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This paper presents a descriptive analysis of the impact of tuition fee increases in England on the full‐degree mobility of undergraduate students from the European Union. First, we investigated whether the increase in tuition fees reduced the number of EU students in English higher education institutions. Our analysis shows that, on average, English universities suffered a sudden drop in EU enrolments in 2012/13 but recovered and then expanded their pre‐2012 enrolment levels in subsequent academic years. We observe that those English universities regarded as less prestigious experienced the sharpest decline and took longer to recover their pre‐2012 numbers. Second, we examined how changes in enrolment are associated with EU countries' macro‐level characteristics, using the push‐pull model framework. While there was a significant decrease in the number of students from Northern and Western European countries attending English universities after 2012, the tuition fee increase did not impact the number of students coming from Southern Europe. We found an association between EU countries' youth employment rates and higher education system characteristics with changes in enrolment in English universities. By examining the effect of changes in the tuition fee policy on international student mobility, our research provides new evidence on how tuition fee policies might change the behaviour of students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The processes of Europeanisation—meaning the deepening of European integration on various levels—have previously been discussed from the point of view of political science, economics, linguistics, and cultural studies, with a macro‐perspective on states, institutions, and organisations. However, Europe and the European Union (EU) are populated by individuals, who are actors of European transnationalism, which this paper conceptualises as horizontal Europeanisation. Spatial mobility is also becoming more relevant for thriving academics, and the EU aims to close ranks in Europe in the field of higher education and research. Therefore, this paper asks how the process of horizontal Europeanisation among early‐career academics manifests itself. This process is discussed against the background of the framework of the EU and the European Research Area (ERA), where academics make use of a common scientific market. The basis for the qualitative empirical analysis is 60 biographical interviews with intra‐EU mobile doctoral candidates. The findings show that the EU and ERA contribute to the processes of horizontal Europeanisation and support it. However, many decisive factors for horizontal Europeanisation lie beyond the EU and the concept of ERA. The novelty of this article as a contribution to European studies is the explanation of horizontal Europeanisation among academics through spatial mobility patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the scholarship on internationalisation in higher education, transnational networks are seldom mentioned and even less studied. However, recent EU policy initiatives have attempted to enhance this form of internationalisation in order to tackle issues of employability, skills and competences and innovative curriculum development. Within European transnational networks, higher education institutions are posited to play a central role, as they are considered engines of socio‐economic development in the so‐called Knowledge Economy. To explore empirically the significance of higher education institutions in such networks, this article presents an analysis of 991 European networks promoting educational innovation within the Erasmus+ programme between 2014 and 2018. We analyse the role of higher education institutions by network size, governance, membership, and associated types of innovation. Our findings confirm expectations about the pivotal role of higher education institutions. However, expectations should be significantly nuanced, as higher education institutions tend to lead comparatively small networks. Also, higher education institutions tend to favour general innovative themes rather than specialised topics. Our contribution is threefold. First, it increases our understanding of higher education institutions' capacity to engage with multi‐level, multi‐actor, multi‐country innovation networks. Second, it sheds light on how higher education institutions have engaged with different priorities in EU's modernisation agenda. Finally, our paper extends the scholarship on internationalisation in higher education by looking at transnational networks in teaching and learning as an emerging phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a lot of interest to competence-based education in research and scholarship. How competencebased education has been developed and implemented varies across education systems in Europe. The European Commission defines digital competence as one of the eight key competence standards for lifelong learning. The European digital competence framework DigComp provides a comprehensive and exhaustive framework for citizens; it has the potential to be adapted to the needs of specific target groups. Nevertheless, no current research has focused on the need for developing a common framework for primary and secondary education. To address this gap we present a digital competence framework for European primary and secondary students. DigComp and a set of European frameworks are analysed in this paper. Combining categorical analysis with the collaboration of teachers and experts in the field, we define performance criteria and components that contribute to competence by five categories, providing a framework to promote the acquisition and evaluation of digital competence. This framework can be implemented in any EU country, it incorporates the most recent theoretical advances in research on information and communication technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shortages of qualified teachers in primary and secondary education are very common in almost all European countries and in the US. Since high quality teachers are usually the most likely to leave, much attention has been focused on teacher turnover; retaining the best teachers can help to ameliorate teacher shortages. Using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), this paper examines the rates and characteristics of teacher turnover across European countries. Though the numerical rates of teacher turnover have followed similar patterns, countries are very individual in other respects, including the types of positions teachers hold and how they are appraised. Moreover, from the early 1990s, Eastern European countries experienced economic transitions that have influenced teacher mobility in the long term. Thanks to SHARE, we can study the occupational trajectories of respondents in nineteen European countries. By identifying those who changed their occupation, we can learn more about teacher turnover, its characteristics across Europe and how it has been affected by economic and political transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spain has one of the highest levels of early school leaving and educational failure of the European Union. