The relevance of education and skills for economic and social progress cannot be overstated. In a globalized knowledge-based economy, skills are a major driver of labor productivity and of an economy’s ability to sustain its competitiveness and escape development traps. Building the right sets of skills has emerged as a major determining factor for people and economies to participate meaningfully in the global economy. In a way, as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has put it, “skills have become the global currency of the 21st century.” More...

The Brazilian government has announced the continuation of the Science without Borders Programme. From 2015, another 100,000 scholarships will be made available.
The Science without Borders Programme (SwB) was launched in 2011 with the ambitious goal to issue 101,000 scholarships for undergraduates, PhDs and postdocs at top universities around the world. This goal will be achieved at the end of this year.
The outline of the programme will not change, though special priority will be given to excellent students and to students who already participated in the programme and want to continue with a PhD abroad. More...

The latest OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) reveals that more than 90% of teachers love and feel satisfied with their jobs, but very few feel valued by society. The study targeted more than 100 000 lower secondary teachers and school leaders in 34 countries and aimed to find out more about the working conditions and learning environments in schools. The main areas of research in the study are school leadership, teacher training, appraisal and feedback to teachers, teachers’ pedagogical beliefs, attitudes and teaching practices, and teachers’ reported feeling of self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and school and classroom environment.
OECD. More...

On 19-20 June, the European Commission hosted in Brussels the 3rd Ministerial Meeting of the Western Balkans Platform on Education and Training (WB PET). The event brought together Ministers of Education and other government representatives, national delegations, EU officials and relevant bodies responsible for EU education and training programmes in the six Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia).
More about WB PET

3rd Ministerial Meeting of WB PET. More...

On March 12, 2014, IIE hosted a "think tank" in New York with professionals from higher education, NGOs, associations, non-profits, government and the private sector to brainstorm ideas surrounding the question: What will it take to double study abroad? The outcomes have been documented in the IIE green paper, "What Will it Take to Double Study Abroad?" This paper lays the foundation for an ongoing discussion around how to increase the number of students studying abroad in the short term and to shift the paradigm over the long term.
We encourage you to share your insights and best practices with the community by commenting on the 11 Big Ideas outlined in the paper.
Generation Study Abroad initiative. More...

Students are not the only ones interested in going abroad. More and more German institutions of higher education are offering cross-border study programmes in foreign countries. Transnational education – be it in the form of individual degree programmes, a campus or binational university – produce positive effects on the higher education sector in the partner countries. This is according to a study conducted on behalf of the DAAD and the British Council. The results of the study show that transnational education promotes access to global research and helps further the development of the academic infrastructure. More...

What is Europe’s standing as regards international mobility? What proportion does the Erasmus programme represent with regard to overall European student mobility? What is France’s position in terms of European mobility programmes and the Erasmus programme?
The new study jointly conducted by Europe-Education-Formation France Agency (2E2F) and Campus France tackles these and many other questions related to the dynamics of European student mobility. Below are some of the findings of the study:
Europe is the leading host region for international students. European nationals also represent the second largest student population in international mobility programmes with 800 000 European students taking part in programmes around the world.
France is the fourth ranked host country for European students, representing 7.5 % of mobility activities, an increase of 12.8 % since 2007.
2e2f-Campus France study. More...

CIMO has together with a Helsinki-based think tank DEMOS Helsinki published a report “Hidden Competences”, which summarises the findings of a project that examined how Finnish employers rate the skills and knowledge acquired through international experiences in recruitment.

With fine wine and dine the ACA Annual Conference 2014 convened between 15 and 17 June in the wonderful city of Bordeaux, for its 10th edition. Close to 250 participants were actively engaged over the 2.5 conference days in social activities, dynamic sessions and parallel discussions around the overarching theme – Europe in the world. Higher education developments across the globe. Among other compelling topics, speakers and participants alike looked into the attractiveness of the European higher education area, the geopolitics and future of global higher education, and Europe’s cooperation and position towards the Mediterranean, the US, China, Africa, Russia, India and the Gulf states.
ACA’s main partner for this event was one of its two member organisations from France, the Agence Europe-Education-Formation France (2e2f). Additionally, the Université de Bordeaux 1 hosted the event, while the City of Bordeaux held the welcome reception. The ACA Secretariat is very grateful to the co-organisers and to all the people that worked towards making this event a success. More...

Les acteurs français "peuvent mieux faire" pour s'impliquer dans les échanges entre la France et la Tunisie, estime le ministre tunisien de l'ESR et des TIC, Tawfik Jelassi. Un mois et demi après une première visite en France et la signature de contrats de coopération avec l'incubateur Agoranov, il est de retour à Paris pour travailler à la "mise en place d'une coopération stratégique dans l'ESR et l'innovation".