Following the recent integration of ESMU into EFMD we are pleased to share an invitation to attend the Heads of University Management & Administrative Network in Europe (HUMANE) 2013 Annual Conference that will be hosted by the Università per Stranieri di Perugia, Italy on the 14-15 June 2013. This historic setting will be a beautiful backdrop to a very dynamic conference on the theme of - International Students: Challenge and Change!
With speakers from DAAD, the University of Amsterdam, i-Graduate, the University of Nottingham and our hosts, this subject will be explored form different angles. We are proud to announce the leading presentations from:
    * Internationalisation in Higher Education: Rationales, Drivers, Stakeholders
      Nina Lemmens, Director for Internationalisation and Communication, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) (DE)
    * How to Attract and Retain International Students
      Nannette Ripmeester, Director of Client Services Europe, i-Graduate Europe (NL)
    * Social media strategies for Universities: engaging students on the web
      Donatella Padua, Adjunct Professor of Sociology, University for Foreigners of Perugia (IT)
    * Branding the intellectual hub in Europe
      Yasha Lange, Head of Corporate Communication and Spokesman of the Executive Board, University of Amsterdam (NL)
    * Three memos for this millennium
      Roberto Fedi, Professor of Italian Literature and Dean, University for Foreigners of Perugia (IT)
    * The case of Nottingham (tbc)
      Paul Greatrix, Registrar, University of Nottingham (UK). Read more...
See also on the blog: Successful Universities, The social dimension in European higher education, Next HUMANE Seminar: Edinburgh 22-23 September 2011.

Bula!
Fiji is famous for its sandy white beaches, blue waters, palm trees, sunshine and smiling faces. But behind the island beauty lies a much uglier reality. Since Commodore Frank Bainimarama seized power of the South Pacific nation in 2006, the regime has systematically stripped workers of their wages and conditions. Now, over 60 per cent of Fijian wage earners are living below the poverty line, hotel workers earn less than $3 an hour, and workers vocal in opposition to the regime have been threatened and assaulted. We can support the people of Fiji get their island paradise back.
Take action and tell our government - and Frank Bainimarama - that we won’t stand for human rights being abused. The Fijian regime relies on our tourist dollars so it needs to know we’re watching – and we need to tell our government to take action.
Show your support for the people of Fiji by joining the campaign today.
Almost 700,000 people visited Fiji in 2011 – almost three-quarters of those visits were for a holiday. If you're thinking of a holiday to Fiji, make sure you know the facts about the real situation before booking your ticket. And send a message to the Fiji regime that your visit to their country is not an endorsement of the brutal crackdown on workers' rights.

By Jeannie Rea. The NTEU Analysis of the 2013-14 Federal Budget, prepared by National Policy and Research Coordinator Paul Kniest, is now available for download: NTEU Analysis of 2013 Federal Budget.
This analysis clearly demonstrates that:
* Over the four year forward estimate period, the Government will pocket about $900 million in change from cutting higher education to fund school education. Yes this is the same amount as being cut from university grants as the ‘efficiency dividend’.
* The efficiency dividend includes $7 million less in funding for Indigenous Support, Disability Support and Participation and Partnership funding.
* The impact of the efficiency dividend on the real level of CGS funding per government supported student places (CSP) is:
          o A significant and ongoing write-down in funding of some $340 per student, and
          o Reduction in real direct Commonwealth funding of some $160 per student.
*  The significance of the cut in real funding of $160 per student is made even starker when we recognise that the Bradley and Base Funding Reviews both recommended increases in the order of 10% per student.
*  Claims made by the Government that university funding per student will increase from approximately $18,000 per student in 2014 to $18,100 per student in 2017 can only be true if the real contribution made by students through HECS increases by about $260. That is, the Government is relying on the indexation of student contributions to offset the real reduction in its own contribution.
This will not result in a Smarter Nation. The Government’s own reviews showed that all levels of education are in need of additional public funding – not real cuts in funding.
Please utilise this analysis to continue to campaign against the dumb cuts: www.dumbcuts.org.au.
Regards, Jeannie Rea, NTEU National President.