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the anatomy of early school leaving in Spain and its characteristics. In order to do so, in the first part we discuss the measurement problems related with this concept and the evolution of drop-out rates in Spain. We argue that the published figures of early school leaving slightly underestimate the phenomenon, and discuss the impact of the increase in immigration rates on the level of educational failure and its very unequal distribution in terms of gender. In a second part, using data from the Labour Force Surveys of 2000 and 2007, we explore the factors behind educational failure by means of a logistic regression. The results of this model confirm the explanatory power of social reproduction hypotheses, but also show that there are important aspects of the patterns and recent evolution of early school leaving which cannot be explained by a single theoretical approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article traces the Lisbon strategy back to the White Paper issued by President Jacques Delors in 1993 on Growth, Competitiveness, and Jobs as the launching point for the structural reform agenda needed to turn around the massive unemployment crisis and proposing a combination of policies for the structural reform of the labour market and stability-oriented macroeconomic policies designed to stimulate economic growth. The centrality of education and training in the Lisbon strategy is seen as key to the lifelong chances of every citizen linked to the need for Europe to compete on the basis of a knowledge-based economy if it is to maintain its high social standards. Describing the first years of the Lisbon strategy as ‘a stuttering start’, the mid-term stock-taking which offered European leaders the opportunity to fine-tune or radically modify the strategy is analysed. The article highlights the paradox that, although human capital is claimed to be Europe's most precious resource, there is inadequate focus on the weakest aspects of current systems. It also focuses on policy and financial levers which need to be mobilised within Member States as well as the implications for national budgets. It suggests the prioritisation of a small number of areas on which to concentrate efforts and echoes the Council calling for a ‘quantum leap’ in the ambition of the EU to ensure that the necessary follow-up is given to meet the challenges. Finally, a strong argument is put forward to take steps to move towards a unified set of proposals for lifelong learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decision-making in educations systems has become more complex: while decentralisation has moved the locus of power to lower governance levels, the central level still is held responsible for the quality of outcomes. As a consequence, new steering strategies have emerged that tend to apply softer modes of governance as opposed to harder ones in the past. This article aims at shedding empirical and conceptual light on these new developments. It compares two national examples for soft modes of governance with a supra-national one (the EU's Open Method of Co-ordination OMC) and argues that OMC might be both a useful analytical lens to categorise new steering mechanisms and a possibly promising policy strategy at the national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2017, the European Union (EU) initiated the development of the European Education Area (EEA). The referentiality approach frames an original and timely inquiry into how EU policymakers explain the reasons for the development of the EEA. This inquiry relies on thematic analysis of relevant key policy materials, produced by the European Commission and the Council of the EU. The findings highlight a range of internal and external referentiality mechanisms that EU policymakers use to justify the development of the EEA. Internal references are related mainly to education traditions in the EU as a strong foundation for the EEA and the source of its ideas; the beliefs that the EEA can help overcome the interlocking crises the EU has faced in its recent past in the area of education as well as more generally; as well as the organisation of the EEA as part of the functioning of the EU, with both mutually shaping each other. External references are used to build on this and boost the competitiveness of EU's education sector and the EU as a region in the world. These findings address important gaps in our knowledge about EU policymakers' reasons for the development of the EEA. They enrich the limited literature about the EEA, make a theoretical contribution by extending the application of the referentiality approach and call policy actors at all levels of the EEA to facilitate a shared understanding of the reasons for the development of the EEA to ensure that their work serves EEA's purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explores the emerging policies and actions for evidence of support for widening participation to higher education in European Union (EU) policy and programs. Overview of the Maastricht treaty of 1992; Significance of Maastricht Treaty for the emergence of education in the EU policy discourse.

