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ACA Newsletter nr 1504 March 2002
In 1998, a change of Germany's higher education law created the basis for the introduction of Bachelor and Master degrees. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has now commissioned CHEPS, the Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies, to investigate the implementation of the new degrees at German higher education institutions. The project, which also involves the Centrum für Hochschulentwicklung (CHE) and the German Rectors' Conference (HRK) is based on a survey focussing on the supply and take-up of these programmes, on how they are developed and implemented, and on how the process of decision-making takes place. Attention is also paid to the coordination of demand for and supply of Bachelor and Master programmes, to the role of external cooperation, the perceived effects of the new programmes, and critical success (and failure) factors in developing the programmes. CHEPS will compare the results of this survey with the findings of a study it conducted in 2001 on the implementation of the Bachelor/Master structure in the Netherlands. Furthermore, CHEPS intends to widen its investigation into the Bachelor/Master theme to other signatory countries of the Bologna Declaration.
As already reported in the Newsletter No 13, the Asia-Link Programme is a new initiative by the European Commission to promote regional and multilateral networking between higher education institutions in EU Member States and South Asia, South-East Asia and China. The programme aims to promote the creation of new partnerships and new sustainable links between European and Asian higher education institutions, and to reinforce existing partnerships. The objective of the Asia-Link programme is to promote regional and multilateral networking between higher education institutions in Europe, South and South East Asia and China. Eligible countries are the 15 Member States of the European Union and the following 17 Asian countries/territories: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, East Timor, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam (co-operation with Afghanistan is currently "suspended"). The Asia-Link Programme will publish a first Call for Proposals with two deadlines: 24 May 2002; and 24 October 2002 For more detailed information on the programme and on how to apply,
please refer to the following web-site on Asia-Link 2002:
On 14 February, the EU Education Ministers approved a detailed work programme for the implementation of the "future concrete objectives" of education and training systems in Europe. In order to reach the thirteen "objectives" agreed on earlier, the report, jointly prepared by the Council and the Commission, defines some forty key issues and a timetable for implementation until 2010. It will be submitted to the European Council meeting in Barcelona on 15 and 16 March. Reflecting the "European institutions' determination to meet the challenges of the knowledge-base society, globalisation and the enlargement of the European Union", it sets what the Commission calls "ambitious but realistic goals". Until 2010, the following aims are to be attained: - the highest quality will be achieved in education and training and
Europe will be recognised as a world-wide reference for the quality and
relevance of education and training systems and institutions; If nothing else, the report shows that modesty is none of the ministers' more developed qualities.
The number of foreign students undertaking courses in Australian education institutions, both onshore and offshore, is further increasing. The 'Overseas Student Statistics 2000' published by the Australian Department of Education show that between 1999 and 2000 there was an increase of 15.6% in overseas student enrolments with Australian education providers (from 162,965 students in 1999 to 188,277 in 2000). Some 43% of these students are, however, enrolled in schools or vocational training institutions. The majority of foreign students continue to come from Asia (82.6%): Singapore is the leading provider of international students, followed by Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia. During 2000, the majority of overseas students undertook Business, Administration and Economics studies (49.8%), followed by Sciences (15%). The Department of Education estimates that that these students spent some 3.7 billion USD in Australia (excluding tuition fees). The continued increase of overseas students continues to reflect the long-term trend of phenomenal growth experienced since fee-paying students began studying in Australia in the mid 1980's. More information at http://aei.detya.gov.au/general/pubs/Oss00/Oss00_sum.htm
The European League of Institutes of the Arts, ELIA, has recently been commissioned by the European Commission, DG Education and Culture, to find out more about the experience of student and staff mobility in arts institutions. This initiative is based on a current situation where no comparative and cross-national data are available on the scale and impact of increasing mobility in EU arts institutions. ELIA has been granted a two-year project to explore how international mobility is developing - both in a quantitative and a qualitative sense - and how it can be improved. The project will make use of quantitative methods (questionnaire surveys on flows of incoming and outgoing students) and qualitative approaches (site visits). Special actions to target alumni are also planned. For further information or expressions of interest, please send an e-mail to maria@elia.ahk.nl
