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The impact of Spanish and Latin American's Open CourseWare in Higher Education
“The impact of Spanish and Latin American's Open Course Wares in Higher Education” is a study conducted by the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM), in collaboration with the National University of Distance Education (UNED).
The study shows that there is a profuse implementation of the OCW model in Spain, being the second country with more universities participating in it, behind the United States. However, the use of OER in higher education is still incipient in Latin America.
Authors conclude that there is a need to provide greater resources to develop the model further.

Open Praxis is an online magazine published by the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) which aims to be an open forum for global collaboration and discussion of issues in the practice of distance and e-learning, focusing on research and innovation on open education and learning.
Volume 5, No 2 of Open Praxis, published in June 2013, includes the following  articles:
The use and production of OER & OCW in teaching in South African higher education institutions (Case Study), by Igor Lesko
Pedagogical quality enrichment in OER based courseware: Guiding principles, by Pradeep Kumar Misra
The Openness of the University of the Philippines Open University: Issues and Prospects, by Maria Fe Villamejor-Mendoza
From resistance to acceptance and use of technology in academia, by Sofia Matrosova Khalil
Comparing communities of inquiry of Portuguese higher education students: one for all or one for each?, by Jose António Moreira, António Gomes Ferreira, Ana Cristina Almeida
Networked curricula: fostering transnational partnership in open and distance learning, by María Luz Cacheiro-González, Patricia Mata-Benito, George Ubachs
Review of A-VIEW 3.5 software, by Mandar Lakshmikant Bhanushe

The winners of the first MOOC Production Fellowship contest, hosted by Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft and iversity, have just been announced. The 10 innovative concepts selected by the jury will receive 25,000 Euros in funding as well as assistance with course production.
With over 250 qualified applicants from over 20 countries, according to the organisers this has been the most popular competition for MOOCs in Europe to date.
All the winning MOOCs will be available through the iversity Courses platform. At least five of the ten courses will commence in the fall semester of 2013, the rest in the spring semester of 2014. Registration for these MOOCs is already open. Read more...

More than 200 attendees from four continents and over 30 different countries contributed to a vibrant conference dialogue at LINQ 2013 carried out over May 16th and 17th. LINQ 2013 participants gathered at the global headquarters of the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in Rome, Italy to discuss the future of international learning innovations and quality. Keynote speeches by prominent experts in the fields of educational innovation and representatives of the European Commission, UNESCO, and CEDEFOP complemented a great variety of on-going research projects and state-of-the-art papers presented during the conference. In his introductory speech, the LINQ Conference Chair Christian M. Stracke pointed out the need for bridging learning innovations and learning quality, which is the core objective of LINQ. The success of LINQ 2013 has inspired conference organizers from the University of Duisburg-Essen to begin preparations for LINQ 2014, expected to take place on the island of Crete next May.
LINQ Website. University of Duisburg-Essen WIP. Read more...

The PUMO Project has set out to address the education of pupils living away from their home countries in situations where there are no schools in their first language. PUMO intends to develop a series of online courses to support learning progress in subject areas specific to their countries of origin – this includes language skills, but also other subjects not necessarily addressed by the schools in their country of habitation. The potential educational disadvantages of mobility due to, for example, parents’ employment are thereby to be minimized through a detailed training programme for interested teachers and technology-enhanced support in the form of online educational resources (courses). In order to ensure this training and support programme successfully approach the needs of both mobile pupils and the teachers who help them, the PUMO Project is conducting a series of questionnaires and introductory seminars for teachers, parents, and representatives of the state educational systems to describe the state-of-the-art, to identify the needs and requirements, and further to help teachers to integrate and use these online courses.
PUMO Website. Read more...