While the European Parliament is increasingly involved in EU governance, its role in policy developments in domains of strategic importance for the EU has not been the focus of many studies. In this article, we analyse a new digital dataset containing more than 10,000 speeches delivered in the European Parliament plenary between 1999 and 2014 and identify patterns related to temporal increase or decrease in the Parliament's focus on higher education, the topics linked to higher education discussions and patterns concerning the country and party group affiliation of the European Parliament members who speak about higher education. Our findings suggest that the total number of speeches, either specifically dedicated to higher education, or mentioning higher education when addressing other issues, did increase over time and particularly during the adoption of action programmes and related budgetary decision. Furthermore, higher education was less referred to in the Parliament speeches as a stand‐alone issue than in relation to other policy areas in which the EU has strong jurisdiction. Finally, our findings indicate that the variance in whether a Member of the European Parliament speaks about higher education is more closely linked to country of origin than party affiliation, highlighting the persistent national dimension of higher education discussions at the European level. These findings attest to the increasing – yet largely overlooked – role of the European Parliament in higher education policy making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article records and documents the historical development of e-learning policies at EU level by conducting a discourse and content analysis of four key e-learning policy documents drafted and implemented by the European Commission over the past 20 years: Learning in the Information Society: Action Plan for a European Education Initiative (1996) , the eLearning Action Plan (2001), the eLearning Programme (2003) and the Lifelong Learning Programme (2006). The themes teased out from the analysis reveal a gradual consolidation of e-learning policy at EU level, indicating the emergence of an increasingly coherent and formal approach to supporting e-learning initiatives for the benefit of actors at Member State level. The forging of a ' European dimension' in e-learning projects represents the hallmark of these EU policies, but it remains to be seen whether the EU institutions will continue to devote similar attention to and place particular focus on e-learning as a distinct policy priority in the years to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Securing the rights articulated in the Convention is an effective approach to improving the quality of early experiences.' This article analyses early childhood education and care and child rights in early childhood and their relationship in the European Union. Both are primarily national competencies. The EU has limited access and tools to influence policies and practices, while there are many ways in which indirect interventions are not only possible, but greatly used, often in areas that do not seem to be closely related to the issues discussed here. Yet there is a strong desire and interest of the different EU institutions to encourage and support Member States to implement both ECEC targets and child rights. In this article, we show that, while ECEC has become an essential part of different policies at EU level, there have been efforts to implement and mainstream child rights, with special attention paid to specific dimensions in relation to early childhood policies and practices, but a child rights based approach is missing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transfer of the European educational discourse to particular nation-states is a complex process. The outcomes following this transfer are unclear. This article examines the transfer of the European educational discourse in the Balkans and proposes its richer description through the consideration of the processes of educational democratisation and modernisation over the last 40 years in this area. These processes have facilitated the transfer of the European discourse to each of the Balkan countries, which today is achieved largely through participation in European Union programmes, the voluntary signing of common declarations, and financial backing through European funding. At the same time, there seems to be the general impression that the spread of the European discourse has similar effects on the reform of all the Balkan educational systems. As research interest now focuses almost exclusively on the transfer of the European educational discourse to the Balkans, one can easily surmise from this that the reform of the educational systems of the various countries in the region has a common ideological foundation. However, taking into account the concept of discourse transformation, it is argued here that the European educational discourse is influenced by the implementation of the various national policies. In one way or another, the European standards and brand names have to be filtered through the existing economic, sociological, political and cultural structures of each of the Balkan countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whereas in 2000 the EU had heralded the knowledge-based society with as its motto 'with more and better jobs and stronger social cohesion', the past decade has led to greater inequality and (at best) a status-quo in poverty. EU2020 seems to acknowledge this failure and aims to reconnect social inclusion with the knowledge-based strategy. This article discusses the education-inequality nexus and shows what strategic and institutional measures need to be implemented for a 'smarter' social inclusion policy: a better balance between knowledge-intensive and knowledge-extensive policies, an extension of EU anti-discrimination law in the field of education, integration of the OMC in education and training with the social OMC (including the social re-orientation of the structural funds), and peer learning focused on structural reform of E&T systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of private higher education (PHE) is increasingly clear globally. But does Europe fit the global generalisation? This question can be assessed with reference to two major considerations: the size of PHE and the degree of private-public difference. The growth of PHE in Europe has been delayed and limited compared to that in most of the world, though still significant. For the 27-member European Union, the PHE share is best put at 12%, with