Thirty rectors and presidents of higher education institutions from Canada, the US and Europe gathered in Toronto, Canada, from 25 to 27 June for the 14th Transatlantic Dialogue (TAD), a bi-regional leadership event that has underpinned EUA’s cooperation with the American Council on Education (ACE) and the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) for many years.
This year, there was discussion around the possible implications of ongoing trade negotiations for higher education, in particular the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership – TTIP, a topic that EUA has been monitoring, that could potentially impact the higher education sector, albeit in undefined ways at present. More...

At its meeting on 12 June 2014, the EUA Research Policy Working Group (RPWG), chaired by EUA Vice-President Professor David Drewry, gave particular attention to the topic of doctoral education.
Other topics covered by RPWG include the high-level event on the role of Universities in Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3) that took place on 20 June in Brussels and the contribution of EUA to the European Research Area (ERA) progress report that the European Commission plans to publish later this year. More...

EUA’s Annual Report 2013 is now available on the EUA website. The report summarises the different activities carried out by EUA on behalf of and in support of its members last year across a number of thematic areas including: learning and teaching; research and innovation; quality management; governance, autonomy and funding; and internationalisation.
These activities included, for example, representing universities in key European-level policy debates (such as the new EU funding programmes) and organising a wide range of projects and events, that have been designed for universities to share good practice, improve knowledge and understanding, and benchmark their own work. These projects and events are also crucial as they enable EUA to gather empirical evidence which forms the basis of its advocacy work. The publication also provides a summary of EUA’s governance structure (including Board, Council and General Assembly), as well as EUA's 2013 financial statements.
To download the report, click here. More...

Registration is now open for the 9th European Quality Assurance Forum (EQAF), entitled “Changing education – QA and the shift from teaching to learning”, which will take place from 13 to 15 November 2014 at the University of Barcelona in Spain.
EQAF provides a unique platform for the higher education and quality assurance (QA) communities to monitor, shape and anticipate developments in the field. The main purpose of the Forum is to foster a dialogue on QA that bridges national boundaries and leads to a truly European discussion on QA in higher education, and to create a common European understanding of QA through discussions and networking among different stakeholder groups.
Through a mix of plenary and parallel sessions, the 2014 EQAF will combine practice-oriented or research-based discussions that will take place in the paper sessions and workshops with presentations of current developments in quality assurance. This year, the Forum will explore whether and how current QA approaches are keeping up with and supporting developments in learning and teaching. Please note that a call for contributions is also open until 25 July 2014. More...

In the past weeks, the European Commission (EC) has launched a public consultation on “Science 2.0” and published a staff working document that aims to provide guidance on synergies between the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), Horizon 2020 and other research-related EU programmes. Meanwhile, it also announced that the first results of the EC-funded European Tertiary Education Register project have been published.
Public consultation on “Science 2.0”
Last week, the European Commission launched a public consultation on “Science 2.0”. More...

IMOTION (Integration and Promotion of Staff Training Courses at Universities across Europe) is a one-year project funded by the EC Lifelong Learning Programme. Coordinated by the Network of the Universities from the Capitals of Europe (UNICA) with a consortium of partners it aims to create an online platform that will centralise information about staff training events organised in Europe in order to provide easy access to the information.
The IMOTION project Final Conference takes place in Brussels on 9 September 2014 and aims to give participants an insight into “the latest trends and current challenges related to the competence development of university administrative staff”. The organisers also note that the conference will mark the end of the IMOTION project with the official launch of the IMOTION staff training platform. More...

To celebrate the achievements of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005–2014) and to help develop future education agendas, UNESCO and the Government of Japan is organising the World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development later this year.
In conjunction with this conference, UIL and the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in Bangkok are supporting the Japanese Government in organising the Kominkan-CLC International Conference on ESD - Community Based Human Development for Sustainable Society in Okayama City from 9 to 12 October 2014. Practitioners and researchers from community-based learning centres who organise education and development activities for sustainable development are welcome to participate in the Conference. There is no registration fee but participants have to finance their own travel, board and lodging.
The Okayama Conference aims to discuss future visions of education for sustainable development through revitalisation of multi-generational learning in local communities linking schools, families, society and workplaces. The outcome will be reported in the World Conference in Nagoya, Japan the following month.

Links:

Kominkan-CLC International Conference on ESD

• General Information (11 June version, PDF)
• Registration

World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development. More...