Students might benefit in the short term but we risk falling standards and increased taxpayer costs, says Gill Wyness. Education secretary Michael Gove unleashed another political storm this week when he said he would vote against EU membership in a referendum. The question of whether the UK could quit the EU is well and truly back on the table.
Those in favour of quitting Europe tend to argue that by leaving the EU the UK would save on costly membership fees, cut down on migration, and no longer be subject to EU legislation, while those who want to stay in Europe argue that leaving could threaten trade and investment and damage Britain's global standing. But what impact would leaving the EU have on the UK's higher education sector? Research suggests a departure could lead to declining quality and standards in UK universities, and could actually increase higher education costs to the taxpayer. HESA figures from 2011 reveal that there are 73,660 full-time undergraduate students from the EU currently studying in British universities. These students enjoy many of the benefits available to British students. Their tuition fees are capped at £9,000 a year (while fees for overseas students can be much higher) and, unlike overseas students, they can access our generous fee loan system, meaning their fees are deferred until after they graduate and are repayable only once they get a job. Read more...

By Sophie Padgett. Private schools are threatening to boycott universities that positively discriminate? Bring it on. There's a growing view that if you attended a state school you'll be given an easy ride into a top university. Outraged by suggestions of positive discrimination in favour of less privileged students, one private school head has suggested schools boycott universities which adopt the practice. Read more...

At the IREG Forum on University Rankings attended by over 130 participants from 32 countries, the results of the first ranking audits were announced. IREG Observatory on Academic Ranking and Excellence decided to grant the rights to use the “IREG Approved” label to a national ranking: Perspektywy University Ranking Poland), produced by Perspektywy Education Founadation, and to international and regional rankings QS World University Ranking, produced by QS Intelligence Unit.
Decision on Perspektywy University Ranking (Poland).
Decision on QS World University Ranking .

University Recognition of Prior Learning Centres: Making Lifelong Learning a Reality. Kraków, Poland, 26-27 September 2013.
Venue: Jagiellonian University, Faculty of Management and Social Communication.
Organizers: Jagiellonian University and Foundation for the Development of the Education System with support of the partners of „University Recognition of Prior Learning Centres - Bridging Higher Education with Vocational Education and Training” project.
Before our very eyes, the knowledge society is evolving in the direction of the learning society. It is no longer enough to adapt curricula to the needs of the current economic and social environment – a mere adjustment of didactic forms simply will not prove sufficient. What has become unequivocally essential is an elaboration of tools for an effective support of the growth of the individual by means of paving flexible paths for their personal development.
Recognition of prior learning is gaining more importance in the tertiary education system Thanks to RPL, the number of adults returning to formal higher education system may significantly increase. With the recognition and certification of learning outcomes acquired in informal and nonformal ways, they can feel motivated to start learning within the tertiary education framework. Thus, owing to recognition of prior learning, the concept of lifelong learning ceases to be a mere fair idea and becomes an effective tool for the development of a learning society.
The aim of the conference is to promote the idea of Lifelong Learning (LLL) and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) in higher education among Polish and European stakeholders. The conference is a part of the European project financed by the Leonardo da Vinci Transfer of Innovation program: „University Recognition of Prior Learning Centres - Bridging Higher Education with Vocational Education and Training”.
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Income inequality increased by more in the first three years of the crisis to the end of 2010 than it had in the previous twelve years, before factoring in the effect of taxes and transfers on income, according to new OECD report and data.
The analysis says that the welfare state has cushioned the blow for many but warns that further social spending cuts in OECD countries risk causing greater inequality and poverty in the years ahead.
After taxes and transfers, the richest 10 per cent of the population in OECD countries earned 9.5 times the income of the poorest 10 per cent in 2010, up from 9 times in 2007. The gap is largest in Chile, Mexico, Turkey, the United States and Israel, and lowest in Iceland, Slovenia, Norway and Denmark.
“These worrying findings underline the need to protect the most vulnerable in society, especially as governments pursue the necessary task of bringing public spending under control,” said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría.
“Policies to boost jobs and growth must be designed to ensure fairness, efficiency and inclusiveness. Among these policies, reforming tax systems is essential to ensure that everyone pays their fair share and also benefits and receives the support they need.”
Poorer households tended to lose more or gain less than richer households between 2007 and 2010. The top 10 per cent of the population did better than the poorest 10 per cent in 21 of the 33 countries where data are available.
Using pre-crisis income levels as a benchmark, the number of people living in poverty rose during the crisis in most countries. Taxes and benefits helped mitigate the overall increases, but the impact varied. Between 2007 and 2010, average relative income poverty in OECD countries rose from 13 to 14% among children and from 12 to 14% among youth, but fell from 15 to 12% among the elderly. Until 2010, in many countries, pensioners were largely protected while working households took the hit.
Child poverty has risen in 16 OECD countries since 2007, with increases exceeding 2 points in Turkey, Spain, Belgium, Slovenia and Hungary. This confirms a previously identified trend of young people and children replacing the elderly as the group most at risk of income poverty across the OECD.
Inequality will be one of the key issues discussed at this year’s OECD Forum, “Jobs, equality and trust”, from 28-29 May in Paris. More detail are available at www.oecd.org/forum.

