Formation Continue du Supérieur

Thursday 4th July, 2013, 10.00-4.30 - School of Education, University of Brighton
Confirmed keynote speakers: Professor Ron Barnett, Centre of Higher Education Studies, Institute of Education and Colin Bryson, Director of Combined Honours Centre, University of Newcastle
We are pleased to invite you to participate in a one-day conference focusing on the ethics of student engagement. In a context in which students in higher educational institutions (HEIs) are increasing seen as consumers, debates about ethics become increasingly central. This conference aims to make an innovative and timely contribution to discussions about the role, scope and purposes of HEIs and the place of students and staff within them.
The conference will bring together scholars and practitioners from across HEIs to share emerging research, new thoerisations and philosophical thinking around the policies, practices and politics relating to the ethics of student engagement. We invite you to join this lively and important interdisciplinary conversation
Papers, round table discussions and workshops dealing with any aspect of the ethics of student engagement will be considered.
Offers of papers should be made by sending a title and an abstract of no more than 300 words to Carol Robison at carol.robinson@brighton.ac.uk to be received by Friday 12th April 2013. If you would like to lead a round table discussion or workshop, please also let us know by Friday 12th April 2013.
The cost of the day is £30 which includes lunch and refreshments.
Dr Carol Robinson, Education Research Centre, University of Brighton, and Dr Carol Taylor, Department for Education, Childhood and Inclusion, Sheffield Hallam University.
Registration is open from Monday 14th January 2013. All delegates must be registered by Friday 31st May 2013.

This one-day event will offer new perspectives on different types of digital literacies, with plenty of opportunities for participants to join in the discussions. The morning session (11am-1pm) will be a workshop focusing on the development of ‘informed researchers’ and digital literacies, while the second half (2-4pm) will offer theoretical insights into academic literacies and popular digital literacy practices. Lunch will be provided between 1-2pm.
Facilitating Informed Research in the Digital world
Moira Bent (Newcastle University) and Jane Secker (LSE) on behalf of the RIDLs Coalition
Interacting with information is at the very heart of the research process and easy digital access to material sometimes masks the complexity of the processes involved in ensuring quality. Additionally, not all researchers are at the same stage in their development as a researcher, in the research process itself, or in their lives. This can impact on how information literate or digitally literate they may be – are they new researchers, or experienced researchers who need to develop new approaches, for example. For anyone involved in facilitating the research process, the challenge is to identify opportunities for successful interventions and to develop strategies to implement them, perhaps via formal development programmes, independent learning or point of need. Read more...

The latest event in the HEA's Reserach and policy seminar series is now available on the HEA website.
Dr Andrew Rawnsley from Teesside University led the session 'Reserach Ethics and Integrity: Is it all about compliance and reputation?'
Dr Rawnsley, Research Governance and Training Manager at the institution, discussed the inconsistency in policy in this area across the sector and the reasons for this. He debated the conflict between a need for uniformity and the need for disciplinary differences in research work.
The next seminar in the series takes place on Tuesday 14 May. 'Academic integrity: learning lessons and exploring tensions' will be presented by Dr Erica Morris, Academic Lead for Assessment and Feedback at the HEA. To book a place on this event, please click here.

In a study commissioned by the Higher Education Academy (HEA), researchers from the University of York have highlighted potentially worrying inequalities in transition to postgraduate degrees. The full report is available here.
Dr Paul Wakeling and Dr Gillian Hampden-Thompson from York’s Department of Education found women progressed to a higher degree at a lower rate than men, even when accounting for differences in attainment and subject choice. Some minority ethnic groups had very low rates of progression and there were inequalities between graduates of different social class backgrounds. The researchers also found stark differences in progression to higher degrees across different types of university.
Their report examined progression from a first degree through to postgraduate study and focused on differences in transition to higher degrees in relation to three overarching themes: institutional profile, the four UK home nations, and graduates’ individual background characteristics, including gender, ethnicity and socio-economic factors. Read more...

