Tag: Education

Universities need money to implement "full costing" systems, featuring expensive resources like new software and financial expertise, to "ensure better budget allocation and accountability," according to a report published by the European University Association (EUA).

In an attempt to respond to growing demands to raise people's employability, European universities have committed themselves to broadening access to higher education accross the EU, but highlighted the need to find the best and farest way to fund lifelong learning.

Europe's main industry leaders have launched an initiative to develop cooperation between schools and businesses to renew interest in maths, science and technology (MST) in a bid to avoid shortages of skilled engineers in future.

EU countries must increase spending and start demanding better value for the money if they are to succeed in meeting the growing demand for higher degrees and better quality education, argues the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The innovation communities of the EU's Institute of Technology and Innovation (EIT) may well include non-European actors, revealed Bálint Magyar, a member of the recently inaugurated governing board of the EIT, in an interview with EurActiv Hungary. 

Consumers should be trained to distinguish bad loans as easily as unhealthy food on shopping shelves, argues Giuseppe Zadra of the European Banking Federation (EBF). In an interview with EurActiv, he says better informed consumers might have prevented the financial crisis in the US.

No additional funding will be released to boost EU language policy until 2013 at the earliest, said the commissioner responsible for the dossier Leonard Orban yesterday (18 September 2008), unveiling the EU executive's new multilingualism strategy.

The European Commission will present a new EU languages strategy on 18 September, emphasising the importance of language skills in addressing challenges as diverse as globalisation and increased mobility and immigration.

Well ahead of the game, the Czech education minister has already revealed his country's priorities for its upcoming EU presidency. Stimulating closer partnerships between educational institutions and the business world and teaching Europeans to embrace a more entrepreneurial spirit sit at the top of the list.

A new 18 member-strong governing board of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), appointed yesterday (30 July), has until the end of 2009 to identify, select and launch the first EU "innovation hubs", expected to cover the fields of climate change, renewable energy and ICT.

The French Senate has proposed developing a new European university ranking system to counter the powerful Shanghai world ranking, which is said to favour English-language institutions. With France holding the EU's six-month rotating presidency, the issue is likely to be discussed by EU education ministers in November.

A comprehensive higher education reform with significantly increased funding and university autonomy as well as more specialisation, student selection and competition is needed to make the bloc's universities globally competitive, according to Brussels-based think tank Bruegel.

The Commission's annual benchmark report finds that member states' progress towards the Lisbon Strategy's goals on education and training is too slow for them to be reached by 2010 and highlights growing illiteracy rates as a major problem.

Current challenges like climate change and the fuel and food crises call for an update of the Lisbon Agenda, Romanian MEP Daniel Daianu (ALDE) told EurActiv in an interview.

French proposals to reform the country's university funding by introducing a more performance-oriented approach have attracted renewed opposition among students.

The EU must work towards changing its attitudes towards entrepreneurship and create a positive culture which encourages people to take risks, argued participants in the annual Microsoft SME day, which explored ways to make European SMEs flourish globally.

European higher education is changing from a supply-driven to a demand-driven system, placing new emphasis on knowledge transfer, regional regeneration and wider public debate, according to a joint university-industry report. 

Following Poland's veto of the otherwise unanimously-backed Budapest as the seat for the European Innovation and Technology Institute (EIT), the final decision will now be taken by research ministers at an Intergovernmental Conference on 18 June.

The European Parliament has reminded Commission President José Manuel Barroso of his commitment to put forward a directive outlawing discrimination on a whole range of grounds, including disability, age, religion or belief and sexual orientation, as Brussels finalises preparations for a social policy package to be presented in June. 

Slovakia has joined Austria's bid to host the proposed European Institute of Innovation and Technology in the hope that a twin-city headquarters initiative will convince ministers to give them the nomination.

Having your educational and professional qualifications recognised in another country came a step closer to realisation on 23 April 2008, as the presidents of the Council and the Commission signed a joint recommendation on boosting the mobility of learners and workers across Europe.

Leading internet and telecoms firms have teamed up with the European Commission in the fight against cyber-bullying by launching a new website showing teachers how to spot inappropriate use of the Internet and mobile phones by children.

Twenty years after the EU introduced measures to facilitate the mobility of students in higher education via its credit transfer system, learners in manual or practical activities are set to get their own EU-wide system.

The EU research commissioner has urged EU member states to follow the French example of university reform and implement the EU executive's recommendations on modernising the European higher education system.