On 21 November 2001, the European Commission adopted its Communication "Making a European Area of Lifelong Learning". This Communication had been based on a comprehensive consultation process at European and international level (see Newsletter n° 6), which in its turn was triggered off by the Commission’s Memorandum on Lifelong Learning. The Member States, the EEA countries and candidate countries had conducted their own inclusive and wide-ranging consultations, involving relevant national bodies. These consultation led to the production of national reports, which the governments submitted to the Commission. The national reports are now available on the Europa web site, and downloadable at http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/life/report_en.html
SEFI, the European Society for Engineering Education, has created 'SEFI Portfolio', a new space on its web site specifically dedicated to the Bologna Declaration. The Portofolio contains, among other things, the basic reference texts (Bologna Declaration, Prague Communiqué), SEFI's Position Paper on the Bologna Process as well as statements of other European higher education associations, as well as the results of a European survey on the implementation of the Bologna Declaration Opinion conducted in autumn of 2001. Lately, SEFI has put online its recent discussion paper prepared by the SEFI Task Force on the Bologna Declaration (http://www.ntb.ch/SEFI/Bologna-SEFI.pdf). In this paper, SEFI remains consistent with itself and its earlier position: while agreeing to most items on the Bologna agenda, it voices doubts as to the desirability of the central Bologna element, the two-tier degree system. SEFI argues that the needs of engineering are particular in that regard, and that there is already a relatively homogeneous European degree structure in engineering, which to preserve will have its merits. Hard copies of the portfolio can be obtained from the SEFI Head Office (info@sefi.be), but all documents can also be downloaded from http://www.sefi.be
Acting on a proposal from Commissioners Viviane Reding and Chris Patten, the Collège des Commissaires adopted on 11 February 2002 a proposal to extend the TEMPUS university cooperation programme, so far targeting Central and Eastern Europe only, to the Mediterranean countries Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, Syria and Lebanon. The extension of TEMPUS forms part of the Commission’s strategy to strengthen the dialogue between the peoples and cultures of the European Union and those of the Mediterranean. The Euro-Mediterranean partnership will therefore be strengthened by this programme in the field of higher education. It is to replace the gap in EU higher education cooperation programmes between the two regions, which became more or less absolute after the end of the MEDCAMPUS scheme. The extension of TEMPUS, to be funded by the MEDA programme (with 21.5 million Euro for 2003 and 21.5 million for 2004), involves the nine above-mentioned countries. Cyprus and Malta are already taking part, together with the candidate countries, in the SOCRATES programme, and Turkey should shortly be in the same situation. In the framework of the decision making process between institutions, currently the proposal for the extension of TEMPUS is with the European Parliament for the mandatory consultation and with the Committee of the Regions and Economic and Social Committee for the optional consultation. The proposal has also been forwarded to the Council for a decision. The Commission hopes that the decision on the extension of TEMPUS will be taken by the end of the Spanish Presidency. In case the decision will indeed be taken in June 2002, a first call for applications could be launched at the end of 2002. http://europa.eu.int/prelex/detail_dossier_real.cfm?CL=en&DosId=171559
UNESCO-CEPES, the European Centre for Higher Education, is celebrating its 30th Anniversary around a major event, the "Jubilee International Conference on Higher Education in the 21st Century: Its Role and Contribution to our Common Advancement". This event will take place in Bucharest, Romania, from 6 to 8 September 2002. The conference is organised under the joint patronage of the President of Romania, Ion Iliescu, and the Assistant Director-General for Education of UNESCO, Sir John Daniel, who will also deliver the keynote address. Six sessions will take place, devoted to a range of themes related to the role and contribution of higher education in society. In addition to a host of most distinguished speakers, invitations have been extended to ministers and governmental officials in charge of higher education and to leaders of international and national academic institutions and organisations. Please note that the conference is on invitation only. Papers and speeches presented at the conference will be published by UNESCO/CEPES later on.
In our last newsletter, we reported on the Bologna-Prague follow up conference, to be held in Berlin in 2003, highlighting the roles of DAAD, our German member (and the HRK) in the organisation of the event. By not mentioning explicitly the role of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Science (BMBF), we might have created the impression that the BMBF was not, in the last resort, politically and otherwise responsible for this high-level event. But of course, it is. We apologise for the misunderstanding we might have created for some readers
European Commission, Directorate General Research, EU Socio-Economic
Research. Lifelong Learning: the Implications for Universities in the EU
(RTD-2001-130) Grundtvig Compendium 2001 Understanding Virtual Universities Reviews of National Policies for Education (Lithuania) To buy it: http://oecdpublications.gfi-nb.com/cgi-bin/OECDBookShop.storefront/EN/product/142002021P1
12 - 13 March 2002 13 - 15 March 2002 16 - 22 March 2002 21 - 23 March 2002 25 - 26 March 2002 26 - 29 March 2002 11 - 12 April 2002 12 - 13 April 2002 19 - 20 April 2002 16 - 17 May 2002 16 - 17 May 2002 |
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