Europe and Flanders: Partners in E-Learning? A Comparison of Public Policies

Working towards e-learning success in higher education, i.e. the institution-wide acceptance and use of ICT applications for teaching and learning purposes, means choosing an approach of least resistance. Internal and external consistency or at least complementarity in policy seem crucial. This article presents the results of a desk research concerning the current European and Flemish e-learning public policy approaches with reference to higher education. By means of a document analysis the author traces policy options and strategies in order to find out if, and to what extent they are attuned. The results show that Flanders has quite successfully converted the European general education and innovation policies to its own policy level. Both are on the same wavelength with regard to political views, strategies and action points. What differs is the pretext in time: Europe advises, Flanders agrees afterwards. Nevertheless, the Flemish policy-makers need a ‘wake-up call’ in order to develop an e-learning action plan with specific measures to enhance e-learning implementation in the region.