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More students are looking beyond their borders to give their education a competitive edge.
Despite shrinking support for scholarships and tightening travel budgets, 177 million students left their home countries in 2012 to pursue formal tertiary education, an increase of 77 million students since 2000.
With the exception of the US, which suffered a considerable drop in the number of foreign students it received, young scholars appear to be flocking mostly to English-speaking countries. Australia, New Zealand and the UK have the highest percentage of international students among their tertiary students, and have seen noticeable boosts in their popularity as educational destinations in the past decade.
Tuition policies also play a large role in destination choices for foreign students: among most EU contries such as Austria, Italy and Spain, international students from other EU countries are treated as domestic students with respect to tuition fee charges, which are relatively low in these countries.
Korea, where most international students pay tuition fees that are somewhat lower than those paid by domestic students, has transformed in recent years to become a more popular study abroad destination than Sweden (which charges no tuition fees for either international or domestic students) or the Netherlands. Meanwhile, Korea joins China and India in boasting the largest numbers of students studying abroad.

The NetCu project team launched the guidelines for organising networked curricula at the EADTU Conference in Paphos, 27-28 September. The aim of this publication is to offer a concise, “hands-on” handbook for all professionals who want to engage in setting up a networked curriculum for education. The research that was carried out indicates that there are numerous reasons and opportunities to start such collaboration. Read more in this policy paper. In combination with the Handbook the Compendium of showcases of networked curricula European wide was published as an online reference guide. In addition an ICT-Toolbox for supporting networked curricula is published on-line. This toolbox helps you to find the right ICT-instruments for supporting your networked curricula. Please find all info under www.networkedcurricula.eu and www.eadtu.eu/netcu.
NetCu - A case for European Networked Curricula - Networked and integrated curricula and virtual mobility
It is felt by the EADTU members that collaborative curricula at the master level are an answer on the need for high quality and specialized provisions, fit to the European citizen and workforce. They will enrich the students learning experience with complementary subjects and international collaboration skills, needed in all segments of business and societal life. They will link with institutional research strengths and broaden the offer for research-based lifelong learning in a cost-effective way.
For the past 2 years, EADTU has been running the NetCu-project on the development of international networked curricula. With the NetCu-project, EADTU has taken the lead in providing an analysis of transnational networked curricula in open and distance education, from which models and comprehensive guidelines were built. With the input from 15 partners, representing 20 European showcases, we have developed guidelines for organizing networked curricula in a structured way. To support the network curricula also technically, an ICT-Toolbox was developed with direct references for multimedia support.
The NetCu outcomes will therefore facilitate the establishment of international curricula and help:
a) to enhance the quality of the curricula and programme structure of European higher education institutions by providing more diverse study opportunities,
b) to strengthen the national and European position of the partner's course offers
c) to create a European identity of study programmes in open and distance education and blended learning
d) to successfully modernize universities
On the societal level universities will be equipped with an instrument that allows them to properly reflect on and respond to the new skills needed in a globalised, creative knowledge society. The incorporated methods will provide students and especially lifelong learners not only with the best academic knowledge available but also with an international experience and the (soft) skills needed for competitive participation in today's labour market.
Virtual mobility to support networked curricula
The NetCu project is also an important foundation for the future development of virtual mobility as a practical solution to the challenge of meeting the needs of students whose domestic and working lives make physical mobility impractical. Limits on physical mobility need not be barriers to offering our students an international experience. Technology now makes possible a rich mix of learning opportunities - virtual seminars, projects, internships and so on, from which we can begin to expand the mobility of credit and qualifications.
Through virtual mobility, without leaving home, so to speak, students can experience a richer curriculum than is available at their home institution, they can develop the skills of intercultural and international collaboration, they can learn to collaborate in virtual environments – a skill that increasingly employers are demanding of their staff, and at the same time, we can foster a sense of European or even global citizenship.
Traditional student mobility offers immersion and language learning, but virtual mobility offers complementary benefits. It is readily scalable and can overcome capacity constraints. It is extremely flexible, it can engage multiple universities in different countries simultaneously, it is accessible to students with special needs, it is cost effective, and its carbon footprint is small.
NetCu has been our latest initiative in a steady stream of work to turn the concept of virtual mobility into a practical reality.
Launch of the NetCu Handbook, Compendium of showcases and ICT-Toolbox
The NetCu Consortium has now finalized and launched the first Handbook on organising networked curricula and successfully creating internationally networked curricula in open and distance education and blended learning. Not restricted anymore to more or less coincidental personal contacts between staff members of different universities, but a strategic choice of a university at management level. By recognising the strength of a networked approach in curricula development at institutional and faculty level, a more structured and consistent approach can be taken. The NetCu Handbook that is based on the success factors of 20 running showcases will offer in combination with the on-line ICT-Toolbox the right guidance for educational policymakers.
Please find the NetCu publications as open source material under www.networkedcurricula.eu.
All details on the project you can find under www.eadtu.eu/netcu. Coordinator: George Ubachs.

