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Newsletter 2824 April 2003 CONTENTS
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Public tenders in the EU |
Invitation to submit
expressions of interest in the field "Science and Society"
Contract notice : ALA - European Studies
Centres Programme
News from other sources
Bologna Items
Publications Basic Science and Technology Statistics: 2002 Edition
Distributed Education: Summary of a Six-Part Series (2003)
The use of ICT in Higher Education. A mirror of Europe
Globalising practices and university responses. European and
Anglo-American differences
Upcoming Conferences
News from the ACA Secretariat and ACA membersThe ACA Secretariat is proud to announce a major European conference on "Networks and Networking". The event will take place on 1 and 2 September 2003 in Hannover, only days before the Bologna follow-up meeting of European education ministers in Berlin. It is part of the official pre-Berlin programme of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, which also kindly provides financial support.
This top-quality event targets political decision-makers, academics and practitioners of internationalisation. It will feature high-level speakers, from the European Commission, national government and European higher education associations and networks. The conference is to look into the achievements of networks and multilateral "networked" cooperation in Europe during the past decade. More important, it is to establish an agenda of future needs in European networking, which will be brought to the attention of the Berlin ministerial meeting and thus feed into the next stages of the Bologna Process.
In thematic terms, the conference will focus on mobility, joint curriculum development (joint Masters and Ph.D. programmes), quality assurance, credit systems. With a view to these activities, it will explore the achievements and future opportunities of
You will receive an information update on the conference, together with a first programme outline, in about a month. In the meantime, do not hesitate to contact us in case of any questions: Ms. Maaike Dhondt, ACA Secretariat, tel: ++322 513 22 41, fax: ++322 513 17 76, e-mail: info@aca-secretariat.be
News from the European Union InstitutionsThe European Commission has decided to send France a letter of formal notice over its failure to comply with a ruling of the European Court of Justice which requires it to implement European law on the establishment of lawyers. Failure to do so could result in the Court's imposing a fine on France. The Commission has also decided to formally request that France implements into national law the EU Directive on the recognition of the professional education and training and particularly with regard to the profession of tourist guides. This request is in the form of a reasoned opinion, the second stage of infringement proceedings under Article 226 of the EC Treaty. In the absence of a satisfactory response from the French authorities within two months of their receiving the reasoned opinion, the Commission may refer France to the Court.
In addition, the Commission has decided to refer Greece to the Court of
Justice for its refusal to recognize certain diplomas, in particular
opticians' diplomas obtained by its own nationals on its territory but
delivered by institutions which provide other Member States' courses on a
licence basis.
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/03/501|0|RAPID&lg=EN&display=
At the conference on "Learning Regions" which was held on 3-4
April in Brussels, Viviane Reding, Education Commissioner, launched a
"R3L" (Regional Networks for Life-Long Learning"
initiative, which seeks to promote the creation of networks of learning
regions in order to establish lasting European cooperation in the area of
life-long education and training. It is designed to encourage fruitful
exchanges of experience and good practices on a European basis.
Of the 57 projects that were received and that were examined with the
involvement of independent experts, 17 were selected. The projects
financed represent 120 regions, cover an average of 7 regions per network,
encompass 15 of the 18 eligible countries and are receiving total
Community financial support of €2 095 000.
Of the ten topics proposed, the exchange of experience on the
development strategies of learning regions, local economic growth,
services to support the introduction of life-long learning, the
possibilities offered by information and communication technologies and
social integration aroused the most interest. The activities designed to
promote these topics range from the exchange of fruitful practices and the
production of information material or various evaluation tools to the
organisation of seminars and talks.
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/03/483|0|RAPID&lg=EN&display=
In the previous issue of the ACA Newsletter the ACA Secretariat announced the launch of the joint EC/Japan call for proposals for one or two multilateral, student-centred project(s) with the potential to serve as a model for future substantive and long-lasting structural EU/Japan cooperation in higher education. The guidelines for applicants are now available. The new deadline for submission of applications is 27 June 2003.
http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/education/japan/japan.html
Under this call for proposal the European Commission awards grants for the organisation of events (seminars and conferences) in the field of vocational training under the framework of the Accompanying Measures of the Leonardo da Vinci Programme. The call for proposals concerns the organisation of events in the following fields: Lifelong Learning, e-learning, development of competencies in enterprises, and guidance.
