Formation Continue du Supérieur

New book in Higher Education series
Reimagining Democratic Societies: a New Era of Personal and Social Responsibility has just been published as volume 18 in the Council of Europe Higher Education Series. Edited by Sjur Bergan (Council of Europe), Ira Harkavy (International Consortium for Higher Education, Civic Responsibility and Democracy) and Hilligje van’t Land (International Association of Universities), the book makes the case for why democratic reimagination and innovation cannot succeed without higher education and why higher education cannot fulfill its educational, academic and societal missions without working for the common good. Authors from both Europe and the United States show that as societies change, our understanding of democracy must evolve and aim to develop democratic culture and democratic innovation. Educated, committed citizens deeply involved in creating and sustaining diverse democratic societies are essential for human progress and advancing the quality of life for all.

By Ingrid Gehrke. Increasingly, education abroad professionals are being asked to articulate their learning outcomes, design their programmes to realise those outcomes, and provide evidence that these learning outcomes are being realised by their students. One of the most frequently mentioned outcomes is cultural learning, which can take many forms. In this blog we take a look at how cultural learning can be nurtured in a study abroad programme.
Cultural learning can take the form of culture specific knowledge and general knowledge, cultural self-awareness, culture learning skills, and intercultural development. Based on advances in theory, research, and programme design over the past 10–15 years, we now have a much better understanding of how cultural learning in education abroad can be successfully facilitated.
If you’re interested to learn more about this subject, take a look at the following presentation to discover more about facilitating cultural learning. This presentation comes from a forthcoming EAIE Academy course in Birmingham, 15-17 April 2013.

The Higher Education Academy (HEA) has this week launched a publication which offers valuable insights and ideas for colleagues on the topic of education for sustainable development (ESD).
Enhancing education for sustainable development in Business and Management, Hospitality, Leisure, Marketing, Tourism has been written by academic staff involved in incorporating ESD to enhance the student learning experience. The 15 chapters, each published in a separate document to ensure readers can select the most appropriate areas for their study, focus on themes including ethics and the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) initiative, reducing environmental impact, ensuring social legacy, and widening understanding in practice. Many discuss practical approaches to ESD such placements, working abroad, problem-based learning, service learning, and ‘stepped case study’.
John Craig, Assistant Director and Head of Social Sciences at the HEA said: “We hope this publication will be of great benefit to colleagues right across the HE sector as they develop their plans for ESD. Each of its chapters focuses on one area of ESD, helping readers to get the most benefit from the publication in areas of greatest interest to them. The chapters also describe activities to enhance students’ understanding and application of ESD in various whole-school, programme and module initiatives, at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. I’m sure it will be a valuable document for all those involved in ESD.”
The publication was officially launched by Professor Daniella Tilbury, Director of the International Research Institute in Sustainability at the University of Gloucester. She said: “Congratulations on the new book. It reflects the importance of ESD at so many levels and I will be alerting colleagues to this useful resource.”
The publication, including a summary report along with the 15 chapters, can be found here.

EUATC, the European Union of Associations of Translation Companies AISBL
EUATC is an umbrella organisation for national associations of translation companies throughout Europe, without being limited to the EU. Among other things, EUATC provides a united voice for translation companies. It promotes the highest standards of quality and business practice and helps to improve the training of translators across Europe.
EUATC is a well esteemed partner in various projects of the Directorate-General for Translation (DGT). Among these, we mention the following:

• LIND-Web Platform
• European Master's in Translation (EMT)
• OPTIMALE (Optimising Professional Translator Training in a Multilingual Europe)
• AGORA (International traineeship scheme for translation students of EMT universities)
• TransCert (Trans-European Voluntary Certification for Translators)
• QUALETRA (Quality in Legal Translation)

EUATC recently became an associated partner of the Civil Society Platform on Multilingualism. The European translation industry is facing many challenges. Whether it is how to meet low price competition from across the globe, selecting the right solution from increasingly complex machine translation options, or finding the right talent and strategy to drive the business forward, the choices made can determine success or failure. That is why the continuous participation of EUATC in DGT projects is seen as a fundamental element for the future of the translation industry and the employability of translators.

European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth Androulla Vassiliou will urge French higher education institutions to participate in U-Multirank, the new EU-backed university ranking, when she visits Paris on 18-19 March.

Dans le cadre de la 4ème édition du Colloque Pédagogie et Professionnalisation organisé par l’ADIUT (Assemblée des Directeurs d’IUT), les acteurs des IUT sont invités à échanger sur le thème de l’évaluation.
Au programme, conférences plénières et ateliers, aux cours desquels quatre thèmes seront traités:

• l’évaluation du Projet Personnel et Professionnel,
• l’évaluation des enseignements, des formations et démarche qualité,
• l’évaluation des étudiants: formes et spécifités en IUT et place du numérique,
• les aspects multidimensionnels de l’évaluation dans le cadre des stages, de l’alternance et de la VAE.