NIACE has responded to the Skills Funding Statement, published today by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Skills Funding Agency (SFA).
David Hughes, Chief Executive of NIACE, said:
"We welcome the emphasis throughout the Statement on meeting the needs of those people who need the most help to get on in learning and in life. Examples of this include the continued full funding, at higher rates, of English and maths; the commitment to support fair access to apprenticeships for learners with learning difficulties and disabilities; the focus on supporting the skills needs of the unemployed; and the intention to introduce traineeships for those people not yet ready to enter into apprenticeships or work. However, we are concerned about the suggestion that ESOL (English for Speakers of other Languages) learners will ‘progress to Functional Skills in English and GCSE English Language’; NIACE feels ESOL learners need qualifications specifically designed for the second language learner, which are fit for purpose.
"We are also pleased to see that the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) is endorsed with a review into the operational issues which have beset it since its inception. This has to be the right approach to making sure that the unitised nature of the QCF can be utilised to support flexibility in learning. The continued support for the Innovation Code is good news as colleges and providers begin to have confidence that they can use it to meet local bespoke needs of both learners and employers.
"We are, of course, pleased that Community Learning funding has been retained and that the funding for the Specialist Designated Institutions will be maintained for the foreseeable future. It is good to see an endorsement of the Community Learning Trust approach currently being piloted - in particular the role that local authorities play in this work.
"The news that, overall, the revenue funding has not been cut further than planned is also welcome. The new injection of capital into FE colleges will have a quick and direct benefit to learners across the country, as will the funding of modern equipment." Read more...

NIACE warmly welcomes the All Party Parliamentary Group on Race and Community report on Ethnic Minority Female Unemployment - published today - outlining twenty four recommendations to improve levels of training and employment amongst Black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi women.
Unemployment amongst Black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi women has remained consistently high since the 1980s. Pakistani and Bangladeshi women are particularly affected; 20% of these women are unemployed compared with 7% of white women. The Inquiry reported a number of barriers to employment – discrimination, language issues, cultural attitudes, qualifications and lack of social capital. Childcare was also a problem.
The Group identified English for Speakers of other Languages (ESOL) as a key solution to some of these barriers. Women wanted women-only classes in familiar venues at appropriate times. There are three recommendations on ESOL which NIACE can wholeheartedly support; that ESOL providers are supported to deliver courses more suited to these women’s needs, that pre-courses be introduced in areas of high need and that Government should encourage more work-focused ESOL classes for women who want them. Find out more about the APPG inquiry into ethnic minority female unemployment. Read more...

