The Fourth International Nobel Economic Congress, “The World Economy in XXI Century: Cycles and Crises”, will take place at the Alfred Nobel University (Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) from 21 to 24 May 2014.
The conference website highlights that the principal theme for debate in 2014 will be “Economics and the Economy: the Dialectic of Cooperation.” Problems relating to this theme will be discussed at the plenary sessions, where reports will be delivered from national economic institutes and economists.
To find out more or to register, please visit the event website.

The Management Development Network (EFMD) is holding its Annual Conference in Vienna from 15 to 17 June 2014 under the theme “The Art of Teaching and Learning”.
Hosted by the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU), the conference website notes the event is “designed for all those interested in management education and development”. It is intended to bring together EFMD members, companies, educational institutions and other associations, to offer various perspectives and discussions on the conference theme.
To view the programme or to register for a reduced fee by 28 February, please visit the event website.

The European Association for International Education (EAIE) is organising its Spring Academy in The Hague, the Netherlands.
The programme will feature “11 hands-on courses” on a range of topics, and participants can choose to do either one or combine two courses.
To read more about the courses on offer or to register for a reduced fee by 17 February, visit the EAIE website.

The University of Cologne is hosting from 8 to 10 May 2014 the conference: “On the way to the ‘best Children’s University’: The Supply and Demand Relationship under the Principle of Participation. Opportunities and Challenges Raised by the Children’s University”.
The conference is “aimed at children’s university organizers and also at experts from the education and science communication fields, at practitioners from education institutions whose target groups are children and young people, and at multipliers from politics and media”. It will be held in German and English.
For more information or to contact the organisers, please visit the conference website

The European Commission in partnership with the KTH Royal Institute of Technology are organising a thematic forum on “Partnerships for Innovation and Socio-economic Impact: The Entrepreneurial University”, in Stockholm, from 19 to 20 March.
The conference aims to attract representatives from the university and business world, from European and international organisations, public-sector bodies and authorities as well as other stakeholders, to discuss “how inter-sectorial and transnational partnerships can strengthen economic growth in Europe through the development of local innovation eco systems”.
To register by 28 February or to find out more, please visit the event website which can be accessed with the following password: NPEC.

In response to the 2011 Council of the European Union Recommendation on promoting the learning mobility of young people, the Eurydice network* has published a feasibility report “Towards a Mobility Scoreboard: Conditions for Learning Abroad in Europe”, which covers 33 countries (including all 28 EU member states) and has the reference year 2011/2012.
The report proposes indicators on key thematic issues covered by the Council Recommendation (displayed in both map format and scoreboard fashion): information and guidance; portability of grants and loans; foreign language preparation; quality of learning mobility; and recognition of learning outcomes. The idea is to provide a framework for monitoring progress and comparing conditions for learner mobility across European countries. Read more...

Following the review of Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications, the amending Directive (2013/55/EU) was published in the Official Journal at the end of December 2013.
Member states now have a two-year transposition period in which to make the necessary adjustments to their national legislations. As stated recently in EUA’s newsletter and in EUA’s professional qualifications updates, the amended Directive contains much that is relevant to higher education.
EUA Senior Adviser Howard Davies has therefore produced a detailed briefing note for EUA members, which focuses on key aspects of the new legislation for HE institutions. Download the briefing note here.

To follow up on last year’s EUA-JRC (Joint Research Centre) expert workshop on the role of universities in Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation, EUA invited the European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Johannes Hahn, to its Council meeting last week in Brussels.
As EUA has mentioned in its previous newsletters, under the new EU Cohesion Policy framework, Smart Specialisation will be an “ex-ante conditionality”. This means that every member state and region will have to have such a strategy in place before they can receive EU financial support through the Structural Funds for their planned innovation measures, particularly in relation to strengthening research, technological development and innovation. Read more...

Around 80 representatives of European and Brazilian rectors’ conferences, agencies responsible for higher education internationalisation, university international offices and government gathered in Brussels last week for the kick-off meeting and first workshop of the ALISIOS* project (Academic Links and Strategies for the Internationalisation of the Higher Education Sector) to discuss a more coordinated higher education and research approach for Europe when working with international partners, in particular Brazil.
A follow-up to a Europe-Latin American university leadership conference that EUA co-organised in São Paulo in 2012 in the context of ALFA PUENTES, the ALISIOS project (2013-2015) aims at enhancing policy dialogue and cooperation between European countries and their international partners. Read more...

Following a recent announcement in the EUA newsletter concerning the Trends 2015 project, EUA sent the online questionnaire for its Trends 2015 survey by email to the heads of all its member universities on 28 January.
The survey aims to map changes in learning and teaching in European higher education institutions, and to provide a comprehensive overview of the most important developments in the European higher education landscape over several years. The results will be published in a report, which will be presented to European Higher Education Ministers at the next Bologna Ministerial Conference in Armenia in 2015.
As this is an “institutional questionnaire”, only one response per institution will be accepted. EUA encourages all members to take part in the Trends 2015 survey that will be open until the end of April 2014. Member universities which require further information on the Trends survey or did not receive the questionnaire should email trends@eua.be. Read more...