Proposals can be submitted by any institutions and/or organisations
meeting the eligibility criteria, working in the field of Vocational
Education and Training and wishing to organise events
(seminars/conferences) in the specific areas covered by this call for
proposal. The deadline for applications is 30 April 2003.
http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/education/leonardo/leonardo2/callevent/index_en.html
The Commission launched a call for proposals on "General
activities of observation, analysis and innovation", action 6 of the
SOCRATES programme. This call for proposals is intended to provide
financial support for projects, studies, comparative analysis, and other
appropriate activities on three priority key issues of the Report on the
future objectives of education and training systems in Europe, adopted by
the Council of Ministers on the 13th of July 2001: making best use of
resources, opening up the education and training systems to the wider
world, education and training for teachers and trainers. Projects should
involve establishments from at least five countries taking part in
Socrates programme. The deadline for applications is 28 May 2003.
http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/education/socrates/observation/call.html
This call for proposals covers three themes. These themes reflect the common objectives of the three programmes Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci and Youth and also support the European Union's lifelong learning policy initiatives as defined in:
The deadline for submission of applications is 15 June 2003.
http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/education/jointact_en.html
On 4 April the Commission launched €13 million worth of
"specific support actions" to stimulate, encourage and
facilitate the participation of the 13 Associated Candidate Countries in
the EU's €17.5 billion 6th Research Framework Programme. The call for
project proposals is open until 26 June 2003. Candidate countries enjoy
the same rights and obligations as EU Member States. They can be project
leaders and even create research consortia made up exclusively of partners
from Candidate Countries. Research is therefore the first area in which EU
enlargement has become a reality. Candidate Countries associated with FP6
and eligible to apply for funding are Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech
Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania,
Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey.
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/03/498|0|RAPID&lg=EN
On 8 April at the plenary session in Strasbourg the European Parliament
approved the amended Commission proposals for e-Learning and Erasmus World
programmes.
The EP voted in favour of the Commission proposal to create the
"Erasmus World" programme, however it suggested it to be called
"Erasmus Mundus". It also approved the increase of the budget of
the programme from EUR 200 million to EUR 300 million.
In a separate vote the EP also approved the amended proposal for
e-Learning programme with an increased budget of 27 million euro per year.
Other key amendments included a greater focus on the provision of training
for teachers to enable them to be able to use ICT and the Internet in
classrooms in a critical and educationally responsible manner. The MEPs
also called for more attention to be paid to the establishment of virtual
higher education campuses with a view to offering quality European
curricula as part of mobility programmes already in place or to be
implemented, such as Erasmus Mundus.
http://www3.europarl.eu.int/omk/omnsapir.so/pv2?PRG=NAVIG&FILE=030408&LANGUE=EN&TPV=PROV
On 3 April, Richard von Weizsaecker (former President of Germany) sent
a letter, co-signed by former leaders of European countries (including
Jacques Delors, former President of the European Commission, Wim Kok,
former Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Ingvar Carlsson, former Prime
Minister of Sweden and the others), to the Convention appealing to:
recognise the integral place of education and culture in the EU within the
preamble to the draft treaty; confirm its commitment to cooperation in
education and culture by maintaining the content of articles 150 and 151
(which endorse subsidiarity) and making both subject to qualified majority
voting; locate education and culture within the framework of shared
competences rather than an ambiguous category of "supporting
actions"; take cultural aspects into account in other policy areas of
the union; and foresee an explicit mandate for promoting cooperation with
third countries to promote intercultural understanding in the context of
globalisation.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,3604,931154,00.html
http://www.euractiv.com/cgi-bin/cgint.exe/3936591-612?targ=1&204&OIDN=1505136&-tt=ye
New Erasmus University Charters have been recently awarded to 2000 universities and higher education institutions, serving as an entry point for all ERASMUS activities a university wishes to engage in. It will entitle the universities to apply to the European Commission for funds for centralised ERASMUS projects (Curriculum Development projects, Intensive Programmes and Thematic Networks) and to the national agencies for funding for mobility activities (student and teacher mobility grants, grants for organisation of mobility and introduction of the European Credit Transfer System, ECTS).
The first call for applications to the Alban Programme, a high level
scholarships programme for Latin America in the EU, was closed on 10th
March 2003. Since its adoption, the programme has been the object of great
attention both in Latin America and in the European Union. More than six
thousand applications were received between the 20th December 2002 and the
10th March 2003. During this period, about 27,000 individuals registered a
login/password in the on-line application form.
