The revision of the 1976 Recommendation on the Development of Adult Education, which was requested by the Belém Framework for Action is proceeding as foreseen by UNESCO’s rules and regulations. The new draft prepared with the help of international experts and in consultation with a range of key stakeholders was sent by UNESCO’s Director General to Member States in September 2014, together with a preliminary report on the revision process (see also Bulletin No. 8). More...

This first title in the UIL Publication Series on Lifelong Learning Policies and Strategies series shares experiences from five African countries – Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia, Rwanda, and Tanzania – that are on track to operationalize lifelong learning systems.
Download here (PDF, 5 MB). More...

The third Global Report on Adult Learning and Education (GRALE III) is now in preparation and is scheduled for publication in early 2016. It will provide an update of progress in implementing the Belém Framework for Action, and will focus in particular on the returns to adult learning for health and wellbeing, society and community, employment and the labour market.
Links:

• Belém Framework for Action (PDF)
• GRALE II (PDF, 1444 KB). More...

The Education Sector Plan of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2013–2017 is currently being analysed to identify gaps in adult education and lifelong learning opportunities for all. More...

Second-chance education was the theme of this year’s annual conference of the Swiss Network for Education and International Cooperation (Réseau Suisse Education et Coopération Internationale, RECI), held in Bern on 3 November 2014.  The conference consisted of presentations on projects conducted by non-governmental organisations, regional networks and universities, including Action Aid, Foundation for the Education of Children in Africa and the University of Geneva.
For more information, please see the conference programme (in German). More...

Register now includes 37 agencies from 18 countries
The Register Committee convened in Rome on 28 and 29 November and admitted the following four new agencies to the Register:

• A3ES - Agency for Evaluation and Accreditation of Higher Education (Portugal)
• AQ Austria - Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation Austria
• CAQA - Commission for Accreditation and Quality Assurance (Serbia)
• Unibasq - Agency for Quality of the Basque University System (Spain)

The Register Committee also decided to renew the registration of another four agencies:

• AAC-DEVA - Andalusian Agency of Knowledge, Department of Evaluation and Accreditation (Spain)
• ACSUG - Agency for Quality Assurance in the Galician University System (Spain)
• CTI - Engineering Degree Commission (France)
• IEP - Institutional Evaluation Programme

These agencies have demonstrated their substantial compliance with the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ESG) through an independent external review. More...

Entitled ‘Funding for excellence’, it is the first in a series of three thematic reports that will outline many of the key findings of the EUA-led DEFINE project* which analyses the impact of funding efficiency measures on universities (the next two reports will focus on mergers/concentration measures and performance-based funding). The new report takes into account excellence schemes that have been introduced in different countries across Europe but looked more closely at 10 schemes. It also includes a series of project recommendations for policy makers and higher education institutions which are based  on data collection, case studies, site visits and focus groups which have been carried out/collected in the framework of the DEFINE project.
The full report can be downloaded here. More...

Called UNI-SET (Universities in the SET-Plan), it aims to mobilise European universities’ expertise to address common European goals in the context of the European Union’s Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan), the technology pillar of the EU Energy and Climate policy. Specifically, the project will look to facilitate the creation of master and research programmes in the field of energy and promote new research collaborations bringing together multidisciplinary teams to work towards the objectives of the SET-Plan. More...

EUA’s Institutional Evaluation Programme (IEP) is pleased to announce that its application to renew its inclusion in the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR) has been successful. IEP will now be listed on the EQAR until 2019.
Established in 2008 in the context of the Bologna Process reforms, the Register aims to provide clear and reliable information about quality assurance agencies that operate in Europe.
To find out more about the Register please visit: www.eqar.euTo find out more about the IEP Programme please visit: www.eua.be/iep. More...