The Open University’s FutureLearn, the UK’s first partnership platform for MOOCs – massive open online courses – last week began offering access to what it describes as “free, high quality courses” from some of its 20 university partners.By Dinesh De Alwis. Sri Lanka is planning to set up ‘free investment zones’ for education, which will offer land and tax breaks to foreign investors. The aim is to attract international universities and build the country into a higher education hub in Asia.By Michael Gardner. Austria’s federal government is providing extra support for collaborative projects between publicly funded universities, other higher education institutions and industry, with a €63 million (US$85 million) package. Out of 218 project proposals submitted, 61 have now been approved.By David Jobbins. More UK independent school sixth formers are seeking out university courses abroad, according to headteachers of the UK’s leading independent schools.By Wachira Kigotho. The World Bank has launched a PhD fellowship scheme for students of African descent – especially for women, who are heavily under-represented in terms of access to quality higher education in Sub-Saharan Africa.By Alya Mishra. The prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology, or IITs, have vowed to no longer sit in the wings but to promote themselves nationally and globally. This follows complaints by the government and academics that the institutions' excellence is not being recognised in international university rankings.By Geoff Maslen. Researchers in America are more likely to collaborate with peers outside the US than European researchers are to work with colleagues outside Europe, according to a new report. But it says the benefits of collaborating outside their region are proportionally greater for European than for US researchers.By Geoff Maslen. Australia’s 28th prime minister, Tony Abbott, has dispensed with a minister of science and a minister for climate change in a new cabinet he announced last Monday. It is the first time since the science portfolio was created in 1931 that Australia has not had a science minister.
Last week the European Commission launched a new “indicator of innovation output” which aims to measure the extent to which “ideas from innovative sectors are able to reach the market” and will complement the Commission's Innovation Union Scoreboard and Summary Innovation Index which assess the innovation performance of member states and the EU more widely. Meanwhile, the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU held a conference on “European Higher Education in the World” and the European Parliament adopted two resolutions in relation to tackling youth unemployment and the implementation of the EU Youth Strategy.
EC launches new Innovation Indicator
The European Commission last week published the "Indicator of Innovation Output" which aims to measure the extent to which “ideas from innovative sectors are able to reach the market, providing better jobs and making Europe more competitive”. The EC noted that the indicator was developed at the request of EU leaders to benchmark national innovation policies, and showed that “significant differences remain between EU countries”. The indicator is designed to complement the Commission's Innovation Union Scoreboard (IUS) and Summary Innovation Index (SII) which assess the innovation performance of member states and the EU more widely, against a broad set of 24 innovation indicators including inputs, throughputs and outputs. More information and background on the indicator can be viewed here.
EU Presidency conference on European Higher Education in the World
Following the recent EC Communication on the internationalisation of higher education, the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of EU recently (5-6 September) organised in Vilnius an international conference on “European Higher Education in the World”. The event brought together HE stakeholders from the EU and beyond, for discussions on internationalisation processes, and on the future place of Europe in the global higher education landscape. EUA’s Michael Gaebel was invited to present the perspective of European universities on the topic of internationalisation following EUA’s recent membership survey on this topic and also the discussions at the last EUA Annual Conference in Ghent. More information and presentations from this event can be found on the conference website.
European Parliament resolutions on youth unemployment/EU Youth Strategy
Members of the European Parliament last week adopted two resolutions in relation to tackling youth unemployment and the implementation of the EU Youth Strategy. The European Parliament highlighted that the “youth guarantee schemes” alone would not suffice to reduce youth unemployment. It also stressed the need for further measures to make it easier for young people to move to jobs or training. According to the Parliament, youth guarantee schemes, which aim to ensure that young people under 25 years are offered a job, training, or a traineeship within four months of their becoming unemployed, should be extended to include graduates under 30 years. In the debate, MEPs also called for better recognition of skills and aptitudes acquired outside formal education, e.g. through traineeships, volunteering or social work. The Parliament also underlined the need for EU support for “good-quality traineeships and apprenticeships” and called on member states to remove all barriers to cross-border traineeships for young EU citizens.
EUA – together with its partners ENQA, ESU and EURASHE – is pleased to announce that registration is still open for the 8th edition of the European Quality Assurance Forum (EQAF), which will take place at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, from 21 to 23 November 2013.
Through a mix of plenary and parallel sessions, the 2013 EQAF, entitled “Working together to take quality forward”, will specifically explore how both individuals and organisations can better understand the role that quality assurance can play in their daily lives, get engaged and work together.
Keynote speakers will include Mats Alvesson, a leading European researcher in the field of organisational culture, and Sijbolt Noorda, President of the Academic Cooperation Association. More details on the programme, as well as abstracts of papers and workshops to be presented at the Forum, are now available on the EQAF website.
EUA invites you to register as soon as possible. The deadline for the early-bird registration fee is 18 October 2013. After this date, late registration fees will apply.
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