Pour cette quatrième édition, il s’agit de poursuivre les réflexions initiées précédemment dans le cadre de la refonte des Programmes Pédagogiques Nationaux, en s’intéressant à une des dimensions incontournables accompagnant l’acte pédagogique: l’évaluation. En effet, au cours des dernières années, les pratiques d’évaluation ont évolué et se sont développées dans l’ensemble des domaines des IUT.
Le colloque sera ainsi l’occasion de s’interroger sur les liens entre pédagogie,  professionnalisation, technologie et évaluation des étudiants, dans le cadre des nouveaux programmes de DUT. Si l’on a pu conclure des précédents colloques à une spécificité de la formation en IUT alors il convient d’en interroger les implications en terme de pratiques évaluatives.
Le colloque Pédagogie et Professionnalisation, organisé par l’ADIUT se propose d’être un espace de réflexions et d’échanges sur des thématiques à la fois fondamentales et en prise avec l’actualité du monde éducatif et des IUT. Pour l’édition 2013, l’Assemblée Régionale des IUT (ARIUT Rhône-Alpes) a été choisie pour accueillir ce colloque, sous le pilotage de l’IUT Lumière Lyon 2.

Eurofound, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, is a European Union Agency whose role it is to provide key actors in social and work-related policy making with findings, knowledge and advice drawn from comparative research.
Over the past 35 years Eurofound has developed its knowledge through a successful combination of internal research and communication capabilities – in living conditions and quality of life, working conditions, industrial relations and social dialogue, and structural change and restructuring - with the skills and experience of external experts through service contracts and networking.
A key task of the Agency involves monitoring developments in the Member States over time. To achieve this, Eurofound has created and continue to develop its Europe-wide surveys (European Working Conditions Survey, European Quality of Life Survey, European Company Survey) and observatories (European Industrial Relations Observatory, European Working Conditions Observatory, European Monitoring Centre on Change). Read more...

UIL Senior Programme Specialist Ulrike Hanemann will present the closing speech at a three-day conference on early-language development during this year's Leipzig Book Fair. The conference, entitled "Prepare for Life! Raising Awareness for Early Literacy Education", will bring together experts from over thirty countries from 12 to 14 March to discuss trends and experiences in early literacy.
The range of topics covered is very broad, from the scientific foundations for early childhood learning and socio-cultural considerations, to practical issues of financing and family literacy. One aim of the conference is to help establish a global network of literacy researchers, civil society practitioners and policymakers.
Ms Hanemann will hold her presentation on the role of literacy as a stepping stone to lifelong learning. Please check back on this website for a link to the presentation and an update after the conference.

By Ricarda Motschilnig. "Know Your Lifestyle" project brings sustainable consumption closer to young adults
The aim of "Know Your Lifestyle - Introducing Sustainable Consumption in 2nd-chance education" project is to offer young people the opportunity to look critically at their own consumption and to develop alternative courses of action.
The three-year-project targets young, often underprivileged, adults in second change education. In January the project partners discussed at the kick of meeting in Bonn the development of training modules in the framework of "Global Learning", which are tailored to the target group. Making learners aware of the challenges of and opportunities in globalisation is one aspect of "Global Learning".
Local consumption has a global impact
The aim of the modules is to make learners acknowledge the link between local personal consumption and the resulting global impact. This is done through introducing them to topics drawn from life, such as the value chain of textile products or computers and mobile phones. These modules will be made available for second-chance-training progammes Europe-wide.
In addition to the development of teaching materials and curriculums in cooperation with non-governmental organisations, there will be a number of teacher training opportunities.
The project is coordinated by EAEA´s German member, dvv-international. Project partners include EAEA, Estonian Adult Education Association, Slovenian Institute for Adult Education and Carinthian Folk High Schools.

EU Youth Conference highlights employment as critical to the inclusion of young people in society
Young people and Ministry officials from the 27 Member States have jointly defined a set of 21 priority conclusions. These will inform a Council Resolution on Social Inclusion at the end of the 18-month consultation cycle with young people. They will also inform Council Conclusions on the contribution of quality youth work to the development, well-being and social inclusion of young people to be proposed by the Irish Presidency to the Council of Youth Ministers in May 2013.
EU Youth Conference - Joint Conclusions.
EU Youth Conference highlights employment as critical to the inclusion of young people in society.