls for better links between education and research

“All students should learn to do research and the best way to learn to research is by doing it”, says ESU Chairperson Ligia Deca. At a Swedish EU presidency conference on research, innovation and education, Deca spoke of the need for increased focus on the primary innovators – namely students, professors and researchers.

“Innovation comes with letting your mind get out of the box”, says Deca. She also believes that this can hardly be achieved with HE systems that are based on “the mere transmission of already chewed concepts and the manifested expectation to reproduce them to the letter”.

In addition to the strengthened link between education and research, Deca also says that there is a need for better support for doctoral students, regardless of their employment status, discipline, country or background, in order to ensure equal access for all students who wish to be involved in research.
Read the full text of Deca’s Gothenburg speech here.