Issue 13

Feature

Bologna Process on the agenda in Cameroon

This month, Bologna Expert Andy Gibbs from Edinburgh Napier University was invited to visit the Republic of the Cameroon by the Minister of Higher Education to talk to a conference of higher education experts regarding the Bologna Process and the UK’s experience.

The aim of the conference was to define guiding principles to enable adjustment of the national higher education system to create alignment with European qualifications and international standards. Andy Gibbs reports on developments:

The West Central African United Republic of Cameroon was formed in 1961 by the merger of the two former French and English colonies of Cameroon. The country remains bilingual and Higher Education systems currently retain either the French or British structure and curriculum content that were in use at the time of Independence in 1960. Today, these approaches are proving limited in their ability to deliver the skills and knowledge required nationally to develop both human and natural resources, thereby fostering a reliance on external input. Cameroon is also a member of the six country Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States(CEMAC), which is seeking to develop greater comparability, transparency and co-operation between its higher education systems.

For these reasons, the Conference “Refondation Curriculaire pour un Universitié camerounaise compétitive au 21st Siècle” was organised by the Ministry of Education, in July, in the capital city, Yaounde. The conference was attended by 300 delegates including representatives of public and private Higher Education institutions, employers, civil society, public administration and financial partners of Higher Education. The aim of the conference was to define guiding principles in the adoption of a three cycle system, enhance transparency and comparability of HE qualifications and focus on employability of graduates. Of particular interest to conference attendees were issues in the UK arising from the implementation of the Bologna Process. Learning Outcomes, Student Experience, Stakeholder Involvement, Institutional Autonomy, Building a quality culture and Human Resource Management, were also areas where the conference benefitted from learning about UK experience and current activity, as well as more focussed discussions on Qualifications Frameworks and comparability.

The next edition of European HE Matters - News from the UK HE Europe Unit will be published on Thursday 2 September 2010.

Bologna Process

Lukashenka directs that Belarus join Bologna Process

Belarus News this week reported that Alyaksandr Lukashenka has assigned Education Minister Alyaksandr Radzkow with starting the procedure of making Belarus a participating country of the Bologna Process, which aims to create a European Higher Education Area. Lukashenka’s press office said that joining the Bologna Process would bring national higher education standards closer to the European ones, facilitate the international accreditation of Belarusian universities, help introduce national mechanisms of assessing and guaranteeing education quality, expand access to European programs of academic and scientific cooperation, and increase the attractiveness of Belarus’ national higher education system for foreign students.

HEURO Newcomers' Workshop: Incoming students – 20 August 2010

A one-day workshop designed for newcomers to Erasmus, or any colleagues who would like to refresh their knowledge of the programme. This workshop will focus specifically on incoming students, including: a presentation of the annual administrative cycle and the different ways this is managed internally by institutions; the question of English language requirements; student welcome and orientation; a look at the broader European context and what it means for UK staff on the ground; and discussion of issues raised by the participation of international students in the Erasmus programme. A HEURO networking dinner will take place in Brighton on the Thursday evening.

HE qualifications frameworks conference report now available
The National Qualifications Authority of Ireland and the Higher Education Authority organised a conference in Dublin on 15 April entitled ‘National Qualifications Frameworks and the European Overarching Frameworks: Supporting Lifelong Learning in European Education and Training’. The conference attracted an international audience of over 150 delegates from countries across the European Union and beyond. The report of the conference summarizes the conclusions reached on the coherence of European meta-frameworks and the importance of EU legislation on the recognition of qualifications, mobility and the global perspective.

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Research

Survey on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Protection

The European Commission is conducting a new survey regarding IPR protection and enforcement in third countries, and the Commission is looking for input from involved stakeholders, including HEIs. The survey aims to help DG TRADE review its priorities on IP enforcement and protection and to update its list of ‘priority countries’ in this field. The Europe Unit encourages institutions to participate in the survey, which can be accessed by clicking on Details. The deadline is 31st October 2010, and UK insitutions are asked to copy informtion to ipenforcement@ipo.gov.uk so that they can be taken into account in any discussions at Member State level.

