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The Erasmus Student Network conducted a short survey on the preferences of its students and members concerning the name of the new EU programme on Education, Training, Youth and Sport. The original proposal of the European Commission stipulates “Erasmus for All” as the name for the follow-up of the Lifelong Learning Programme. The European Parliament favours “YES Europe” as the name for the new programme envisaged to start in 2014.
ESN has asked students directly whether they prefer “Erasmus for All”, “YES Europe” or have no preference/opinion. Out of the 3034 responding individuals, 69.5% prefer “Erasmus for All”, 24.9% prefer “YES Europe” and the remaining 5.5% indicated no preference or opinion on the name. An overview broken down by country and a more graphic illustration can be found here. 
Analysis Survey New Programme.pdf. More...

The European Students Forum (AEGEE-Europe), with the support of its partners - the Erasmus Student Network (ESN) and Generation Europe Foundation (GEF) – organised a conference to launch the new EU funded project under the Lifelong Learning Programme: Erasmus Voting Assessment. The event, hosted by the Parliament’s Intergroup on Youth Issues, gathered several important stakeholders. Doris Pack, Member of the European Parliament, Chair of the CULT Committee and Rapporteur of the European Parliament for Erasmus+ opened the conference, giving valuable input and stressing the importance of exploring the influence of the Erasmus programme on EUcitizenship. The Erasmus Voting Assessment survey has been launched! Visit our website to fill in the survey: www.erasmusvoting.eu. More...

The strengthening of institutional and organisational capacities will be crucial to achieve the literacy and adult education goals of the Strategic Plan of the Education Sector 2012–2016 in Mozambique. The UNESCO Capacity for EFA Programme Mozambique therefore includes a training component to equip staff members of the Directorate of Literacy and Adult Education (DINAEA) at central and provincial levels with improved management capacities. More...

The International Language Association (ICC) is holding on 26-27 April its Annual Conference on “Language, learning and the brain” in Mainz, Germany.The event will mainly focus on lessons learned from neurosciences and neurolinguistics for language learning and teaching, while the 2012 Commission’s Communication on “Rethinking Education” has shed a new light on the importance of language learning across the EU. The Conference will also allow for many networking opportunities through various interactive workshops and a marketplace. See the draft programme and register here!

The ENT-TEACH EU-funded project addresses entrepreneurship in senior secondary vocational education institutes and seeks to provide teachers with tools and materials to educate, inspire and motivate students for entrepreneurship. The EN-TEACH consortium is organising the project final event on “VET reinvented: Vocational & Entrepreneurship Teaching” that will take place on Friday 7^th March from 9.00 at the Delegation of the Basque Country to the EU (rue des Deux Eglises, 27). Register here and visit the project website available in 5 languages where you can find material to be used by teachers and trainers. See also EUCIS-LLL position paper and compendium of good practices on “Fostering entrepreneurial mindsets” as well as our recent policy debate on entrepreneurship skills in the European Parliament.

On 30-31 January the Committee of Regions adopted its opinion on the Commission’s Communication “Opening Up Education“, drafted by Ms Yoomi Renström (SE/PES). Among the Committee’s key messages, more emphasis should be put on a better access to open educational resources and new technologies for all learners, whatever their geographical situation, and a particular attention should be paid to disadvantaged areas with the help of structural and investment funds. EUCIS-LLL supports many good elements of the document beyond the focus on access, such as the crucial role of local communities to support a shift of mindsets towards the digital revolution – as underlined by Mr Claudio Dondi in his intervention on the topic in a recent European Parliament public hearing where he represented EUCIS-LLL and MENON. See also EUCIS-LLL position paper on Opening Up Education.

The European Federation for Intercultural Learning (EFIL) will organise on 24-27 April in Istanbul, Turkey its annual symposium to gather various stakeholders from different cultural backgrounds to reflect upon a common theme. This year’s specific focus on creativity in education and intercultural learning will be the opportunity to share best practices and learn from each other through debates with experts, intercultural workshops by AFS trainers, educational best practice workshops delivered by attendees from all around the world, creativity sessions, field trips, co-teaching opportunities and visits to like-minded organizations. Apply here before 17 February!

By Brian Keeley. If you’re a regular visitor to the blog, you’ll know we often report on the latest OECD economic forecasts. After reading these, you may have found yourself asking this question: Is this really what’s going to happen? You’re not alone. The OECD’s economists, too, have been asking themselves the same question, and today they offered some answers.
In a “post-mortem” project, the OECD examined the accuracy of the economic forecasts it issued between 2007 and 2012, a period of seemingly endless economic turbulence. The study reports that, in general, the OECD tended to be too optimistic – it didn’t predict the scale of the collapse in economic activity between 2008-09 and then overestimated the speed of the subsequent recovery. More...

Open Education Europa is thrilled to be at the European MOOCs Stakeholder Summit, which starts today and runs until Wednesday. The conference hasn't even officially started yet and the Twitterverse is already buzzing. We'll be live tweeting the keynote speeches and selected sessions from @openeduEU. Follow the #emoocs2014 hashtag for up-to-the-minute news and insights from the conference. More...

By Pierre-Antoine Ullmo. The European MOOCs stakeholders summit starts today in Lausanne. The future of MOOCs will be discussed extensively. In the book Mania, Panics, and Crashes — which I translated and first published into French back in 1993 — the American economist Charles Kindleberger  wrote that economic history is replete with manias of all kind: canal manias, railroad manias, joint stock company manias, real estate manias, and stock price manias. Are we facing an MOOCs mania, another speculative bubble that sooner or later will come to an end? More...