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ACA Newsletter nr 1311 Decemebr 2001
The European Commission is about to launch its long-awaited Asia Link programme. The first of two calls for proposals in Asia-Link, which is aimed at creating sustainable partnership structures between higher education institutions in the EU and South/Southeast Asian countries and China, is expected for February 2002. The programme will have a budget of 40 million Euro in its first five-year phase. Funding is made available for consortia of minimally two EU and one Asian HEI, in the three programme slots of human resource development, curricular development and higher education administration. Asia-Link is to be managed inside the European Commission, by the EuropeAid Cooperation Office. News about Asia-Link can be obtained from
On 21 November 2001, the European Commission adopted a Communication aimed at "making a European area of lifelong learning a reality". The Communication of the same name is the result of the consultation process the Commission carried out after issuing its Memorandum on Lifelong Learning (November 2000). This consultation had involved some 12,000 individuals, as well as the member states, the Community institutions, the social partners and NGOs. In a press release, Viviane Reding and Anna Diamantopoulou, Commissioners for Education and Youth and for Employment and Social Affairs, underline that fewer than ten percent of European adults of working age undertook any training in 2000, and stress that greatly enhanced efforts will be necessary if Europe is to remain globally competitive in a knowledge-based age. The Communication, which will be presented to the European Council of March 2002, proposes "six key elements for coherent and effective education and training strategies". While a European strategy on lifelong learning is sought, it is clear that the member states will be the key players in any measures to improve the current situation. The text of the Communication is available as a Pdf file in all Community languages under http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/life/index.html
In November 2001, the South East European University opened its doors in Tetovo, in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The South East European University, heavily promoted by the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, was physically constructed in a record period of just half a year. Located in an area known to most Europeans for its intense inter-ethnic strive, it seeks to contribute to long-term stability between the Macedonian and Albanian communities. The university is open to all students regardless of ethnicity. It will offer education in law, business and public administration, teacher training, communications and computer studies. The curriculum, in Albanian, Macedonian, English and other European languages, will be taught by both local faculty and visiting academic staff. The international community has so far pledged funds amounting to 33 million euro. The SEE University website can be visited under http://www.see-university.com
PISA, the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment, has published its first results. The programme surveys the knowledge and skills of pupils in reading literacy and in mathematics and science at the end of compulsory schooling (+/- 15 years) in OECD and other "developed" countries. Three rounds of tests will be conducted. The results of the first round are based on tests carried out in 2000, in which 265,000 pupils in 32 countries were involved. Finland came out top in reading literacy, while Japan and Korea lead the table in mathematics and science. The report of the first-year round, entitled Knowledge and skills for life - First results from PISA 2000, contained less than welcome surprises for some European countries. The report can be obtained from the OECD (available in English, French and German). Further information is available under http://www.pisa.oecd.org.
ACA, the European University Association (EUA) and the IMHE programme of OECD, continue to offer their Internationalisation Quality Review (IQR) to universities in Europe and beyond. IQR is a service available to higher education institutions, which aims at the improvement of the quality of institutional policy and practice in the field of internationalisation. Based on self-assessment and peer review, it seeks to advise and advance rather than to benchmark participating institutions. Recent IQRs have been conducted at universities in the Netherlands, Denmark, South Africa and Mexico. The consortium has now devised new IQR information material, and has launched an information campaign for the 2002 round of IQRs. For further information and registration, please consult the IQR pages on the EUA website http://www.unige.ch/eua/EN/activities/QA/IQR/welcome.html
The European Association of Institutions in Higher Education (EURASHE) has announced the launch of a project aimed at the inclusion of short-cycle tertiary education in the framework of the Bologna Process. Tertiary Short Cycle (TSC) education in Europe, i.e. programmes of a duration of less than three years, have so far not been given much consideration in this process, which seeks to implement a Bachelor/Master architecture. EURASHE, as a representative of "non-university" higher education, has been, next to the EUA, one of the academic consultation partners of the governments involved in the Bologna process, but has until now kept a rather low profile. The project will first of all try to "map" present-day provision of short-cycle studies in Europe, in the form of a comparative survey and an international seminar. The project report is to be the basis of further activity, leading to possible recommendations concerning the inclusion of TSC education in the Bologna Process. The project will span the period from January to October 2002 and is hoped to inform the next ministerial Bologna follow-up meeting, to be held in Berlin in the spring of 2003. More information on the project can be found under http://www.eurashe.be/news/project.htm
After an 18-months-long process involving thousands of young people, youth experts, national authorities and NGOs, the European Commission adopted on 21 November a White Paper on youth issues, entitled A New Impetus for European Youth. The long preparation process of the White Paper underscored the need to bridge the gap between young people and active citizenship. The document was presented to the Youth Council on 29 November 2001. The White Paper can be found in EN, FR and DE as a Pdf-file under http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/youth/ywp/index.html One of the most interesting initiatives undertaken in the run-up to the White Paper was the preparation of the Eurobarometer 2001 survey on young people in Europe, in the form of an EAC-conducted survey of young Europeans aged 15 to 24. The survey, trying to find out who exactly Europe's young people are and what they think of the European Union, has now been completed and published in the report Young Europeans in 2001. To consult the report as Pdf-file, see http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg10/epo/eb/eb55/young_summary_en.pdf
In the previous issue of the ACA Newsletter, we had announced the 50th anniversary of Dutch ACA member Nuffic. On the occasion of the anniversary, Nuffic will stage a high-level international conference on the theme of The global higher education market; shifting roles, changing rules. This conference, which will take place in The Hague on 19 March 2002, will explore the liberalisation move that higher education is undergoing at present, and related issues of quality control and access. Speakers will include Dutch education minister Loek Hermans, South African education minister Kader Asmal, Peter Scott, former editor of the THES and rector Frans van Vught of the University of Twente. Nuffic asked ACA to publish its conference press release in the Newsletter, which we are very glad to do. Readers will find it attached below:
New Nuffic Publication Highlighting Financial Assistance Schemes in Europe To obtain the study (available in German with an executive summary in English) and for more information, please contact WIFO, A-1130 Wien, Postfach 91, Tel. ++43 1 7982601, Fax. ++43 1 7989386 or Dr Christian Ruhs, Austrian Permanent Representation to the EU, Tel. ++32 2 2345 207, e-mail:christian.ruhs@bmaa.gv.at New Eurydice Network Focus Publication See http://www.eurydice.org/News/EN/FrameSet_News_en.htm The World Higher Education Database 2001/02 CD-Rom The CD-Rom can be ordered from Palgrave Global Publishing at St Martin’sb Press in New York (http://www.palgrave-usa.com/Education) and Palgrave, Houndsmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire (http://www.palgrave.com/reference). IAU members can order the CD-Rom directly from IAU (Fax: +33-1-47347605, e-mail: centre.iau@unesco.org)
21 - 23 March 2002 8 – 9 April 2002 19 – 20 April 2002 12 - 13 April 2002 |
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