Benvenuti nel portale della RUIAP (Rete Universitaria Italiano per l'Apprendimento Permanente).
La RUIAP è la rete che riunisce circa 30 università italiane impegnate nella promozione dell'apprendimento permanente, di livello universitario (University LifeLong Learning). La RUIAP aderisce alla rete europea EUCEN delle università per il lifelong learning. Brochure informativa RUIAP 2012.
Presentazione
Le Università italiane aderenti alla RUIAP - Rete Universitaria Italiana per l’Apprendimento Permanente intendono promuovere lo sviluppo dell’apprendimento permanente negli Atenei italiani, quale contributo attivo alla società della conoscenza, per la valorizzazione della persona e la crescita del sistema economico e sociale del Paese.
Le università aderenti alla Rete si rifanno ai principi della European Universities’ Charter on Lifelong Learning, che individuano lo sviluppo e l’attuazione di strategie per l’Apprendimento Permanente come una ulteriore missione istituzionale delle università, necessaria per affrontare le trasformazioni della società, in sinergia con gli attori presenti nei diversi contesti sociali ed economici.
Ciò comporta tra l’altro: l’innalzamento della qualificazione delle professioni in funzione dell’innovazione, dello sviluppo economico, della competitività internazionale; il perseguimento di politiche di inclusione sociale e il sostegno all’esercizio effettivo dei diritti e dei doveri di cittadinanza da parte di tutta la popolazione.
Le università rientrano tra le istituzioni chiamate a dare una risposta a tali questioni, anche attraverso un arricchimento ed una diversificazione della tradizionale offerta formativa, con la funzione peculiare di offrire percorsi di apprendimento permanente basati su una formazione universitaria ancorata alla ricerca.
L'associazione
La RUIAP, costituita a Genova, il 16 novembre 2011, associa in forma diretta o indiretta (tramite consorzi o strutture universitarie) 29 Atenei italiani e dal maggio 2012 è full member di EUCEN (European Association for University Lifelong Learning). La RUIAP è costituita nella forma di Associazione non riconosciuta e ha in corso le procedure per conseguire la personalità giuridica; prevede tre categorie di aderenti:
a) soci ordinari, cioè istituzioni universitarie, che svolgono attività collegate agli obiettivi della Rete e rilasciano in Italia titoli di alta formazione (a partire dal sesto livello del Quadro Europeo dei Titoli);
b) associati, enti di formazione legalmente riconosciuti, in Italia o all’estero, che svolgono attività coerenti con gli obiettivi della Rete, ma non rilasciano titoli di alta formazione (a partire dal sesto livello del Quadro Europeo dei titoli), organizzazioni di categoria, soggetti e rappresentanti delle parti sociali che svolgono attività coerenti con gli obiettivi della Rete;
c) affiliati, organizzazioni nazionali o internazionali, interessate ai temi dell’apprendimento permanente, e persone esperte in materia.
Gli obiettivi
La Rete si prefigge di conseguire i seguenti obiettivi, indicati nell’articolo 2 dello Statuto:

- favorire lo sviluppo nel Paese della cultura e della pratica dell’Apprendimento permanente, in particolare sollecitando le istituzioni all’adozione di normative adeguate;

- includere nelle strategie istituzionali delle università l’apertura degli accessi e l’apprendimento per tutto l’arco della vita;

- favorire lo sviluppo di un’offerta formativa centrata sulla persona che apprende, adeguata ad una popolazione studentesca diversificata, con programmi di studio disegnati sulle diverse esigenze e in grado di attrarre anche studenti adulti e lavoratori studenti;

- promuovere servizi appropriati di orientamento e di consulenza per tutte le tipologie di studente; e in particolare sviluppare servizi e maturare competenze per favorire il riconoscimento, la convalida e la certificazione, sia in ambito universitario che extra-universitario, degli apprendimenti pregressi (conoscenze e competenze);

- promuovere la ricerca sul tema della formazione e dell’apprendimento permanente, disseminando i risultati nella comunità scientifica e nella società;

- concorrere inoltre alla realizzazione di politiche attive per il lavoro, attraverso la valorizzazione del patrimonio culturale, professionale ed economico dei cittadini e del Paese, anche attraverso la costruzione di reti con gli stakeholders.

The Rolling Stones aren’t the only ones celebrating 50 years.
November also marks the 50th anniversary of the OECD Observer, the award-winning public magazine of the OECD. The brainchild of Thorkil Kristensen, the first secretary general of the organisation, the OECD Observer was launched at the 2nd ministerial meeting 27-28 November 1962. He recruited a former war resistant and political journalist from his native Denmark, Anker Randsholt, to do the job. The audience? Busy policymakers who had no time “to read more than a fraction” of the OECD’s already considerable and somewhat technical work.
In those post-war decades divulging information to the public was a delicate exercise. Policy had inched forward in a Cold War atmosphere of confidentiality, not to mention paranoia. Today, information is currency, and as Kristensen wrote in the first editorial, by ensuring the OECD Observer was distributed at the 1962 ministerial meeting, “a step was taken towards a wider dissemination of this [organisation’s] knowledge.”
In effect, the OECD Observer became a public gateway to the work of the Organisation. Along the way it would fill other roles: a podium for laying out and discussing policy messages and unlocking tough ideas; an academic reference; and a rich and compelling archive.
Flicking through old issues is like taking a trip through modern history. From a heartfelt obituary for John F. Kennedy penned by Kristensen in December 1963 through the landing on the moon in 1969, the oil crisis of the early 1970s, privatisation in the 1980s, the information revolution and globalisation in the 1990s, to the economic crisis now: the OECD Observer captures the story of our times. Read more...

