International Conference - DECOWE, Development of Competencies in the World of Work and Education, 24-26 September 2009, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.
At the conference entitled "Development of Competencies in the World of Work and Education" (DECOWE), which will be held between 24-26 September 2009 at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, we aim to use the abovementioned empirical findings as a basis for dialogue between researchers, HE management staff and policy makers. The main emphasis will be on key note presentations of the European Commission, OECD, REFLEX and HEGESCO projects, however also other participants – researchers, HE administration and management staff, employers, policy makers and trade union staff – are encouraged to submit short 20 minute presentations of projects, ongoing activities (e.g. career centres), surveys and studies (methodology or results). Presentations may (or may not) be supported by papers (approx. 25.000 characters) that will be published in the Conference proceedings after the event addressing one of the following topics related to the identification, recognition, development and utilization of competences:
a) Transition from education to labour market and early career;
b) Innovative teaching and learning modes and curricula development;
c) Competence development in work organisations and in relation to HRM and knowledge management;
d) Frameworks and classifications of knowledge and qualifications, competence recognition – including permeability between VET and HE;
e) Skill measurement surveys and projects.

Vivre et apprendre pour un futur viable - L’importance de l’éducation des adultes
La conférence devait se tenir à Belém du 19 au 22 mai, cependant le Gouvernement brésilien et l’UNESCO ont conjointement décidé d’annuler l’événement compte tenu des problèmes mondiaux de santé publique.
La conférence étudiera le thème « Vivre et apprendre pour un futur viable : L’importance de l’éducation des adultes » et réunira des États membres de l’UNESCO, des organismes des Nations Unies, des représentants de la société civile et du secteur privé. Le Président brésilien, Inácio Lula da Silva, a également confirmé sa présence.
La Sixième Conférence internationale sur l'éducation des adultes (CONFINTEA VI), qui sera accueillie par le Gouvernement du Brésil à Belém du 1 au 4 décembre 2009, fournira un forum majeur propice au dialogue sur les politiques et à la promotion de l’apprentissage et de l’éducation non formelle des adultes à l’échelle mondiale. La conférence réunira des États membres de l’UNESCO, des organismes des Nations Unies, des organismes de coopération bilatéraux ou multilatéraux, des organisations de la société civile, le secteur privé et des apprenants de toutes les régions du monde. Règlement de participation. Objectifs. أهداف المؤتمر.

The 2009 Biennial Conference was hosted by the Commission for Academic Accreditation, Ministry of Higher Education in the United Arab Emirates. The website for the 2009 Conference gives details of the event, including conference themes. The website is available at http://www.caa.ae/conference
The presentations of the key-note speakers and the closing conference speech of David Woodhouse can be found below.
Keynote 1 New Approaches to Quality Assurance in the Changing World of Higher Education. Keynote 2 Quality Assurance for Enhancement, Gemma Rauret. Keynote 3 Different Approaches to Quality Assurance and Their Impact on Efficiency, Effectiveness and Sustainability. Keynote 4 Quality Culture - Embedding Quality Assurance into the life of an Institution. Keynote 5 Quality Assurance at a Distance, Badr Aboul Ela, David Woodhouse. Closing Conference Speech David Woodhouse.
Papers Theme 1 Quality Assurance for Enhancement
Henard - Mitterle_Good governance guidelines and QA two drivers on one wheel. Jan Cameron_An exploration of key performance indicators for academic quality. DeVries-Crozier-Harris_QA of student assessment in HE. Darandari_QA as an empowerment tool for women a case from Saudi Arabia. Teshome_Kebede_QA for Enhancement of HE in Ethiopia. Akira_Kurematsu_Towards a framework for the QA of practical skill ability. Thompson_A Web-based Quality Improvement Solution for a Distributed Campus System.
Papers Theme 2 Different approaches to Quality Assurance
Helle_Student involvement in the work of ENQA and of its member agencies. Kekäläinen_Hiltunen_Financial incentives to improve quality and relevance of education in universities. Liu_Impacts of the Quality Assessment of the Undergraduate Education Policy in China. Wosik_Towards excellence in HE trough quality awareness. Kaissi_Towards a new HE QA system for Lebanon. Al-Alusi & Rizk_A continuous improvement cycle for academic programs.  Agamy_The impact of QA on enhancing program effectiveness at the university of Sharjah. Fernandez - Chung_Quality Assuring Transnational Education The Malaysian Experience. Holtzhausen - Veeran - Villa_Getting_it_right_for_social_work_in_the_Arab_world. Badr_Ian_Challenges in Implementation of Standards for Licensure and Accreditation in the UAE. Jan Roodt -L. Reinecke_A self assessment approach to quality assurance. Lorna Maria Parkins_Quality Assurance of medical education programmes in the Anglophone Caribbean. Stella_Insitutional vs Programmatic Approaches. W.S.Wong_Different approaches to Hong Kong_Mainland China and Taiwan.
Papers Theme 3 A Quality culture embedding QA into the life of an institution
Beatty_Facilitating Tertiary Educational Change in the Middle East from defining cultures to a culture of quality. Harvey_A critical analysis of quality culture. Miosi_Using the Self-Assessment Process to embed QA into the Life of an Institution. Gita Ashok Raj_QA in Medical Education at GMC. Al-Atiqi - Deshpande_Transforming HE with Six Sigma. Fisher-Stitt, Leyton-Brown and Webb_Creating and sustaining a Quality Culture at York University. Martin Carroll - Razvi - Goodliffe_Using foundation program academic standards as a Quality Enhancement Tool.  Okafor_The need to rework the QA dynamics using Nigeria and South Africa. Ritchie_How to guide HEIs that are balancing requirements from multiple accreditation agencies.
Papers Theme 4 Quality Assurance at a distance
Jara-Mellar_Internal QA and enhancement procedures for e-learning courses in UK HEIs. Rawazik-Carroll-Fox-Harvey_A new way of evaluating overseas providers. Hou - Chen_International Accreditation in Taiwan HE.