By Phil Hill. Yesterday, 58 faculty members from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard wrote an open letter to the dean requesting faculty oversight of HarvardX. When schools sign up for edX, their implementations tend to be called SchoolX, thus HarvardX specifically refers to their usage of the MOOC platform, not to the overall edX organization. This distinction is important, given Harvard’s founding role in creating the edX organization and $30m pledge of support.
The letter is short, so I’ll quote it in full (the signatures are much longer than the letter itself). Read more...

By D’Arcy Norman. David Wiley nicely wraps up MOOCs, and why they’re important even if much of the hype is just marketing drivel spouted by elite institutions:
    For a complex tangle of political reasons, “the people in power” are currently paying a tremendous amount of attention to issues relating to access to education, and the role of the cost of education in regulating that access. MOOCs have popularized and significantly advanced the conversation regarding both universal and free. The general public is beginning to believe that technology may have the near-term potential to provide a genuine solution to the problem of making education both universal and free. We can take advantage of the space MOOCs have created in the public conversation to introduce and advance the idea of truly open educational resources to people who are unfamiliar with it.
    The comparison I made above between MOOCs and learning objects was a carefully chosen one. I believe that MOOCs will run – are already running – up against the reusability paradox. I believe people will eventually come to realize the pedagogical restrictions that are inseparably connected with the copyright and Terms of Use restrictions of MOOCs. As with the learning object mania of yesteryear, diehards will stick around but the rest of the world will move on as the experiment fails. If we message correctly before that happens, we can create a general understanding that much of what is frustrating about MOOCs to faculty, students, and others would be solved by the simple application of an open license (the same way an open license can resolve the reusability paradox). Read more...

La OCDE lanzará la actualización anual del pionero «Índice para una Vida Mejor » www.ocdeindicevidamejor.org con las últimas estadísticas, datos nacionales y hallazgos sobre los usuarios de la herramienta. Actualmente disponible en inglés, francés y ruso, el índice estará disponible por primera vez en español y podrá integrarse en dispositivos portátiles como tabletas e iPads.
El Índice para una Vida Mejor de la OCDE (IVM) es una herramienta online interactiva que invita a la gente a medir y comparar sus vidas más allá de las tradicionales cifras del PIB (vee el Video tutorial). Compara el bienestar de las personas basándose en once aspectos: balance vida-trabajo, comunidad, compromiso cívico, educación, empleo, ingresos, medioambiente, salud, satisfacción ante la vida, seguridad y vivienda. La versión actualizada se lanzára dentro del Foro Anual de la OCDE y los Encuentros Ministeriales en París. Es posible insertar el índice en páginas webs y blogs.
Los periodistas tienen acceso bajo embargo a las últimas estadísticas, las notas de cada país y los hallazgos sobre los usuarios.
Los artículos que utilicen esta nueva información deben permanecer bajo embargo hasta las 10 am (hora de París) del 28 de mayo.Para obtener más detalles sobre la inciativa o solicitar una entrevista los periodistas pueden ponerse en contacto con el Departamento de Prensa de la OCDE (E-mail: lorena.sanchez@oecd.org;  Tel: +331 45 24 79 91). Si ya ha visitado la página anteriormente, por favor, vacíe la memoria caché de su navegador.
Sobre la OCDE: La OCDE es el foro global de políticas económicas. Proporciona análisis y asesoramiento a los gobiernos de sus 34 países miembros y a otros países por todo el mundo, promoviendo políticas mejores para una vida mejor.
Also Available

• ОЭСР выпускает в свет обновленную версию Индекса Лучшей Жизни
• ОЭСР выпускает в свет обновленную версию Индекса Лучшей Жизни
• OECD to launch updated version of its Better Life Index
• L’OCDE lance une version actualisée de son Indicateur du vivre mieux.

