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The next Future Directions theme for the Welsh higher education sector will be Global Graduates: Enabling Flexible Learning.
The three work strands within the new theme are: Distinctive Graduates, Inspiring Teaching, and Learner Journeys. Areas of focus will include internationalisation, employability, curriculum design and the recognition and promotion of teaching.
Professor Clive Mullholland, Chair of the Higher Education Wales Pro Vice Chancellor Learning and Teaching Advisory Group, and Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of South Wales, said: “We feel that the new theme of Global Graduates: Enabling Flexible Learning is a very timely one as the higher education sector in Wales is already making huge strides in the flexible learning agenda, ensuring Wales is a key player on the global stage.
"Our universities are already working towards a ‘one nation’ response to Open Educational Resources and Practice, with the aim of Wales becoming the world’s first open higher education nation. The flexible learning agenda is a pertinent one, and the sector will embrace the theme to ensure Wales offers the best possible student learning experience – to all of its students.”
Dr Helena Lim, Assistant Director, Wales and Northern Ireland at the HEA, said: “The new Global Graduates: Enabling Flexible Learning enhancement theme is exciting, timely and relevant. It has been identified by the Future Directions Steering Group after discussion with key sector colleagues and groups and reflects the ambitions not only of Welsh institutions but also those in the Welsh Government’s new Policy Statement for Higher Education.
“The theme and the three new work strands will give the sector a strong focus for collaboration and build on the early achievements of the current theme – Graduates for our Future.”
Global Graduates: Enabling Flexible Learning and the three new work strands will be launched in autumn 2013 and run concurrently with Graduates for our Future, which will continue until the next Future Directions conference in spring 2014.
Future Directions is a collaborative approach - between sector agencies, students and institutions within Wales - to enhance specific areas of the learning experience.
The HEA’s work in this area, through the Future Directions programme has been acknowledged within the Government’s new policy statement for Higher Education.
The document, which replaces the previous Higher Education Strategy – For our Future, sets priorities, for the period up to 2020, which include joint working across the sector to provide progression for learners and maximum value for money.
Further information about Future Directions can be found on the HEA website.

In recent years, both the award of joint degrees and the recognition of these degrees have caused considerable discussions and difficulties. The Guidelines for Good Practice for Awarding Joint Degrees published earlier this year and the newly published Framework for Fair Recognition of Joint Degrees aims to provide more consistency and substantiation in awarding and recognising joint degrees.
The main problem addressed by the Framework for Fair Recognition of Joint Degrees was the finding that national information centres on recognition (ENIC-NARICs) dealt very differently with joint degrees and other degrees awarded for joint programmes. The same problem was found even more clearly among credential evaluators at higher education institutions.
In order to facilitate the fair and flexible recognition of joint degrees, the European Consortium for Accreditation (ECA) and ENIC-NARICs have established a long-term cooperation. One of the results of this cooperation has been the publication of Guidelines for Good Practice for Awarding Joint Degrees. That publication is aimed at higher education institutions and their joint programmes. The other side of the same coin is the Framework for Fair Recognition of Joint Degrees. This publication is aimed at credential evaluators, those who will need to recognise the joint degree or give advice on it.
About the publication
The elements that play a role when evaluating a degree (such as the status of the institutions, the awarding of the degree, the quality, etc.) are of course the same for both regular and joint degrees. The context of these elements is however quite different. This makes the recognition of joint degrees not always as straightforward as the recognition of regular degrees. The Framework for Fair Recognition of Joint Degrees presents a substantiation of the elements that might influence how credential evaluators look at an awarded joint degree. All these issues are then dealt with separately through examples. Each issue or example presents a conclusion for recognising the joint degree discussed.
Download the Framework for Fair Recognition of Joint Degrees. Read more about the Guidelines for Good Practice for Awarding Joint Degrees. Download the Guidelines for Good Practice for Awarding Joint Degrees.