Full costing has become a necessary feature of modern universities because it not only enables them "to identify and calculate all the costs of their activities," it also "helps to improve trust between government, funding agencies and universities," argues the report, published on 13 November.
Indeed, the EUA states that full costing is a "necessary strategic management tool for the increasingly autonomous universities of the 21st century".
The report claims that full costing can not be implemented without support from national governments "in terms of direct financial contributions, additional advisory support, training of human resources and development".
Thus, the EUA argues that governments and the EU institutions must "significantly step up their efforts […] if substantial progress is to be made in the coming years".
The European Commission has long been pushing EU countries to reform their universities and allow them "greater autonomy and accountability" to respond quickly to changes in a knowledge-based economy.
According to the Commission, this could include "revising curricula to adapt to new developments, building closer links between disciplines and focusing on overall research areas domains, such as renewable energy and nanotechnology, rather than disciplines".
The publication of the report follows an EUA conference earlier this year, at which EU Education Commissioner Jàn Figel' claimed that universities needed to "define the full costs of their activities" to justify the use of public and private money (EurActiv 13/02/08).
