Tag: Education

Governments should stop promoting average universities in the name of egalitarianism and start rewarding true excellence even if that means creating unpopular differences between the very best and average professors and students, argues Žiga Turk, the Slovenian minister for growth, in an interview with EurActiv.com. 

Even after the final approval of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), opinions diverge on the necessity of the institute, which was originally deisgned as the European rival to the US Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Nevertheless, concrete research, education and innovation actions are expected to start by 2010.

Promoting a multilingual economy, giving citizens access to European Union information in their own languages and encouraging linguistic diversity through language learning: these are the principles underpinning the Commission's multilingualism policy.

The modernisation of universities required to achieve systemic commercial exploitation of academic excellence and greater innovation will take time and make it impossible for this generation to reach the EU's Lisbon goals of more growth and better jobs, argued participants at the first European University/Business Forum.

A lack of autonomy and diversity in the European higher education system is harming the competitiveness and quality of European universities and driving EU industry and business to make R&D investments outside the EU rather than within the bloc, businesses and universities have warned.

Encouraging European citizens to learn two foreign languages should be the basis of the EU's new multilingualism strategy due in September, concluded a ministerial conference last Friday (15 February).

Goodbye to "obsolete textbooks", hello to the digital revolution and "computers for every pupil". These were not the words of an informatics guru but German Chancellor Angela Merkel, speaking at a Microsoft event in Berlin.

The Commission is working on a new tool to measure the wealth and wellbeing of countries beyond the traditional GDP. The new tool will aim to measure 'true' progress, taking environmental and social indicators into consideration.

Parliament agrees with the Commission that physical education is increasingly marginalised in today's school curricula and has called on member states to make three hours of sport compulsory for all primary and secondary schools to boost children's appetite for a more active lifestyle.

France's national student union has called for a nationwide movement against the country's planned university reform, claiming that state disengagement could lead to excessive private sector influence over higher education curricula, while the EU is calling on member states to give universities more autonomy to work with business.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on 23 October that German law is violating the principle of freedom of movement for EU citizens by providing student grants only to those who have completed an initial course of study in their home country. 

EU member states are not making sufficient efforts to tackle early school leavers and encourage life-long learning in order to meet the targets agreed as part of the 'Lisbon Strategy' for jobs and growth. However, good progress has been recorded regarding the number of maths and science graduates, according to a 2007 progress report issued by the Commission.

American education standards are the most disappointing in terms of monies pumped into schooling systems, while countries such as the Czech Republic and Finland fare much better despite spending considerably less, according to a report by the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development. 

Europe needs to get professional people to work on knowledge transfer at universities, ease the patent system and get member states and university senior managers to understand that supporting knowledge transfer is part of their role, argues Gillian McFadzean of ProTon Europe.

Member states should put greater emphasis on the development of health in schools and guarantee physical education in curricula, says the European Parliament's Committee on Culture and Education in a new report.

French government plans to provide two extra hours of sport outside school hours will only benefit those who are already physically active, as the scheme would only be on a voluntary basis, teachers warn. Instead, they call for the promotion of physical and sport education as a school discipline.

The government has suceeded in passing a bill that opens university funding and human resources to business, following EU recommendations last year to give researchers and students more financial autonomy and boost entrepreneurial spirit. The reform was introduced amid strong opposition from students' and teachers' unions.

In the run-up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has announced a £100 million campaign to enable all children to practice five hours of sport every week in the hope of sparking renewed passion for physical activity among young people.

After repeated calls to modernise European higher learning, in support of the Lisbon Strategy, the Commission is now seeking stakeholders' input on how to modernise school education.

The Council has agreed on a two-step approach for establishing the European Institute of Technology to help bridge research and industrial policy. The second step, to be taken as of 2013, will be subject to success of the first phase, beginning in 2008.

Young parents who have not yet finished their studies need the support of society at large, in order to realise their potential, contribute to economic growth and sustain birth-rates, a report from the European Parliament suggests.

The key to combating young people's declining interest in science is the adoption of a inquiry-based, 'learning-by-doing' approach, argues an expert group.

The key to combating young people's declining interest in science is the adoption of a inquiry-based, 'learning-by-doing' approach, argues an expert group.

The League for European Research Universities (LERU) study entitled 'Doctoral Studies in Europe: Excellence in Researcher Training' provides a model for excellence in doctoral training as an essential factor to strengthen Europe's research base.