ACA Newsletter nr 7

6 June 2001

ETAPE won the Socrates/Leonardo/Youth tender
The "Prague Higher Education Summit": Follow-up of the Bologna process
Europe's First eLearning Summit in Brussels (10-11 May)
EUA Memo on Implications of GATS on European Higher Education
Swedish Conference on the Impact of Mobility

ETAPE won the Socrates/Leonardo/Youth tender

In February, the European Commission put on tender the task of technical assistance for the Socrates, Leonardo and Youth programmes. The contract has a volume of +/- 9 million EUR per year. ETAPE, the consortium of ACA and ESMU, had held the contract since June 1995, which expires at the end of July of this year. ETAPE decided to go for a second round and submitted a proposal.

On 18 May, DG EAC informed the Head of Office that it had selected the ETAPE bid and would enter into negotiations with the consortium. The ACA secretariat congratulates the TAO team on the excellent work which led to the DG EAC decision.

The "Prague Higher Education Summit": Follow-up of the Bologna process

Higher education ministers from 32 European countries met in Prague on 18 and 19 May, two years after the Bologna Declaration launched the process of creating a "European Higher Education Area" by 2010. As already in Bologna, some non-ministerial higher education associations were admitted too, among them the ACA.

The Ministers did not come up with a new "Prague Declaration", but published a communiqué, the important points of which are:

An endorsement of the aims stated in the "Bologna Declaration" and an appreciation of the progress achieved in establishing the "European Higher Education Area" (as outlined in the excellent Trends II report of Guy Haug and Christian Tauch)
Adding new themes, such as "lifelong learning" and "transnational education" to the agenda of the process.
Welcoming three new "process members", namely Croatia, Cyprus and Turkey
Deciding to meet again in Berlin in 2003. In the meantime, a follow-up group and a preparatory group, which is expected to have more continuity since its composition will no longer be governed by changing Council Presidencies, will coordinate the progress of the process.

Overall, one could not avoid the impression that the widening of the agenda might turn the process into an institutionalised permanent debate on European higher education, but might therefore also lose some of its change-oriented momentum.

The above-mentioned documents (Communiqué, Trends II) as well as other publications of key importance can be found on the EUA website: http://www.unige.ch/eua/

Europe's First eLearning Summit in Brussels (10-11 May)

Viviane Reding, European Commissioner in charge of Education and Culture, hosted the first eLearning Summit, organised together with the industry, in La Hulpe, Brussels, 10-11 May. Ministers and representative of leading ICT and multimedia companies examined possible public-private partnerships for the implementation of the eLearning Action Plan adopted by the Commission on 28 March. The Action Plan aims at promoting co-operation between European institutions, Member States, education and training practitioners and economic players for the use of new information and communication technologies in schools.

The Summit Declaration contains ten recommendations for future action, in short: To remove barriers to access and connectivity, support professional development, accelerate eLearning innovation and content development, address the ICT skills shortage, promote digital literacy and lifelong learning, and explore sustainable public private partnerships.

Further information on the eLearning Summit can be found at: http://www.ibmweblectureservices.com/eu/elearningsummit

EUA Memo on Implications of GATS on European Higher Education

The European University Association (EUA) has recently prepared a memo on the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and its possible implications on higher education in Europe.

An extension of the GATS agenda could happen in the next round of WTO negotiations and include higher education and adult education. Interest is growing to find out how liberalisation of trade services will affect higher education and more specifically European universities. It is clear that removing restrictions on market access and strengthening competition in the higher education sector could have significant effects.

In December 2000, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative delivered a summary of negotiating principles to the members of WTO concerning U.S. services, including a set on higher education. Following this, EUA is now attempting to put European interests on the agenda of the WTO by informing the members and surveying their views to be communicated to the WTO through the appropriate government channels. This is especially important as the WTO does not normally consult with NGOs directly.

The EUA memo that has been distributed to all the EUA members can be obtained from the ACA secretariat or directly from the EUA in Geneva.

Swedish Conference on the Impact of Mobility

The Swedish ACA member Internationella programkontoret organised on 30 and 31 May an international conference, From mobility to employability, in Stockholm. The conference was a part of the Swedish EU presidency.

It is a common assumption that international and European mobility has a positive impact on individuals, institutions concerned and on the society as such. The research on the issue has however not been very large. International researchers and experts present at the conference discussed ways to research mobility to better understand the international mobility and its effects.