By Olena Bekh. INFORM - Issue 14 - Training for women entrepreneurs: an imperative for growth and jobs.
The impact of business women on society extends far beyond their contribution to global GDP. Women are an indispensable part of the labour force but this is not visible in employment statistics and even less so in entrepreneurship statistics. Official GDP figures do not reflect the hours of unpaid female labour devoted to family care and women get paid less than their male colleagues and generally hold fewer top positions in company management and government. According to IFC and World Bank enterprise surveys, in recent years only 18.3% of companies worldwide had a female top manager while only just over one-third (35%) was (co-)owned by a woman.
Trends in some ETF partner regions correspond to the world average: in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 36.6% of business owners are women, and they occupy 18.8% of top management positions in companies. But in the Enlargement region these figures are 27.5% and 14.2% respectively, and at just 17.2% and 13.6%, they are even lower in the Middle East and North Africa. Top performing countries are those that developed a strong culture of gender equity which benefitted from state support. Unfortunately, centrally collected and updated statistics on women’s participation in business are lacking in many countries so analysis is largely based on independent surveys.
At the same time, research shows that women represent the fastest growing share of the population with higher education degrees. Today, 56% of graduates at master’s level are women. Analysis conducted by The Economist suggests that since 1970, women have filled twice as many newly created jobs as men. But most of these are in wage employment and in most of the world’s economies the number of women entrepreneurs is less than half that of men. A 2004 report by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor concluded that in every country it studied, men were more active in entrepreneurship than women. It said that the largest gap occurs in middle-income nations where men are 75% more likely than women to be active entrepreneurs, compared to 33% in high-income countries and 41% in low-income countries.
The World Economic Forum’s leaders called for investment in “the most important determinant of a country’s competitiveness: its human talent – the skills, education and productivity of its workforce”. The participation of women in business transforms the quality and structure of the workforce and society as a whole. It boosts female career development, self-realisation and job creation. It benefits their households and communities by affecting the mindset of future generations who may come to consider self-employment as a natural career option...
To strengthen the entrepreneurial competences and business potential of women, the following areas of policy support should be strongly considered.
ACCESS TO EDUCATION AND TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
Entrepreneurial learning should be given an early start to develop entrepreneurship skills in boys and girls according to their own needs and interests. It should be accessible to all and embedded in a culture of lifelong learning. Entrepreneurship should become a key competence in curricula. Special attention should be paid to developing leadership skills in girls from the early phases of education and to broadening their exposure to technology-related issues. Learning has to provide common and equal opportunities, regardless of gender, to engage in any type of employment, to succeed in any sector of the economy and to run a business. Measures should be taken to overcome prejudiced and discriminative attitudes towards women in business or in leadership positions: dedicated policies and education programmes must focus on developing self-efficacy among women entrepreneurs and promote their role in top management and company boards. Adult education and training also needs to be employed to promote the entrepreneurial potential of women and to encourage their own business development.
ROLE MODELS AND STORY-TELLING
Education and training are dominated by male role models. Female role models need to be introduced. Story-telling, as applied by the network of EU Women’s Entrepreneurship Ambassadors is an excellent example of a new form of informal learning. Early exposure of learners to entrepreneurial success stories featuring both men and women is critical. Thus, women entrepreneurs should be encouraged to engage with local communities and schools to establish active links and cooperation. A more generally positive attitude towards women’s entrepreneurship can be nurtured with media involvement and by developing promotional campaigns.
MENTORING, COACHING AND NETWORK SUPPORT
Mentoring and coaching are valued highly by many women entrepreneurs due to their positive effects on business start-up survival and the way they can build confidence among women entrepreneurs. They should be developed together with peer learning networks. Broader business advisory structures for women engaged in various stages of entrepreneurial activity should also be considered. Access to networks is important for informal learning, for the exchange of good practice, for building confidence and for resolving real-life business problems in a ‘safe’ peer format. While women possess no fewer networking skills than men, many need to learn to utilise these skills for the promotion, sustenance and expansion of their business in the global market, as well as for lobbying their business interests.
WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP TRAINING NEEDS ANALYSIS
Training for entrepreneurial women should be built on a thorough analysis of their training needs, both before, during and after they move into business. Training needs analysis for women’s entrepreneurship is now a focal point in policy research. New analytical instruments are being piloted by ETF partner organisations.
Finally, access to networks, training and finance require policy coordination so as to increase the sustainability of individual programmes and measures. Download INFORM - Issue 14 - Training for women entrepreneurs: an imperative for growth and jobs.