Applications were received from all the 18 eligible countries of Latin
America with 60 % of them coming from 4 largest countries in the region:
Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Argentina. The preferred destination country
in the European Union is Spain, followed by the United Kingdom, France and
Portugal, although all the 15 countries of the European Union have been
included in the choice of Latin Americans. The next stage will be the
eligibility check of the received applications against the established
criteria.
The next call for scholarship applications to the Programme Alban is
expected in September 2003, aiming at education/training projects which
start in the academic year 2004/2005.
http://europa.eu.int/comm/europeaid/projects/alban/index_en.htm
The European Commission has launched a new phase of consultation for
the development of a future cultural European programme. This will replace
the existing Culture 2000 programme when it ends. The results of the
consultation will feed into the legislative proposal for a new programme
that the Commission will prepare this year.
This consultation runs from 10 April 2003 to 10 July 2003. All interested
parties are invited to participate in the public debate by responding to
the questions specified in the discussion paper available on the DG
Education and Culture website and transmitting their written contributions
by 10 July 2003.
http://europa.eu.int/comm/culture/eac/consult_pub_en.html
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Public tenders in the EU |
The European Commission invites the submission of 'expressions of
interest' (EoI) from those interested in participating in activities
related to the theme 'Science and Society' as part of the specific
programme 'Structuring the European Research Area'. The aim is to help the
Commission identify topics that could be the subject of calls for
proposals in 2004 and beyond. The EoI provides an opportunity to identify
activities that correspond to the concerns of interested bodies across
Europe.
EoI may be submitted from any individual, organisation or group of
organisations.
A guide for submitters, help desk address and further information relevant
to this invitation can be found at the following web address: http://www.cordis.lu/eoi/science-society/.
EoI must be prepared as indicated in the guide for submitters and must be
sent using the on-line submission form only, no later than 2 June 2003.
Publication reference: EUROPEAID/114125/C/SV/CN
The contracting authority: European Commission, on behalf of
the People's Republic of China.
Nature of contract: Technical assistance.
Contract description: The subject of this contract is
providing the TA assistance for managing the EU-China European Studies
Centres Programme with the objectives of developing the European Studies
in the Chinese Higher Education and links between EU and Chinese Higher
Education:
- in Beijing: provision of an EU Technical Assistance team for technical
orientation, studies and training activities, planning, information,
library material purchasing, budget control, monitoring and reporting on
project components, and for the general management of the project. The
team will consist of 4 key experts (co-direction, administration, academic
advisement and financial management) and unallocated short-term
specialists over the total duration of the project;
- in Europe: appointment of an EU Project Manager for coordination of the
activities and in support of the PMO ensuring smooth technical, financial
and contractual implementation and continuity of the management of the
project in the European Union.
Maximum budget: 1 526 100 EUR.
Duration: 48 months
Deadline: 23 May 2003, 16:00 Beijing time
How applications may be submitted: Applications must be submitted
exclusively to the contracting authority:
- either by recorded delivery (official postal service) or hand delivered
(including courier services) to: European Union, Delegation of the
European Commission, Financial and Contract Management Section,
Dongzhimenwai Street, 15, Sanlitun, Chaoyang District, 100600 Beijing,
People's Republic of China.
News from other sourcesOn 8 April, the UK education secretary, Charles Clarke revealed his plans to create a body to oversee universities admissions. The Office for Fair Access (Offa) will be responsible for ensuring that universities are taking measures to encourage people from disadvantaged backgrounds to apply to university, rather than setting benchmarks or targets for their admission, as had been feared.
Offa will draw up five-year agreements with each university that wants
to charge up to £3,000 in fees. These universities will have to undertake
outreach work to increase applications from target groups as well as offer
bursaries or other financial support to students. The head of Offa will be
appointed by government, but will be independent of it, and will report
annually to Parliament.
The paper "Widening participation in higher education", which
contains the proposal for the creation of Offa is subject to Parliamentary
approval before coming into force.
http://education.guardian.co.uk/universityaccess/story/0,10670,932270,00.html
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/highereducation/
Bologna ItemsBologna follow-up conference on Master-level degrees was held on 14-15 March in Helsinki. The participants adopted a series of recommendations which can serve as common denominators for a master degree in the European Higher Education Area.
http://www.bologna-berlin2003.de/pdf/Results.pdf
Bologna follow-up seminar on "Qualification Structures in Higher Education in Europe" was held in Copenhagen on 27-28 March. The seminar focused on methodological problems in describing degrees and levels in higher education and on consensus in describing the degrees basic to the Bologna Declaration. The participants adopted a list of recommendations on the qualifications framework to be presented at the Ministers Meeting in Berlin in September 2003.
http://www.bologna-berlin2003.de/pdf/Results_copenhagen.pdf
UNESCO-CEPES and EUA organised a conference on the "External
Dimension of the Bologna Process: South-East European Higher Education and
the European Higher Education Area in a Global World" in Bucharest,
Romania on 6-8 March 2003.