International Conference on Quality in Higher Education (ICQH), December 12-14,2013 Sakarya, Turkey.
Call for papers
International Conference on Quality in Higher Education (ICQH) aims to provide a multinational platform where the latest trends quality in higher education can be presented and discussed in a friendly environment with the aim to learn from each other. Prospective presenters are encouraged to submit proposals for papers and posters/demonstrations that offer new research or theoretical contributions. Presentations should be in Turkish and English and should address both theoretical issues and new research findings.
Furthermore if  the presenter is unable to attend the oral presentation, the virtual presentations or video presentations are available. For further information on how to submit, please refer to the Paper Submission section on our website. For paper guidelines, please refer to the Paper Guidelines section.
ICQH 2013 conference is supported by Sakarya University and Governers State University and will take place on December 11-13 2013 at  Sakarya University, Sakarya, Turkey. All full paper presentations will be published in an online proceeding book of ICQH 2013 and the selected papers will be published.

HEFCE has announced an additional £3.1 million to support a new programme of activity which will encourage more young people of all backgrounds to study languages at university.
From August 2013, a consortium led by the University of Southampton will deliver a three-year programme which builds upon the achievements of the Routes into Languages activities [Note 1] by stimulating new ideas and partnerships to address the challenges arising from reforms in schools and higher education. The new programme will encourage greater collaboration between universities, schools and employers, with the aim of raising aspirations and attainment of students in secondary schools and higher education. Activities will include events, the appointing of student ambassadors and sustained interventions such as programmes of languages in context and a national language-related Spelling Bee competition. There will also be a focus on increasing participation in work and study abroad, and promoting career opportunities and employability for language students.
Universities and Science Minister, David Willetts, said:
    'Modern language skills are highly prized by employers. This additional funding will help thousands of prospective students learn more about the opportunities available, to gain a competitive edge in a global economy.'
Chris Millward, HEFCE Associate Director, said:
    ‘We are very pleased to continue our support for this important programme to raise demand from young people to study modern foreign languages. Employers have consistently highlighted the importance of languages and intercultural skills within a globalised labour force. The new programme’s activities will complement our recent funding settlement for the year abroad by promoting language-based studies, and study and work abroad, to students in all disciplines’.
Professor Mike Kelly, Director of the Routes into Languages programme, said:
    ‘I am delighted that we shall be able to build on the remarkable achievements of Routes in promoting the study of languages. The HEFCE investment will facilitate a unique programme of collaboration between more than 60 universities across England, working with hundreds of schools and thousands of students. The new programme, co-ordinated by the team at the University of Southampton, will make a real impact on the take-up of languages and of opportunities to work and study abroad’.
Professor Jim Coleman, Chair of the University Council of Modern Languages (UCML), said:
    ‘HEFCE’s initiative underlines the enormous importance of language study in this country, and UCML’s members enthusiastically welcome this renewed support. University language departments are totally committed to championing language learning in schools, to maximising outward mobility and to increasing the take-up of languages by students in all disciplines. We are renewing language curricula and expanding access to provide graduates with the full range of capabilities which the job market demands. HEFCE’s backing helps us enormously in achieving these goals – this is a great day for languages’.
HEFCE is continuing to support modern foreign languages within its programme of support for strategically important and vulnerable subjects (SIVS) [Note 2]. Following advice from the SIVS Advisory Group [note 3], HEFCE is considering how collaborative provision may sustain the modern foreign language supply in higher education, despite the continued decline in applications to modern foreign language degree courses.
Notes
1. Since 2006 HEFCE has invested £7.4 million in demand-raising activity through the Routes into Languages programme as part of its wider support for modern foreign languages as a strategically important and vulnerable subject (SIVS). It is led by the UK Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies based at the University of Southampton, in partnership with the University Council of Modern Languages. The Routes into Languages programme comprises nine regional consortia of universities throughout England, plus national networks for translation, interpreting and research projects. Further information about the Routes into Languages programme is available.   
2. An evaluation of the Routes into Languages programme undertaken in 2011 concluded that the programme has made good progress against its aims, particularly in terms of increasing participation, raising the profile of languages and establishing partnerships and collaboration within the higher education sector and between higher education and schools. A wider evaluation of the SIVS programme commissioned in 2010 concluded that ‘the SIVS programme has cemented the importance of the SIVS subjects and [modern foreign languages] in particular’ and that the benefits and learning from the demand-raising interventions (which included the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics programme in addition to Routes into Languages) ‘represent value for money’ (‘Evaluation of HEFCE’s programme of support for Strategically Important and Vulnerable Subjects: A report to HEFCE by Curtis and Cartwright Consulting’, paragraphs 2.8.2 and 7.2.5).   
3. In January 2012 the HEFCE Board agreed a new policy approach to SIVS. Support will be continued for the relevant areas of science, technology, engineering, maths, modern foreign languages and quantitative social science, but HEFCE will seek more widely to identify and, where necessary, respond to risks to subject provision, while taking the government’s desire for greater dynamism within the higher education system into account. Further information about HEFCE’s work on SIVS is available.   
4. HEFCE’s SIVS advisory group reviews data and information relating to the sustainability of subjects, and provides advice and recommendations to the HEFCE Board regarding the identification, monitoring and support of SIVS. Further information about the SIVS advisory group, including its current membership, is available.  
5. A circular letter setting out the finance arrangements for Erasmus and other student mobility years abroad from 2013-14 has been published by HEFCE.