a modestly higher share for Europe more broadly defined. Europe's PHE share is thus less than half that of the global share. The regional share is considerably higher in Eastern than in Western Europe. In terms of distinctiveness, European PHE differs from public higher education in important respects that reflect world patterns. Inter-sectoral differences are decisive in finance. Though less quantifiable, they appear fundamental albeit blurred in some but not all aspects of governance and activities. Blurring in activities, governance, and even finance occurs through changes within both sectors, especially through partial privatisation within the public sector. Still, Europe's private sector is far from simply isomorphic to the public sector. Considering together size and distinctiveness, a reasonable assessment is that PHE has moderate and increased importance in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the effects of participating in European Union Framework Programmes (EUFPs) at the level of research units and researchers. We consider EUFPs as policy instruments that contribute to the Europeanisation of academic research and study the changes they produce with respect to: 1) the organisation and activities of Departments, 2) the type of knowledge produced, and 3) the ways of doing research. The analysis is based on a case study of the Sapienza University in Rome. We also discuss the extent to which EUFPs produce different effects at the level of scientific fields. This pilot study analyses changes driven by EUFPs from an institutional perspective and uses the concept of institutionalisation to explain how these changes are translated into rules and practices by research units and researchers. Our preliminary investigation supports the idea that EUFPs do not trigger a process of Europeanisation and lead, within academic institutions, to highly diversified institutional responses by scientific fields rather than to undifferentiated ones. They strengthen leading research groups and Departments, already competitive at the EU level, by enhancing existing international behaviours and practices. However, they do not support and, at times, even decrease competition opportunities for less experienced participants and they do not promote the participation of new groups. Moreover, the absence of relevant organisational changes at the University level and the lack of incentives for EUFP participation seem to strengthen these trends. What emerges is the need for decisions at the University level, taking into account differences across scientific groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution in Europe towards more competence-based curricula in the last ten years or so is the result of several exogenous factors and a determined European policy. The Reference Framework of Key Competences for Lifelong Learning, a Recommendation approved by the European Parliament and the Council in 2006, and the work carried out within the Open Method of Coordination as well as by European research bodies have had a significant impact on Member States' curriculum reforms. This article shows that some terminology issues, both conceptual and practical, may explain, together with other causes, the diverse formulations of key competences and the way in which they are being integrated into the compulsory education curricula by the Member States or at intra-national levels. The focus of the article is on cross-curricular competences because these are the key competences which require the most significant innovations in teaching and learning practices, on assessment tools and procedures, and school organisation. The analysis illustrates the main differences and convergences in policy formulation and implementation strategies among the EU Member States. It also identifies key obstacles that must be overcome for an effective implementation before suggesting some policy recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of key competences for lifelong learning has been an important policy imperative for EU Member States. The European Reference Framework of key competences (2006) built on previous developments by the OECD, UNESCO and Member States themselves. It defined key competences as knowledge, skills and attitudes applied appropriately to contexts. Now most Member States have incorporated key competences, or similarly broad learning outcomes, into their school curriculum frameworks. This is a necessary but insufficient step towards implementation; for the effective development of learners' key competences, assessment must also change. This article focuses on the challenge of assessing cross-curricular key competences in primary and secondary education. It is based on a major study for the European Commission (Gordon, et al., 2009), which drew on information gathered and validated with the help of experts in each of the 27 EU Member States. The study's typology of assessment provides a basis for reviewing some recent developments in Member States. Present challenges and innovative responses are addressed, including 'unpacking' key competences, 'mapping' them to contexts and 'accessment' of their full scope and range. Policy developments are considered in the context of the author's work with the European Commission's Thematic Working Group on the assessment of key competences. The article concludes with considerations for policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU has become one of the most prominent promoters of lifelong learning policies. Inside the European single market, EU member states have strong incentives to adopt similar approaches to lifelong learning and recognition of educational attainments in order to foster labour mobility. More surprisingly, countries neighbouring the EU also develop costly and radical reforms of their lifelong learning policies similar to those of EU member states. They do this despite the uncertain outcome of these policies on their specific labour markets and even though they are not likely to benefit from the potential gains of labour mobility. For making sense of this puzzle, this article conceptualises the underpinning mechanisms that led to these similar approaches to lifelong learning. The European Commission has created a specific script for lifelong learning that became an accepted norm inside the EU and was then diffused to