Beyond the traditional appointments with ‘What's new in Brussels?’ at the beginning of 2014 and our annual Conference ‘Europe in the world’ in July, where we featured the recent higher education developments in Europe and across the globe, ACA organised a number of events. Some of them were related to themes that we have long been following, such as the April Seminar on Funding student mobility – built upon the expertise of our studies and publications such as Portable state grants and loans: An overview and their contribution to outgoing student mobility that was out at the beginning of the year - or the December Seminar on English-medium instruction in Europe, related to our latest study on the topic, available from January 2015. However, we also explored completely new territories with the seminar on Liberal Arts and Science Colleges that took place last October and contributed to expand our network of academic institutions, beyond our areas of expertise. More...

With the approaching of the end of the year, time has come to sum up where we stand with Education policies of the EU and its member states. The last Council meetings of the year synthetised some of the recent developments.
First, let us start with the financial concerns. On 9 December, EU finance ministers expressed broad support to the  new EUR 315 billion Investment Plan, presented on 26 November by the European Commission and aimed at getting “Europe growing again and get more people back to work”. According to the guidelines, this additional investment will target, among others, also education, research and innovation. The Commission is expected to submit a legislative proposal in January 2015 and the aim is to have it adopted by June 2015. In addition, European Parliament and Council’s negotiators reached a compromise on the EU budget, which could affect the level of education and research funding for the next year (see ACA Newsletter 'Education Europe', Edition November 2014). The deal includes extra payment appropriations of some EUR 3.5 billion for the 2014 budget while 2015 payment appropriations are set at EUR 141.21 billion, an amount closer to the Commission’s initial proposal than to the Council’s position. More...

Entrepreneurship is not such a popular concept in academia for the commercial connotation it has and universities tend to reject engagement in entrepreneurship-related practices. When in November 2013 the European Commission (EC) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) launched HEInnovate, it was described as an online self-assessment tool designed to support and guide higher education institutions (HEIs) on innovative and effective management. Based on a framework of an entrepreneurial higher education institution, HEInnovate offers free assessment and provides examples of good practice in innovation and effective management at higher education institutions across Europe.
Learn more: HEInnovate. More...

Like every year, in 2015 ACA will start its series of events with the already legendary What’s new in Brussels?  seminar. This time round, the focus will be on the new EU programmes in education and research, and especially on Erasmus+. The seminar will try to identify and analyse the experience made with the start of this programme. What worked, what did not and what needs to be improved are some of the guiding questions behind the programme. They will be answered by a multiplicity of actors, such as the European Commission, national agencies and, most important, university representatives. More...

ESN celebrates 25 years of Youth Empowering Youth through Mov’in Europe conference "International Youth Mobility - Beyond the Erasmus+ programme" that was hosted by MEP Therese Comodini Cachia at the European Parliament on Monday, November 17th.
In the framework of the ESN Mov'in Europe project, a high-level conference was organised to discuss current issues regarding international youth learning mobility. More...

On 9 and 10 October 2014, the European Commission organised in Brussels the annual European Education, Training and Youth Forum 2014. Focused on the future priorities of the Education and Training 2020 Strategic Framework (ET2020) for cooperation in education and training and synergies with youth policies, the Forum gathered more than 400 participants representing civil society, institutions and national authorities. More...

Many courses in literacy and numeracy are free, and you may not have to pay for tuition if you’re going for your first qualification equivalent to GCSEs or A levels. There’s a wider range of free courses available if you’re on income-related benefits, and there are opportunities for everyone to learn for free online.
Learning for free at work
Many employers are keen for their staff to develop new skills, and may offer free training relevant to your job - for example through an Apprenticeship, Training for Success scheme or Bridge to Employment. If you’re looking to get back into work, you may be able to take part in the Steps 2 Success or other programmes for unemployed people.

• Training and learning for work
• Apprenticeships
• Training for Success
• Bridge to Employment for Jobseekers
• Steps 2 Success. More...
  

The purpose of the Outline for Reinvention of education is to:
Redefine education
Describe how it applies to governance and its core delivery targets
What needs to be done for aligning education system with the delivery targets and how to reinvent education system
Please click the following link for detailed presentation: http://www.slideshare.net/19540201/re-invention-of-education-systenpdf-p.... More...

The Integrated Learning Design Environment (ILDE) brings together a set of existing learning design tools for teacher communities. Discover the ILDE completing this survey in English, Spanish, Italian or German. More...

TELL US project, co-funded by DG Connect of the European Commission, gives companies, entrepreneurs or individuals a chance to make their products and services grow and become more visible. It will help them promote their innovative solutions in classrooms across Europe. More...