Universities in the UK contributed £3.4 billion to the economy in 2011-12 through services to business, including commercialisation of new knowledge, delivery of professional training and consultancy.
These comprise part of a much wider economic impact [Note 1].
Analysis by HEFCE of the twelfth annual Higher Education – Business and Community Interaction (HE-BCI) survey shows that the total value of the services [Note 2] which UK universities provide to the economy and society increased by 4 per cent to £3.4 billion in 2011-12, from £3.3 billion in 2010-11.
Particularly significant is the 11 per cent increase in activity benefitting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which gain a competitive advantage from their association with universities – for example through access to specialist knowledge (via consultancy) or facilities (such as rapid prototyping or computer-aided design).
Engagement with large businesses increased by around 5 per cent overall, including a notable rise (6 per cent) in contract research income, from £343 million in 2010-11 to £365 million in 2011-12. This not only shows UK higher education institutions responding to the needs of business at home, but investment from overseas seeking to take advantage of the UK’s world-class research. Public and third-sector organisations also increased their engagement with universities (by 5 per cent overall) for research, consultancy, training and access to intellectual property. Read more...

Label européen des langues 2013: candidatez avant le 6 juillet 2013 minuit!
Chaque année, dans tous les pays de l'Union européenne, le label européen des langues récompense les projets pédagogiques les plus innovants, en matière d'apprentissage et d'enseignement des langues étrangères.
L'agence Europe-Éducation-Formation France reçoit les candidatures, les fait évaluer par des experts externes et remet les trophées aux projets les plus innovants lors d'une cérémonie exceptionnelle.
Trois critères pour être labellisé: innovation, pertinence et transférabilité du projet dans d'autres contextes éducatifs, pour d'autres langues et d'autres publics.
En décembre 2012, quatre projets ont reçu le label européen des langues lors de la conférence annuelle de valorisation de l'agence à l'ENA, Strasbourg:
    * « Cafébabel.com, le magazine européen » porté par l'association Babel international
    * « InteractiFle » porté par l'association éponyme
    * « Faites des langues: histoire 2  langues » porté par l'Inspection de l'Education nationale de la circonscription Montpellier sud
    * « Label international » porté par l'Université Lille 1 – Sciences et Technologies
Les candidatures doivent être envoyées avant le 06 juillet minuit.
Pour plus d'informations et pour candidater.
Voir aussi Le Label européen des langues.