Coherence, cooperation and duality of the University guidance systems in the 21st century Complex approach to the university guidance and its interference with tertiary education. Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, (Česká zemědělská univerzita v Praze), Kamýcká 129, 165 21 Prague 6 – Suchdol, conference hall of the Study and Information Centre / SIC.
University guidance systems in the context of the types of University and regional needs. University guidance systems in the context of university education in the 21st century: networks, methods, forms, strategies, finance education of university advisors and paradigms of the university guidance systems and tertiary education. Programme. Conference Topics.

L'équipe française des experts de Bologne a ouvert un espace de réflexion sur la problématique transversale de la certification des diplômes, de l'insertion professionnelle des étudiants et de leur inscription dans la dynamique européenne.
La conférence "Processus de Bologne et Cadre National de Certification" s'est déroulé à Paris les 12 et 13 mars 2009. Télécharger le livret de présentation de ces journées. Télécharger le programme de la conférence "Processus de Bologne et Cadre National de Certification". Télécharger le compte-rendu de la conférence "Processus de Bologne et Cadre National de Certification".
Extraits:
Un Cadre National de Certifications relié à un Cadre européen est un outil au service de la formation tout au long de la vie. C’est le nouveau défi que nos établissements d’enseignement supérieur ont à affronter désormais. Il ne s’agit pas de donner un place plus significative en terme de priorité à la formation continue, mais de repenser la façon dont chaque établissement d’enseignement supérieur construit sa relation avec ses étudiants. Il ne s’agit pas de penser la formation en deux temps séparés, celui de la formation initiale et celui de la remise à jour, mais bien comme un continuum permettant les allers et retours, à tout moment d’une trajectoire ndividuelle, entre formation et travail afin de rendre chacun capable de faire face aux changements de plus en plus accélérés et exigeants en terme de connaissances et compétences mobilisées auxquels il devra faire face.
L’EUA (European University Association) a élaboré un Charte de la formation tout au long de la vie à l’université qu’elle a présentée aux ministres de l’éducation réunis en novembre dernier à Bordeaux. Le problème est maintenant celui de la mise en oeuvre de cette Charte. Le draft Communiqué des ministres de l’Education qui sera publié après leur rencontre à Leuven‐Louvain la Neuve à la fin du mois d’avril pointe quelques pistes pour les deux prochaines années : fléxibilisation des parcours, validation des apprentissages non formels et informels, diplômes intermédiaires pour matérialiser les étapes d’un parcours, partenariats forts avec les autorités publiques, les autres établissements d’enseignement supérieur, les employeurs, les étudiants et les salariés. La mise en place de adres Nationaux de Certification constitue du point de vue des ministres un instrument clé pour la mise en oeuvre d’une politique de formation tout au long de la vie dans chaque établissement d’enseignement supérieur.
Il team francese di esperti provenienti da Bologna, ha aperto uno spazio di riflessione sul tema della croce di certificazione delle qualifiche, formazione degli studenti e la loro entrata nel contesto europeo. La conferenza "Processo di Bologna e il quadro nazionale delle qualifiche" si è tenuta a Parigi il 12 e 13 marzo 2009. Scarica l'opuscolo per la presentazione di quei giorni. Scarica il programma del convegno "Processo di Bologna e il quadro nazionale delle qualifiche". Scarica il conto del "Processo di Bologna e il quadro nazionale delle qualifiche". Maggiori informazioni...

The Brazilian government, through its Ministry of Education, and UNESCO regret to announce the postponement of the Sixth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI) which was to be held in the city of Belém, State of Pará, from 19 to 22 May 2009.
The decision to postpone the Conference was taken by the Brazilian government after taking into account the recommendation of its Permanent Group of Public Health Emergencies, created by the Decree of 24 October 2005. Although there are no confirmed cases in Brazil, this group considered the developments associated with Influenza A (H1N1) in the world.
The postponement also took into consideration the World Health Organization’s decision to maintain the international influenza pandemic alert at phase 5. The Ministry of Education and UNESCO reaffirm their firm commitment to hold CONFINTEA VI in Brazil, this year, on a date to be confirmed as soon as possible.
For the Brazilian Government, Fernando Haddad, Minister of Education. For UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General. Official Document.