World Universities Forum 2013, Robson Square, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, 10-11 January 2013. Special Focus: Democracy and Higher Education
Conference Focus
As in previous years, the 2013 World Universities Forum will feature sessions on a breadth of topics relevant to the university and its possibilities. In addition, this year’s WUF will also include a special plenary focus: “Democracy and Higher Education.”
Higher education has long had a special relationship with democracy, both as a mechanism for the promotion of democratic society and as a means for democratic equity of opportunity. Recent developments have only explicated the importance of this relationship. For example, university students and faculty continue to play essential roles in today’s democracy movements. At the same time, access to universities and other higher education institutions is diminishing in countries around the world. In some locations, rising fees are reducing access while elsewhere education systems are physically unable to accommodate burgeoning demand.
Given its timely importance, the WUF hopes to initiate a conversation on democracy and higher education, engaging the promise and perils it faces in an era of dramatic change.
We are inviting proposals for paper presentations, workshops/interactive sessions, posters/exhibits, or colloquia (See Proposal Types). Proposal ideas that extend beyond these thematic areas will also be considered.  For more information about the ideas and themes underlying this community, see Our Focus.
Virtual participation is available for those who are unable to attend the conference in person. Proposals for virtual presentations may be submitted at any time, up to the start of the conference.  All conference registrants (in-person and virtual) may also submit their written papers for publication in the refereed Journal of the World Universities Forum.
See also 5th World Universities Forum - The role and future of the University in a changing world, 4ème Forum mondial des Universités 2011. The World Universities Forum is held annually in different locations around the world. The Forum was held in Davos, Switzerland in 2008; in conjunction with the Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay, Mumbai, India in 2009; and in the Congress Center Davos, Davos, Switzerland in 2010.