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News in brief

Commission Report: Implementation of the European Agenda for Culture

On 21st July the European Commission released a report on the European Agenda for Culture – Progress towards Shared Goals. This report aims to document the progress made since May 2007, when the Agenda for cooperation on culture policy at the European level was proposed, and outlines the path that lies ahead. Specifically, the report examines progress at European and national levels towards the Agenda’s three main objectives: the promotion of cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue, the promotion of culture as a catalyst for creativity, and the promotion of culture as a vital element in the EU's international relations. Underlying the Agenda is the belief that culture lies at the heart of the European project and is the anchor on which the EU’s "unity in diversity" is founded. Moreover, it recognises the fact that in today’s globalising world, culture can make a unique contribution to sustainable and inclusive growth, as well as cross-cultural understanding and cooperation, and should be ‘main-streamed’ into the Union’s policies in the fields of external relations, cohesion policy, and employment, among others.

The European Commission has also published a complementary working document that aims to give an overview of the developments in EU policies relating to culture.

Programmes to promote environmental skills

DG Environment has recently published a study on programmes to promote environmental skills in six member states of the EU: the UK, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Bulgaria and Poland. The report finds considerable variety among the countries, although, by and large, firms take the lead in developing ‘green’ skills, mainly through in-house training, and the most common method of financing is a mix of public and private funds. It should be noted that the study demonstrates that there is potential for exchange of best practice on this issue, both at the member state level, and between individual businesses and stakeholders.

New Skills for New Jobs Initiative: Roadmap for Communication on the initiative for new European competences

The context for this initiative is defined by the New Skills for New Jobs initiative, which builds on the Key Competences Framework established in 2006. Overall, the initiative aims to support efforts in Member States to modernise education and training provision and to ensure an integrated implementation of existing European instruments. It intends to go beyond the existing European Qualifications Framework (EQF) recommendation by working to develop a common language between the worlds of education and work and promoting the validation of non-formal and informal learning; as well as creating a European Skills Passport that would build on the existing Europass.

Public tender - Study on mobility developments in school education, vocational education and training, adult education and Youth exchange

The study aims to provide an overview of existing learning mobility schemes throughout Europe, outside the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) and the Youth in Action Programme (YiA), to analyse the overall mobility objectives and trends and to inform the public about the findings.

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Profile

The Europe Unit welcomes a new staff member - Alexandra Jenkins

Alexandra Jenkins recently joined the UK HE Europe Unit as a Policy Officer, where she will be focusing amongst other things on student mobility, cultural and creative industries, and multi-dimensional transparency tools (eg rankings) within the European context.

Alexandra just graduated from a Masters in European Studies and International Economics at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University. As part of this, she spent the first year in Bologna, Italy and the second in Washington, DC, and therefore has experience of studying abroad and with people from many different cultures. As a result, she is very supportive of the EU’s mobility agenda and its attempts to increase collaboration between European HEIs.

She is also keen to be involved in promoting best practice exchange between member states in relation to HE. She is familiar with the world of Higher Education having previously worked at Universities UK in the parliamentary unit and having been a stagiaire at the European Commission DG for Education and Culture (DG EAC) in Brussels. She also has an undergraduate degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics from Oxford University.

To contact Alexandra Jenkins regarding any of the policy areas she will be taking on, please write to alexandra.jenkins@europeunit.ac.uk

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Diary dates

August

27 European Centre for Strategic Management of Universities (ESMU) workshop, Benchmarking in European Higher Education, Budapest, Hungary.

September

6-7 Vitae researcher development conference 2010: “Realising the potential of researchers”, Manchester, UK

9-10 ENQA Workshop, Quality Assurance and Learning Outcomes, Vienna, Austria.

13-14 EUA Experts Conference ‘Towards Financially
Sustainable Universities II: Diversifying Income Streams’, Bologna, Italy.

September - November: Lifelong Learning Programme Information Days, Throughout the UK

October

14-15 EURASHE 20th Annual conference, ‘Implementing Bologna, from rhetoric to reality’ Tallin, Estonia.

14-16 2nd International Conference on Institutional Strategic Quality Management (ISQM 2010), Sinaia, Romania

20-23 EUA Annual Conference: “Diversities and Commonalities – the changing face of Europe’s universities” Palermo, Italy

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