The conference was organised in the framework of the project
"Regional University Network on Governance and Management of Higher
Education in South East Europe (SEE)" and was attended by high level
participants: representatives of ministries from the SEE countries and
seniors officials from the international organisations.
The participants discussed the following topics in the context of the
applications of Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro to join the Bologna process:
The participants examined the progress achieved so far by the SEE higher education systems towards the goals of the Bologna Process and identified priority areas for further action.
http://www.cepes.ro/hed/meetings/cepes_eua/Default.htm
PublicationsHow much money is devoted to research and experimental development (R&D)? This electronic publication provides recent basic statistics on the resources devoted to R&D in OECD countries. The statistical series start from 1981 and cover, inter alia, expenditure by source of funds, type of costs, personnel by occupation and level of qualification. Data are detailed at national level by performance sector, for enterprises by industry, and for higher education by field of science. This electronic edition also provides for the first time information on Female R&D personnel and Total R&D personnel in Headcount for years 1995 onward.
This paper offers an executive summary of each of the monographs
commissioned by the American Council on Education (ACE) and EDUCAUSE for
the series, Distributed Education: Challenges, Choices, and a New
Environment. This final report provides readers a brief overview of each
monograph, which cover a variety of topics related to distributed
education: the contemporary context of distributed education,
self-regulation, the importance of institutional leadership, student
learning, partnerships, and major challenges to the growth of distributed
distance education.
http://www.acenet.edu/bookstore/index.cfm?pubID=286
Higher education is adapting to one of the most challenging developments in its history: the emergence of a society that is global, networked and in which knowledge is the main economic driving force. This development is at the same time the result of and is facilitated by ICT. Higher education institutions are challenged to integrate these technologies into their core processes and organisation, and to develop strategies for effectively educating their students in this new social context.
This book offers insight into these developments in twelve different European countries. These national cases are supplemented with thematic chapters addressing the role of EU policy, its impact at an institutional level, cooperation and competition and the influence of regional and cultural factors. The book is intended for professionals interested in national policies and institutional strategies concerning ICT in higher education.
For some, the impact of globalising practices in universities has been quite dramatic. For others, there have been changes, but they had less of an impact. In this book, these changes have been analyses to see whether globalisation has altered universities. The study attempt to discover the impact that globalizing practices may have had on the higher education system (and particular universities in these) in France, Norway, the Netherlands and the United States. More than 130 academics and administrators in the four countries were interviewed to assess the possible impact. Chapters in the book deal with the impact regarding privatisation, competition, entrepreneurialism; university governance; accountability; employment flexibility; and new technologies.
http://www.utwente.nl/cheps/what%27s_new/new_publications/
Upcoming
ConferencesAugust 05-08
9th International Conference on Enhancement and Promotion of Computational
Methods in Engineering and Science
University of Macao, Macao
Contact: epmesc2003@umac.mo
http://www.umac.mo/EPMESC2003/
August 21-23
Educational Psychology and Beyond? Perspectives on Person - Intervention -
Changing Communities
University of Roskilde, Denmark
www.piff.ruc.dk
August 24 - 27
25th Annual EAIR Forum, Building Bridges and Enhancing Experience,
University of Limerick, Ireland
Contact: eair@eair.uva.nl
www.org.uva.nl/eair/limerick/index.html
August 26 - 29
Towards a knowledge society: integrating learning and work, the 13th World
Conference on Cooperative Education,
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
http://www.wacerotterdam2003.nl/
August 26 - 30
10th Biennial Conference, University of Padova, Italy
Contact: earli2003@psy.unipd.it
http://earli2003.psy.unipd.it/
August 28-29
'What Works' in the Management of Art Schools and other Specialised
Institutions,
OECD, Paris, France
Contact: jan.karlsson@oecd.org
August 29 - 31
"Criteria and Process of Accreditation of Higher Education
Institutions" 17th Annual International Conference on Higher
Education conference,
Nairobi, Kenya.
Contact: iche@intconfhighered.org
August 31 - 04
ACU General Conference: Universities: Engaging with their Communities
Belfast, Northern Ireland, Queen's University of Belfast
http://www.acu.ac.uk/