The revised practical guide aims at helping all stakeholders to find their way into the different existing EU funding supporting research and innovation: The 7th Research Framework Programme; The Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP); The Structural Funds.
This new edition includes a full up-to-date picture of the three sources of funding described in the initial Guide (7th Research Framework Programme, Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme and Structural Funds) completed by information on the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and on the European Fisheries Fund. It also focuses on additional funding opportunities in the field of research and innovation. It includes information on the Lifelong learning programme and international cooperation in the field of education and on LIFE + in the field of the environment. It also describes the research and innovation funding opportunities offered to countries and territories beyond the European Union, in the framework of Pre-accession Assistance and within the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument. Download the New Practical guide to EU funding opportunities for research and innovation.
4. The role of national and regional authorities
The implementation of the five funding instruments usually involves different administrative levels and authorities. The responsibility for the implementation of the Structural Funds often lies with regional authorities, while participation in the programming and monitoring for FP7 and the CIP lies with the national/central/federal authorities. In addition to this multi-level governance structure, the responsibilities are often spread over different departments: for the Structural Funds and the CIP it is often the economics/enterprise/industry administrations that are in charge, while for FP7 it is normally the research/science administrations.
National and regional policy makers and administrations have a central role in ensuring the effective exploitation of the potential for synergies between FP7, the CIP and the Structural Funds through the establishment of mechanisms for these authorities to act in a co-ordinated manner.
National and regional governments should develop smart specialisation strategies to maximise the impact of Regional Policy in combination with other Union policies. Indeed, to have most impact, R&D and innovation resources need to reach a critical mass and to be accompanied by measures to increase skills, education levels and knowledge infrastructure (Source: Commission Communication on Regional Policy contributing to smart growth in Europe 2020, COM(2010)553).
Pursuing a broad concept of innovation, both research-driven innovation and innovation in business models, design, branding and services that add value for users and where Europe has unique talents. The creativity and diversity of our people and the strength of European creative industries offer huge potential for new growth and jobs through innovation, especially for SMEs.
Involving all actors and all regions in the innovation cycle: not only major companies but also SMEs in all sectors, including the public sector, the social economy and citizens themselves (‘social innovation’); not only a few high-tech areas, but all regions in Europe and every Member State, each focusing on its own strengths (“smart specialisation”) with Europe, Member States and regions acting in partnership. The Commission therefore strongly encourages Member States to improve the arrangements for cross-departmental and vertically co-ordinated preparation and use of Community instruments to support research, innovation and cohesion at the national and regional levels. The recommendations made in the Communication “Competitive European Regions through Research and Innovation”, mentioned in the Introduction to this Guide, are essential for the creation of the necessary synergies on the ground.
Although it is always necessary, when discussing the three funding sources, to bear in mind their different policy objectives (as explained in Annexes 1 to 3), the conditions are at the moment very favourable for their complementary use, due to the fact that:
— In the 2007-2013 programming period the time frame of the funding schemes is the same, although the budget, methods and timing for allocating the funds to concrete implementing measures differ substantially.
— The Structural Funds are increasingly emphasising the role of research and innovation as a crucial factor for regional development. With the Lisbon Strategy and the strategic guidelines on cohesion (Council decision of 6 October 2006 on Community Strategic Guidelines on cohesion; 2006/702/EC) this emphasis has been reinforced. The importance of innovation is also highlighted in the Community strategic guidelines for rural development for the period 2007-2013 (Council decision of 20 February 2006 on Community Strategic guidelines for rural development 2007-2013; 2006/144/EC).
— FP7 has been increasingly taking the role of the national and regional levels into account.
In FP7, the regional dimension is more important compared to FP6. Under the CIP, key actors from all EU regions are involved in projects and in the Enterprise Europe Network, which consists of about 600 business centres all around the EU and beyond that provides business and innovation support services to enterprises.
— In comparison to the previous programming period, the new Structural Fund Operational Programmes are more strategic and open to experimenting with new funding methods that make it possible to set up within the approved programme priorities new innovation support schemes for enterprises and researchers, beyond the more infrastructure-oriented investments in the previous funding periods.
