The OECD and European Commission have published on 8 October an international Survey of Adult Skills which aims to assess the literacy, numeracy and problem-solving ICT skills of adults. Meanwhile, the “Horizons for Social Sciences and Humanities” conference, one of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU events, took place in Vilnius (23-24 September) concluding with a declaration highlighting the value and benefits of integrating Social Sciences and Humanities in innovation processes and Horizon 2020.

The EUA Council for Doctoral Education’s (EUA-CDE) 7th Thematic Workshop will take place from 23 to 24 January 2014 at Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir, Turkey. The theme of the event is “Outcomes of Doctoral Education – Mindset, Research, Innovation”.
The EUA-CDE has published a Call for Papers for the workshop. Contributions which relate to how institutions support doctoral candidates in the PhD process and ensure they attain the main outcomes, including a research mindset and an original thesis, are invited from EUA-CDE members*.
Papers describing how doctoral theses are evaluated are also welcome, as are papers that present systematic approaches to using doctoral education for innovation, for example in collaborative doctoral programmes. The deadline for submissions is 15 November 2013.
Further information on the call and the 7th EUA-CDE Thematic Workshop can be found on the event website.
*Please note the workshop is open only to EUA-CDE members and registration for the event will commence in the coming weeks. More information on the EUA-CDE is available here: www.eua.be/cde

EUA’s Secretary General Lesley Wilson earlier this month took part in a symposium on staff development in academia organised by RWTH Aachen University in Germany. The event brought together different stakeholders from across Germany to discuss different elements and challenges of human resources (HR) management in universities.
Lesley Wilson was asked to provide a European perspective on the topic – and in her presentation stressed that human resource development at all levels was a crucial issue not only for universities in Germany but also across Europe and worldwide, as institutions seek to attract talented staff and students. She underlined that one of the important aspects for universities to compete in a global higher education environment, was that they should have the autonomy to decide freely on issues related to human resources management, including recruitment, salaries, dismissals and promotions. EUA’s autonomy scorecard study had shown that there are still wide divergences across Europe in terms of staffing autonomy, she added, and that this does not always make it easy, for example, to promote mobility or recruit staff from other countries. More...

EUA together with the Smart Specialisation (S3) Platform, and the EC Directorate General for Education and Culture, last week hosted a workshop on the role of higher education institutions in Smart Specialisation at this year’s EU Open Days in Brussels (European week of Regions and Cities).
The event was part of the follow-up to a recent EUA workshop on this topic organised in partnership with the EC Joint Research Centre (IPTS) in Seville, Spain, which gathered experts to debate existing good practices and how universities could enhance their contribution in developing national and regional “Smart Specialisation Strategies” for future maximisation of the use of the EU regional funds for research and innovation activities. The report from the Seville Workshop in February this year identified a set of core issues and recommendations that could valuably inform the development of new guidelines for the design and assessment of Smart Specialisation Strategies. A video of the workshop can also be viewed on the EU Open Days website. More...

EUA will organise three focus groups with university practitioners during the first half of 2014 as part of the DEFINE project (“Designing strategies for efficient funding of higher education in Europe”). This EUA-led project analyses the impact of funding efficiency measures such as performance-based funding, mergers and concentration measures, as well as excellence schemes, on higher education institutions in Europe.
The call for expressions of interest, published this week, invites experts from higher education institutions across Europe who are experienced in these topics to participate in the three focus groups (maximum 20 people in a group) each tackling one of these funding efficiency measures. More...

By Shawn Warren. HASTAC champions digital solutions to the crisis in higher education.  In past posts I have presented an alternative model for the provision of this valued service that champions a more human solution to the crisis.  This alternative does not rely on traditional instituions (universities and colleges) or the tsunami of digital responses now being floated (from MOOCs to digital badges).  In these posts I have also tried to show how digital solutions such as badges are suited to the professional model. The use of digital technology in higher education is being determined by the institutions that possess acceditiation, since under the current model they are the only recognized source of employ for academics and education for students. More...