Recommendations for universities
For some years, higher education institutions (HEIs) have been the educational institutions most challenged by the lifelong learning perspective. In the recent weeks at the University Business Forum in Brussels, the Director of Business Europe stated that « universities must invest more in adult lifelong learning »; the representative of EUA added that lifelong learning has to become « a distinctive European feature » of universities and the draft Communiqué of Ministers responsible for Higher Education notes that “the lifelong learning perspective will shape the institutional practice of each higher education institution”.
Participants in the EUCEN Conference took stock of these new commitments and challenges posed by authorities and stakeholders. However, as experts and actors engaged for many years in this field, they recognise the distance that still exists between good intentions and concrete policies, between rhetoric and reality. They regret that lifelong learning is still seen as an objective among others (the draft Communiqué in particular refers to lifelong learning among other key issues: equitable access and completion, employability, student-centred learning, more mobility, international openness) and not as a structuring process. They called for concrete actions to move from principles to action plans at national and local level. They called for the following concrete actions.
Universities should:
• Intensify the reflection at all levels in HEIs on what it means to become a lifelong learning organisation in practice. Each HEI is invited: to recognize and integrate LLL as an aspect of its institutional mission and culture; to elaborate its own dynamic definition of a LLLU (Lifelong Learning University); to develop a comprehensive and coherent strategy offering opportunities to ensure continuity in a time of more and more fragmented individual and professional lives and an increasingly fragmented knowledge society and social environment; to implement its strategy in a participative, collective and cooperative way.
• Participation in the development of a LLL culture for all students and staff, offering comprehensive frameworks to re-structure fragmented knowledge, to create bridges and to promote – internally and externally - a learning attitude, fulfilling the special mission of universities in promoting reflection, tradition and innovation.
• Develop intensive and comprehensive scientific research in the field of LLL in order to support, feed and guide implementation of a LLLU.
• Build a learner centred educational model integrating pedagogical, organisational and financial dimensions.
• Exploit the opportunities offered by the Bologna Process (e.g. credit system, learning outcomes, recognition of prior learning and non formal and informal learning,…) to provide flexible learning paths and continuous guidance for the learners, to avoid fragmentation, to allow and encourage trans-disciplinarity and to ensure continuity and progression without dead ends.
• Increase the investment in services provided to learners: guidance and counselling, validation of non formal and informal learning, support programmes, e-learning, etc.
• Invest in staff development: managers (to guide the change), teachers (to elaborate the adapted provisions) and staff (in particular for those in charge of reception, guidance and counselling), involving stakeholders in these activities.
• Ensure quality assurance procedures take into account the diversity of “learners”, of the pedagogical objectives, and of the modes of participation.
• Communicate – internally and externally – their decisions and their results.
• Develop the concept of a “networked university” involving different stakeholders (other educational sectors, trade unions, professional bodies, companies and local authorities) in sharing knowledge and sharing teaching, in a cross-fertilizing approach developing a common language, belonging to the learners with no monopoly on knowledge activities.
The EUCEN Conference participants, recognising that this requires considerable investment of resources by the HEIs, ask the governments to support, assistand finance the universities in order to implement this transformation.
See also: Communique of the Conference of European Ministers Responsible for Higher Education (Leuven/Louvain, 28-29 April 2009), Statement by the Bologna Policy Forum 2009.

The recent decision to establish the European Institute of Technology and Innovation (EIT) in Budapest and set up in Europe Knowledge and Innovation Centres (KICs) operating under the EIT umbrella shows the NEED to initiate enhanced DIALOGUE and COMMUNICATION between various actors of higher education, research, business and innovation.
Therefore, our purpose is to organize a forum for the identification and integration of experiences in means and methods of fruitful linkages between the academic world, policy-making institutions and business enterprises in pursuit of efficient co-ordination of higher education programs, innovation policies and market demands.
Thematic lines:
I. Higher education: Higher education during economic crises, HEI management, Entrepreneurial education, International mobility of academics, researchers and students, Higher education and employment, Carrier centres – role, activities, challenges, best examples.
II. Partnership: Partnerships between HEIs (international programmes, joint-degree programmes, etc.), Partnerships between HEI and business organisations; Transfer of knowledge; Communication between knowledge based economy actors, Scientific exchanges and research between Visegrad Group countries.
III. Innovation: European Institute of Technology & Innovation and Knowledge & Innovation Centres, Education of engineers as a foundation for innovation – challenges, opportunities, traps, IT for education, Knowledge village – innovative solution for innovative educational institution, R&D in business organisations and HEIs, Curriculum development – towards the improvement of innovation.