— Contrary to the previous programming period, the new Rural development programmes are independently implemented, with a particular strategic focus towards agricultural competiveness, win-win agri-environmental measures and support for the wider socio-economic business environment, which makes possible the funding of innovative projects.
— Economic exploitation of research results. Activities supported by FP7 and its predecessors lead to the production of knowledge and successful projects offer potential for commercial exploitation. There is an obvious possibility for using the Structural Funds, as well as some CIP instruments, for financing the development phase of successful research projects that have been financed under FP7.
— Trans-national cooperation. While transnational cooperation is one of the core ideas in the CIP and FP7, the bulk of Structural Funds spending is within specific Member States and regions. Nevertheless, Cohesion policy also provides opportunities to contribute to transnational cooperation, notably through the European Territorial Cooperation Objective (previously known as INTERREG), a specific part of the Structural Funds that supports the development of cross-border, inter-regional or trans-national cooperation, in particular through networking. Such possibilities are also offered by rural development policy, especially in the area of the Leader initiative (see http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/rur/leaderplus/index_en.htm). Transnational and interregional actions are also well embedded within the 2007-2013 national and regional Operational Programmes of the European Social Fund (ESF-see Art. 8 of Regulation No 10812006 of 5 July 2006. For further information see http://ec.europa.eu/esf/main.jsp?catId=56&langId=en and www.transnationality.eu) which provide support for transnational exchange and cooperation:
— in all policy areas identified for ESF interventions, such as adaptability, labour market policies, social inclusion, human capital and strengthening public administration;
— for all types (strategic stakeholders such as social partners, NGOs, training and regional development organisations, public administrations, ESF management bodies, beneficiaries, participants in projects) and levels of actors, and
— for all types of exchange and cooperation (joint projects; events; focus groups and networks; mobility and exchange of people).
As a result, Member States and regions, in their Operational Programmes under the ESF 2007-2013, plan to use 2.5% (€3 bn) of the programme budgets for transnational cooperation. Of this amount, €1.24 billion is earmarked for transnational cooperation as dedicated priority axes in 47 of the 116 operational programmes.
One of the innovations in the 2007-2013 programming period is the creation of a new legal entity. The ‘European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation’ (EGTC) facilitates cooperation between regions and enhances their capabilities to develop and implement common projects focusing on growth and competitiveness. Besides providing a legal personality for the management body of trans-national Structural Fund projects, it can also be used for instance for managing multi-country research infrastructures.
In practical terms, communication and information are the most important preconditions for fostering the complementary use of the different funding instruments. In effect, the necessary synergies can only be achieved if the different administrative actors delivering FP7, the CIP and the Structural Funds know about the opportunities offered by the other instruments.
Thus, policy makers and those involved in implementation or dissemination of information most know each other. As a next step, answers to basic questions of the type “What support can FP7/CIP/ Structural Funds/Rural Development Fund offer my region/area of activity?” must be widely and readily available. Databases of projects financed by the different funding sources should also be available to all concerned. In addition, the formal monitoring structures for the different instruments (Monitoring Committees for the Structural Funds and the Rural Development Fund, and Programme Committees for FP and CIP) should establish regular and up-to-date information flows. This means that the relevant authorities should ensure that the national representatives in the FP7/CIP Programme Committees regularly provide information to the Structural Funds Monitoring Committees of their countries, and vice-versa. Finally, it is of course the particular responsibility of the Member States and regional authorities to prevent irregularities such as double financing and unauthorised co-financing with another Community instrument. When such abuses are discovered, it is normal to proceed with financial penalties.
Some examples of the possible role of national and regional authorities for combining the different instruments
The Commission services are exploring, with Member States and regional authorities, how far the co-funded programmes can provide financial support to FP7 for the construction of research infrastructure foreseen in the ESFRI Roadmap,  projects under the FP7 Research Potential action which were positively evaluated but could not be funded due to lack of resources.
The potential impact of these projects on the regional economy should be demonstrated, for instance: partnership with innovative industries, large companies, SMEs and start-ups; links with innovative incubators for the creation of spin-offs. The Commission has recently produced a ‘Smart Guide to
Innovation-Based Incubators’ for regional policy makers.
A further possibility is for Member States and regions to adopt best practices from the management of FP7 projects and, through the use of international peer review, to identify funding priorities for research and innovation in EU Regional Policy programmes. Download the New Practical guide to EU funding opportunities for research and innovation.