neighbouring countries. Policy change according to this norm may be driven by competitive pressure, coercion, the pursuit of legitimacy or learning. While the EU seeks to diffuse its norm to neighbouring countries, these efforts initiated quite different processes in recipient countries. An illustration from neighbouring countries highlights two of these mechanisms. Remarkably, those countries that are potential candidate countries of the EU rather unreflectively emulated the norm because they strive for more legitimacy on their way to EU membership. In contrast, most neighbouring countries without any prospect of becoming EU members engaged in a process of bounded learning in which they adopt single aspects of the EU norm that fit their context and capacities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its creation in 1958, the European Social Fund (ESF) has played a major role in supporting the development of vocational training in the Member States. However, compared to other, more recently launched, EU programmes and initiatives in the area of education and training, the ESF has not made a significant contribution to the debate about European cooperation in this field. This article argues that the ESF has made a mistake in this respect. It also seeks to illustrate and analyse the important changes that the ESF has undergone over the years in addressing the issue of vocational education and training (VET) and to demonstrate that it has substantial resources, in terms of money and experience, that can be used to adapt education and training systems to labour market requirements and to the needs of a knowledge-based economy. The article places a deliberate, though not an exclusive, emphasis on vocational education and training for young people and on the extension of transnational cooperation within the framework of the ESF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How effective is EU cooperation in higher education? This article treats the issue as one of effectiveness in policy-making. What are the policy ideas which the EU wishes to feed into a policy domain where it has to operate largely through political cooperation and a modest degree of incentive funding? What outcomes are possible? The question is of interest since Europe has two processes which aim for a better regional integration of higher education in order to boost the quality of European higher education and to make a global impact. These are the world- famous Bologna Process and the EU process to drive Europe's universities to make better use of their interlinked roles of education, research and innovation, part of a larger strategy (EU 2020, Lisbon) for European Union growth to support employment, productivity and social cohesion. Building on the theoretical insights of an institutionalist literature concerned with the dynamics of European policy-making in the knowledge domain (Maassen & Olsen, 2007; Gornitzka, 2006, 2010) and complementary theories of historical institutionalism (Pierson, 2003, Thelen, 2003) and agenda setting (Kingdon, 1995), this article examines policy-making on higher education cooperation in the European arena since the Treaty of Maastricht in 1992. It seeks answers to two questions. Why did the Bologna Process dominate the agenda from 1999 to 2004? How did the European Commission acquire the power to shape the issue of European higher education cooperation? Rejecting simple spillover explanations, it theorises in terms of policy entrepreneurship why the EU has latterly been effective in shaping European cooperation in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its formal inception in 1976, EU cooperation in the field of education has known a number of major landmarks: the launch of the Erasmus programme in 1987, the inclusion of education for the first time in the Treaty (Maastricht, 1992) and, last but not least, the role given to education and training in the new EU 10-year economic and social strategy launched in Lisbon in 2000. The article explains why the inclusion of education in the Lisbon strategy was a major step forward and one that occurred in the logic of previous developments. 10 years later, and in an historical perspective, the author presents an assessment that is mitigated - although globally positive - , underlining not only the role played by the Lisbon strategy in relaunching and consolidating EU education cooperation, but also the weak implementation and ownership at national level that hindered its success. At the dawn of the recently launched new strategy for the next 10 years (EU 2020), she highlights the challenges to be met to close the gap between policy ambitions and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses one of the most important aspects of the journey towards the vision of a European Higher Education Area, namely the development of a 'new architecture' in which compatible qualifications frameworks are one of the main building blocks. The overall question addressed concerns how and whether signatory countries of the Bologna process, although committed to this 'new architecture', share the same understanding of the intentions of the qualifications frameworks. The article shows that, while the main policy documents of the Bologna process cling to the saga of successfulness with regard to the implementation of compatible qualifications frameworks at national levels, our analysis demonstrates major shortcomings which cannot be explained within a rational approach. Rather, our study indicates that the shortcomings are better understood as the lack of a shared epistemic as well as cultural understanding of the aim of a qualifications framework. By employing a theoretical lens based upon different perspectives on institutionalism and governmentality, we argue that qualifications frameworks can be understood as part of a rapidly-expanding myth of rationality which offers global scripts to follow. On the other hand, the translation process of the qualifications frameworks shows that there are different 'windows of opportunities' which offer the different countries a space to manifest national mindsets and institutional practices. This becomes evident when looking into the self-certifications reports on national qualifications framework of three countries. Finally, to understand what is at stake, the issue of power needs to be taken into account. As we suggest, it comes as no surprise that the countries in the 'leading group' of introducing national qualifications frameworks are all 'well-established' members of the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kaunas is the second largest city in Lithuania and has strong links with its large rural hinterland. Working from the ideas and examples in ‘Learning Cities for a Learning Century, (Longworth, 1999) and through contact with other cities that have already implemented lifelong learning concepts, the city has, since 2001, started out on the journey to become a ‘sustainable learning city.’ The process is a long, and not always a smooth, one, but the partnership between university, city administration, the learning providers and the citizens has provided insights whereby economic, social and environmental capital can grow when these stakeholders work together to improve the learning of both organisations and people. This article is the story of that journey so far, the rationale for making it, the actions the city has undertaken, the results of the research that has been carried out and the benefits that have so far accrued. The voyage is by no means over—indeed it is constantly continuing, much in the same way that a learning organisation can never stop learning lest it ceases to be one and loses its dynamic. But we believe that it is the right one for Kaunas and sets an example for others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article assesses the network development and promotion of the learning region model in HEIs in the framework of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), focusing on quality, partnership and social equality in the Hungarian context. It argues that the learning city-region model can be used and put into practice in many different ways for a new learning climate to occur, as in the case of the Pécs Learning City-Region Forum. However, there are parallel ways to implement the model for HEIs. The first is a purely economically centred one for those HEIs that reflect a reformed social identity to serve mainly employability, economic productivity and innovation through education and research in post socialist countries. The second is more holistic, reflecting not only education and research, but also making use of innovation based on economic and social partnership and networking in local, regional, national and international contexts. The article elaborates on the opportunities for this model as one into which Hungarian HEIs may develop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the European Union Framework of Key Competences and the need to develop indicators for European Union member states to measure progress made towards the ‘knowledge economy’ and ‘greater social cohesion’ both the learning to learn and the active citizenship competences have been highlighted. However, what have yet to be discussed are the links and the overlaps between these two competences. Based on the development of research projects on these two fields, this article will compare the two sets of competences, both qualitatively and quantitatively. It will describe how the values and dispositions that motivate and inform active citizenship and learning to learn are related to each other, both empirically and theoretically. Both these competences are tools for empowering individuals and giving them the motivation and autonomy to control their own lives beyond the social circumstances in which they find themselves. In the case of active citizenship, the ability to be able to participate in society and voice their concerns, ensure their rights and the rights of others. In the case of learning to learn to be able to participate in work and everyday life by being empowered to learn and update the constantly changing competences required to successfully manage your life plans. When measuring both these competences then certain values relating positively towards democracy and human rights are common in their development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the features of the common European framework for work-based learning (WBL) of the project Developing European Work Based Learning Approaches and Methods (DEWBLAM). It highlights the point that education and training have the main role in responding to the challenges faced in Europe including globalization, an ageing population and emerging new technologies. It states that the European Union initiatives have brought changes in the structure, purpose, methodology, conduct and delivery of higher education in response to globalization. WBL is stated to possibly help higher education institutions to establish sustainable partnerships with workplace organizations, create more appropriate qualifications and improve employability.

Since 2000, the European Union has given greater attention to lifelong learning, as expressed in the Lisbon presidency conclusions and the general objectives of the Education and Training 2010 work programme. In September 2007, these policy proposals were further strengthened with the announcement of the ‘Action Plan on Adult Learning’ that sets out how Member States and other stakeholders could be supported to improve, implement and develop adult education and monitor its results. Because of the multitude of policy expectations, training and professional development for adult learning staff are still relatively uncommon in some parts of Europe, despite a societal demand, which also should be interpreted in the context of changing societal conditions and needs besides raising the quality of lifelong learning. This is largely echoed in South-East Europe where the situation of the training of adult learning staff is more on the downside than most policy-makers would have expected. In most South-East European countries, adult learning is expected to provide individual, cultural, and social improvement, to address illiteracy or earlier unsatisfactory access to initial education, and mostly to respond to labour market access problems. At the same time, adult learning staff have to face obstacles such as dependency on government or EU funding, changing political perspectives on and interest in adult education, policies prescribing an enclosed employment-oriented adult education market and occasionally a lack of national legislation or frameworks and structures covering their field. Along with these general findings, this article focuses on the comparison of current policies on training and professional development of adult learning staff in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece and Turkey, according to three vital topics: •Selection procedure and working conditions of adult learning staff (focusing on recruitment, professional expectations and employment situation). •Opportunities and obstacles for their professional development and evaluation (focusing on career paths and monitoring, assessing and evaluating issues). •Societal situation for the profession (focusing on attractiveness and social impact). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1986 when the National People's Congress ratified the Compulsory Education Law, China's achievement of nine-year compulsory basic education for its huge school-age population has been rapid and successful. However, the rate of achievement has grown unevenly across the country, reflecting the different economic development patterns of the more prosperous Eastern coastal China and poor Western and rural areas. As quantitative targets were gained for most of the country, attention turned to the quality of basic education and the increasing gap between the more advanced and less developed areas. Shortage of resources for improving the situation in the poorest areas led the Chinese government to seek assistance from international donors, including the European Union. This article describes a joint European Union-China project undertaken to improve the quality of compulsory nine-year education with the ultimate goal of reducing poverty in one of the poorest Western provinces, Gansu. It outlines the policy context and summarises the project's organisation, strategies and outcomes. It identifies the main issues that arose during its implementation and examines the inter-cultural dimension of collaborative work on this project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education in Latvia has changed a great deal in the last 15 years. The development of an independent and democratic state system has creatively combined elements of foreign experience and influence with the enrichment and further development of features of the earlier Latvian system. This article outlines the main steps in this process of change and then goes on to argue that there is still much to be done: firstly, to consolidate and secure the developments to date, and secondly, to enable a successful functioning within the EU in a rapidly changing wider context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the information society discourse in the European Union in relation to the European Commission's eLearning programmes, based on selected academics' conceptualisation of the term. It reveals a mixed picture of the perceptions that academics have of the information society in their respective countries. The findings indicate a convergence of these perceptions with the indicators of a presumed information society in various quantitative studies. This study considers that an integrated European Information Society, promoted by the European Commission partly through its eLearning programmes, is a concept destined to remain a motivational instrument for driving ICT policies throughout Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Applying the concept of ‘quality’ to education has been controversial, making it difficult for educators to develop systems for sustainable quality development in schools that meet the needs of governmental accountability and pedagogical practice. The varying perspectives reflect conflicting views about what is quality and, morevoer, how quality can and should be measured. Over the last several decades, numerous programmes and strategies have been developed at the European level to assist schools in developing quality in education, as well as giving perspective to the underlying questions. In 2003, the European Education Quality Benchmark System (2EQBS) was designed with the intent to bridge the paradigmatic camps regarding quality in education, providing educators with a holistic framework to examine their practices in relation to the needs of their community, national curricula, pedagogical principles, and European partners. A formal content validation and usability study were conducted of the quality development tool to examine the degree to which the 2EQBS provides educators with a framework to facilitate school development through cross-cultural partnerships in an age of accountability. Findings from this study are presented in this article and contribute insight into the possibilities for creating a framework that facilitates school development through cross-cultural partnerships and provides teachers with a system for helping to sustain change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the role of the European Union’s Commission in weaving together the Bologna Process and the Lisbon research strategy with its existing educational initiatives to define and disseminate an influential vision of European higher education. The article begins by outlining the Commission’s activities in relation to EU education programmes, the Lisbon research agenda and the Bologna Process. It goes on to examine, in a variety of policy texts, the discourse of European higher education that is supported by, and supporting, these large-scale policy developments. Whilst the overall coherence and cohesiveness of this emerging discourse can be queried, the article argues that the Commission is drawing effectively on both Bologna and Lisbon to firmly constitute — and reconstitute — higher education as a European policy domain. The article concludes with an analysis of how different educational stakeholders are supported and restricted by the Commission’s views of higher education, as articulated through its ‘hybrid’ Bologna/Lisbon agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An Odyssey is a long and eventful journey. It refers to the Greek epic describing the journey of Odysseus after the fall of Troy. It narrates his adventures during his ten-year journey home which he completed under the auspices of the goddess Athena, using his intelligence. The poem is considered one of the founding texts of the Western canon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]