Code.org is a non-profit organization in the education sector with a mission to get students to learn how to code. The organization was founded by brothers Hadi and Ali Patrovi, both successful tech entrepreneurs. Having achieved considerable success as programmers, entrepreneurs, and investors, they turned their energies towards promoting computer science education in schools. More...

Hannes Swoboda, MEP since 1996 and current President of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group in the European Parliament, visited Cedefop on 23 January to exchange views on vocational education and training (VET) issues.
Mr Swoboda was accompanied by Greek MEP Sylvana Rapti, a member of the S&D group. They met with senior Cedefop officials. More...

At a conference on matching education with the needs of public services in the labour market, co-organised by the European centre of employers and enterprises providing public services (CEEP) and the European federation of education employers (EFEE) on 24 January in Brussels, Cedefop Deputy Director Christian Lettmayr presented the Centre’s latest skill forecast and employer survey pilot.
Mr Lettmayr said that CEEP and EFEE’s project is extremely important ‘not only because public services constitute a large share of total employment  but also because its quality and efficiency to a large extent impacts on our societies, daily life and the framework conditions for private business.’ More...

EU Member States must shift from a box-ticking approach and upgrade their quality systems if they want to improve the performance of universities and vocational colleges, according to two European Commission reports on quality assurance in higher education and vocational training.
The reports, published on 28 January, highlight that, although progress has been achieved, further reforms are needed to ensure a 'quality culture' so that teaching is more closely aligned with labour market realities and societal needs. More...

The newly released Education for All Global Monitoring Report (GMR) 2013/14 - Teaching and learning: Achieving quality for all clearly addresses how higher education critically contributes to achieving EFA. It specifically 1) draws education in the center of development, illustrating its pivotal role in the post-2015 development agenda and 2) focuses on stakeholders, such as teacher training institutions, to ensure equitable learning and to provide the best teachers.
Send your first reaction like a tweet (140 characters maximum) to Nadja Kymlicka (n.kymlicka@iau-aiu.net) by February 15 at the latest.
With your reactions, IAU hopes to influence the drafting of the post-2015 education agenda. IAU will order received messages by topic and pass them onto the UNESCO Collective Consultation of NGOs on Education for All, as part of IAU’s contribution to the Consultation as a Member of its Coordination Group. Access the EFA GMR 2013/2014 here: http://www.unesco.org/efareport/reports/2013/.

By Holly Hall. Nonprofits that spend a lot of money to hire staff members who seek large gifts and tend to loyal supporters fare far better in fundraising than other institutions of similar size, according to two studies commissioned by the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy.
Among the 335 hospitals and medical centers surveyed for the larger study, a subset of 45 kept detailed benchmarking data on their fundraising revenue and expenses from 2007 through 2012. More...

By Sara Ganim. The University of North Carolina failed some of its students "for years" by allowing them to take classes that did not match its own academic standards, Chancellor Carol Folt has admitted.
The concession -- the strongest since UNC-Chapel Hill was caught up in a fake-class scandal two years ago -- comes just weeks after a CNN investigation found continuing problems at UNC and other public universities where some student-athletes could read only at an elementary school level. More...

Institutions highlight low costs in bid to attract students
Many young people in Asia are keen to secure a degree from an American, Australian, British or Canadian university – and their parents are often prepared to pay heavily to cover the tuition fees and living costs.
Tuition fees that can add up to the equivalent of tens of thousands of euros each year are often not enough to deter the youngsters from enrolling.
In the future, however, more of these students could be selecting alternative higher education destinations, because universities in continental Europe are also looking to recruit youngsters from Asia. Read more...

Nach dem 20. BAföG-Bericht des Bundeskabinetts erreicht 2012 die Anzahl der BAföG-Empfänger den Höchststand der letzten 30 Jahre. Gefördert wurden im Schnitt jährlich 630.000 Studierende, Schülerinnen und Schüler. Somit stieg die Zahl der Geförderten seit dem letzten Bericht 2010 um 45.000 oder 7,7 Prozent an. 2012 stieg die Anzahl der geförderten Studenten sogar auf 440.0000 (14 Prozent). Somit erhöhte sich die Studentenquote im Berichtszeitraum von 27,3 Prozent im Jahr 2010 auf 28 Prozent in 2012. Der alle zwei Jahre von der Bundesregierung erstellte BAföG-Bericht dient zur Kontrolle von Bedarfssätzen, Frei- und Höchstbeträgen. Laut BAföG-Gesetz trägt er "der Entwicklung der Einkommensverhältnisse und der Vermögensbildung, den Veränderungen der Lebenshaltungskosten sowie der finanzwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung" Rechnung. Mehr...

Fifty-four percent of the university graduates in Bulgaria have jobs, which don't require a university degree.
The unemployment rate among university graduates is 4.15%, shows a rating survey of Bulgarian universities, published on Friday. It compares 51 universities in 52 professional areas based on 70 indicators, measuring various aspects of the educational process and the success of their graduates on the labor market. See more...