Report of the Expert Group established to support the further development of an EU international STI cooperation strategy. Edited by Dr Sylvia Schwaag Serger (Expert Group Chairperson) and Dr Svend Remoe (Expert Group Rapporteur).
The European Commission has published its Report “International Cooperation in Science, Technology and Innovation: Strategies for a Changing World” to support the further development of an EU international STI cooperation strategy. Due to a changing global landscape, EU STI policies are fragmented. A more strategic European Framework which focuses on global challenges and thematic priorities is required to increase coherence as well as to ensure sufficient resources and funding. Download The Report of the Expert Group - International Cooperation in STI.
Conclusions and key policy recommendations
Pulling all elements of the present analysis together, it is clear that Europe finds itself at a crossroads: Fundamental changes in the global research and innovation landscape are taking place. The increasingly pressing global challenges urgently require a strategic and forward looking response at EU level. Hence, the overall recommendation is to develop
1) A strategy with a focus on strengthening European attractiveness as international research and innovation hub and partner in order to strengthen European competitiveness and prosperity
Europe needs to get at the forefront of international collaboration in STI by making it the place to be for international researchers and non-EU MNEs. Secondly, the EU must provide their stakeholders an infrastructure to expand to other regions into the world and help universities, SMEs in particular to reach out to those markets in selected themes addressing the grand challenges of the next decades.
Only few countries have so far developed an integrated policy strategy. In the US and the UK the overarching, strategic orientation of policy is to support world-class excellence in science with the aim of generating attractiveness for R&D activities by MNEs. The emergence of China on the global S&T scene is backed by elements of an integrated policy strategy, albeit with strong elements of a planned economy context.
Currently there is a dominance of geographical prioritization through picking countries. This has been especially evident in SFIC. This should change:
2) Theme- and problem-oriented prioritization is needed rather than geographic; Grand Challenges as a clear prioritization tool to be mainstreamed also in the international dimension. Prioritization of international collaboration should follow closely the priorities of the EU’s core research and innovation programmes, while the geographical approach should be the core of an implementation strategy. This also implies that
3) The international perspective needs to be more fully integrated into ’regular’ programmes at EU level
All EU programmes (old and new instruments) should be required to have an international dimension, e.g. through benchmarking and monitoring, identification of relevant partners –and competitors– outside Europe and activities for strengthening cooperation with non-EU partners and/or activities aimed at increasing proximity to relevant markets and users outside Europe. This requires the ability of evaluators and evaluation criteria to valuate and evaluate international partners and collaborations; criteria should be based on complementarities and critical assets for R&D projects.
The EU Framework Programmes are seen as the key vehicle to foster effective international cooperation:
4) Make the Horizon 2020 truly open and attractive to the best and brightest in the world allowing European actors to work with the best brains wherever they are.
International cooperation in STI is impeded by numerous bottlenecks:
5) Strengthen framework conditions for and removal of barriers to international cooperation.
This concerns in particular issues like mobility, standards, IPR, opening national research programmes, simplification of Framework Programme, increasing the competitiveness of European universities, realizing the ERA as a prerequisite to an effective international dimension.
6) Design targeted initiatives for strengthening cooperation in selected (prioritized) areas: these can be multilateral, bilateral, and unilateral. The key criteria should be achieving benefits for European stakeholders.
The EU should become a stronger international actor in international science and technology fora and in taking the initiative in international science, technology and innovation collaborations through such targeted initiatives.
7) A strong focus on firms and innovation is needed. This has not been properly addressed before and it requires a new/different approach; there are fundamental differences in drivers of international cooperation between academia and industry and between research and innovation. Actions should e.g. be taken along several lines:
• Make Europe the global lead market for innovations to be deployed. Provide the leading Research and Innovation infrastructures for pilots and early adopters.
• Leverage Europe’s diversity in language and jurisdiction to allow for true international products and solutions to be developed that can easily be sold globally.
• Domestic clusters of S&T excellence are an important attractor for innovative companies, R&D institutes and R&D workers from abroad. A strong and vibrant academic and industrial research base, efficient protection of intellectual property rights and a well-trained workforce are major determinants for MNE investment in R&D, but will also promote the growth of domestic enterprises. Hence, such policy measures should be aimed simultaneously at creating favourable conditions for domestic and foreign-owned domiciled enterprises.
• In order to benefit from the internationalisation of R&D, economies should optimize their absorptive capacity and networking with multinational firms.
Among the factors that improve absorptive capacity, two stand out, viz. a high educational level of the local labour force and a well-developed technological capacity of domestic firms.
• Stimulating the development of excellence in local Science & Technology capacities and providing an innovation friendly environment is key to any policy towards R&D internationalisation.
Many countries have not fully recognised the implications of the current internationalisation of STI. In part this is because the full implications are not yet clear, and this is certainly an area in which further research and analysis is required. The increasing mobility of financial resources for STI is accompanied by the increasing mobility of highly skilled scientists and engineers. This has implications not only for education policies, but also for a wide range of policy arenas – tax policies, regulatory frameworks and standards setting, among others. Although many of the instruments needed are already in place in most national and supra national policy levels, they need to be mobilized better to fit into a coherent, systemic policy approach to face the challenges of internationalisation of R&D.
An ambitious strategy for international cooperation will need to leverage the resources and initiatives in the Member States. The Commission should contribute to making the Strategic Forum for International S&T Cooperation (SFIC) a truly high-level and effective body with a capability to engage strategically in this policy field.
8) Variable geometry should be exploited to the full, with flexible arrangements (within EU and with countries outside EU) including multilateral platforms for strategic cooperation. Variable geometry initiatives should also build on lead initiatives by individual Member States that expands their successful bilateral programmes or activities to several European partners.
A credible and effective strategy on international cooperation needs to build on reliable information made available to key prioritization processes. There is a need for more structured information resources:
9) All initiatives must be based on more evidence- or analysis-based decision-making, including forward looking analysis to inform decision making about likely trends and future changes and systematic exchange of experiences. Download The Report of the Expert Group - International Cooperation in STI.