Vacancy: Public Relations and Communication Specialist
The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) is currently seeking a
Public Relations and Communication Specialist.
The description of this vacancy can be found here.
The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) is an international research, capacity-building and documentation centre based in Hamburg (Germany), and is currently seeking a full-time Public Relations and Communication Specialist
Duties for this post include:
Coordinating all press and public relations activities (e.g., editing and publishing UIL website NEWS, the UIL newsletter NEXUS, the UIL Annual Report, as well as taking care of visitor groups and the organization of events).
Coordinating the implementation of UIL’s Communication Strategy.
Producing print and online materials to support fundraising activities and donor relations.
Coordination of UIL’s research and training partnership with the University of Hamburg within the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding and Host Country Agreement.
Networking with UNESCO Member States, UNESCO units, NGOs and other relevant stakeholders.
Your profile:
University degree at BA/MA level in Education, Social Sciences or Communications/Public Relations
At least five years’ experience in the field of Public Relations, preferably in an academic or IGO environment.
Excellent command of English (both written and spoken). Fluency in French, German or Spanish would be an advantage.
Excellent command of MS-Office Suite. Some familiarity with DTP and graphic design programs, such as Adobe InDesign and Photoshop, as well as content management systems, would be an advantage.
Strong communication, interpersonal and team-working skills.
Terms & conditions:
The salary for this local post is based on the German Tariffs Agreement for Public Service (TVöD), salary group 11. The salaries of UIL staff are exempt from direct taxation.
Applications, accompanied by curriculum vitae, references and copies of relevant certificates, must be submitted by 12 July 2013 to the following address:
UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning
Ms Claudia Brandt
Feldbrunnenstrasse 58
20148 Hamburg
uil-apps@unesco.org

On 4–5 June 2013, the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL), in collaboration with the Korean National Institute for Lifelong Education (NILE) and the Jeju Institute for Lifelong Education, held the 2nd Meeting of the Expert Group for Establishing the International Platform for Learning Cities (IPLC) in Jeju Island, Republic of Korea. Thirty experts representing partners for establishing the IPLC participated in the meeting.
The participants elaborated on the draft Key Features of Learning Cities, developed by UIL in consultation with its partners. While endorsing the features in general, some experts suggested including more relevant social inclusion and sustainable development features and measurements. Experts supported the strategy for piloting the key features in a number of cities in different regions of the world, and they offered help in selecting cities to conduct the piloting. Furthermore, the meeting discussed the draft Beijing Declaration on Building Learning Cities, in preparation for its adoption by an international conference on learning cities, co-organised by UNESCO, the Ministry of Education of China and Beijing Municipal Government, which will take place in Beijing, China from 21–23 October 2013. The experts also actively participated in the International High-Level Forum of Lifelong Learning Cities, a showcase of both international and Korean perspectives and best practices on promoting lifelong learning in cities. It is evident that more and more cities in different regions of the world are using the concept of ‘learning cities’ to tackle urban development challenges.

RUOA survey on setting up of territorial cooperation structures in HE and research
The Network of Universities of the Western Atlantic (RUOA), a French non-profit organisation, has been running a project entitled “EU benchmark of interuniversity cooperation structures”.
As part of this initiative, 25 subnational and crossborder cooperation structures from Western Europe have taken part in a survey between July and November 2012.
More information on the findings of the survey is available here.
More information on the Network of Universities of the Western Atlantic (RUOA) is available on the RUOA website.

The latest EUA update provides a new analysis of the pressures that many countries face in terms of funding for higher education institutions, in particular by taking account of the impact of inflation and changes in student numbers. The report confirms that while no system has been left completely unaffected by the crisis, there is still a risk of a widening gap in terms of university funding between different parts of Europe. Many countries in eastern and southern Europe still appear to be more affected by the crisis than many countries in northern and western Europe although there are notable exceptions.
EUA has warned that this situation is unsustainable both for the affected countries and Europe as a whole. Reduced investment weakens countries’ research capacities and knowledge base, and impacts negatively on the development of their knowledge economy.
In addition, such divergent trends decrease the potential for cross-border academic and scientific cooperation and put the completion of the European Higher Education and Research Areas at risk. It could also risk provoking a “brain drain” of talented researchers from these countries and could make it harder for universities in these countries to participate in European funding programmes which work under the principle of co-funding (i.e. the university must provide funding alongside the European funding for projects). European Funding schemes, like Horizon 2020, therefore need to take account of these trends and establish appropriate funding rules.
The latest report looks at both the evolution over the last year (2012-2013) and developments since 2008. Read more...
See also on the blog EUA monitors impact of economic crisis on European universities, 24 février 2009.