Call open for HEA mini project - Working with new forms of online practice in the disciplines
Applications are invited from teaching staff to take part in a mini project to help them understand how students use technology to facilitate learning.
‘Working with new forms of online practice in the disciplines: The challenges of residency’ will encourage participants to reflect on their practice and to build new strategies for integrating technology into their teaching.
The project involves small institutional teams meeting for two half-day workshops. The first event will explore forms of online engagement before teams conduct similar sessions with a small number of students within their own institutions. The second workshop will be an opportunity to discuss participants’ findings and implications.
For more information and an application form please click here. The deadline for applications is 16 May 2013.

Staff and students are invited to apply for a share of £40,000 to fund projects that use technology to create learning resources.
Successful applications will demonstrate opportunities for creating re-useable and interactive e-learning materials as well as improving the digital literacies of staff and students taking part.
The HEA’s Digital Literacy in the Disciplines programme will fund eight £5,000 projects, two per discipline area (Arts and Humanities, Health and Social Care, Social Sciences and STEM).
For more information and an application form, please click here. The deadline for applications is 1 May 2013.
UPDATE - DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 12:00 FRIDAY 3 MAY 3013.

EASPA’s first Annual Conference 21 May 2013
The European Alliance for Subject-Specific Accreditation and Quality Assurance (EASPA) is very pleased to invite you to its first Annual Conference on the topic of “Subject-based Quality Assurance and Accreditation and its contribution to quality development and mobility” on Tuesday, 21st May 2013 at The International Association Center in Brussels, Belgium.
The conference will be a great opportunity to hear high-level speakers on all aspects of the topic. Robert Wagenaar will familiarize you with the latest developments in TUNING, which has spread to practically all parts of the world. The director of the American ASPA, a group of around 70 field specific Quality Assurance Agencies, will give an overview over the latest developments in disciplinary QA from the United States, you will hear about the example of developing sectoral standards in the ICT field, get an update on the role of professional cards in Europe and how they are related with accreditation issues and also be acquainted with the final conclusions of the Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes (AHELO) project and its repercussions for the future. There will also be a lot of room for discussion with the participants as well as for learning about the aims and objectives of EASPA. Find out more about the Conference on EASPA’s website.

DIES ASEAN-QA Training Workshop: External Quality Assurance Track (Phase III)
Following the ASEAN-QA Training Workshop in Potsdam, Germany, 15 participants from the national accreditation bodies of 9 Southeast Asian countries met again for the Third Phase of the ASEAN-QA Training Workshop – External Quality Assurance (EQA) Track in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The training was hosted by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) from 25 February 2013 to 1 March 2013.
The training workshop was jointly conducted by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK), and the University of Potsdam, Germany together with partners from Southeast Asia and Europe, i.e. the ASEAN Quality Assurance Network (AQAN), the ASEAN University Network (AUN), the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), and the Southeast Asian Ministries of Education Organization Regional Institute of Higher Education and Development (SEAMEO RIHED).

Although the CeQuInt project just started, it has already received widespread publicity. Some are more supportive than others. Most observers look forward to hear more about what we are doing, which is great. And in the current project phase, everyone is explicitly invited to take part in our project by giving feedback on the draft methodology.
Current project phase: stakeholders' consultation methodology: Since the start of the project, the project partners have dedicated most of their work to establishing the CeQuInt assessment methodology. The partners have now produced a draft methodology to assess the quality of internationalisation. This methodology consists of three distinct documents: the assessment frameworks, the guidelines for applicants and the appeals procedure. All stakeholders and interested partners are asked to provide feedback through the consultation e-form available on the CeQuInt website.
Stakeholders Group Meeting: The Stakeholder Group will meet to discuss the draft methodology on 15 March 2013. This group consists of fifteen institutions from all over Europe and stakeholder organisations, such as the European Students Union, BusinessEurope, Nuffic, CHE Consult, DUO and DAAD. The Stakeholders Group is chaired by ACA's Bernd Wächter. The project consortium will test the developed methodology in pilot procedures. Each quality assurance agency in the consortium will therefore undertake one procedure. Since the last newsletter was sent out, programmes and institutions have been able to present themselves for one of these pilot procedures through the pilot-candidate-forms on our website. Although initially not planned, the project partners have decided to also include procedures at school-level. This can refer to a school, department or faculty with a limited number of programmes. These programmes, schools and institutions are now in the process of scheduling their procedure with one of the CeQuInt partners. In addition, these programmes, schools and institutions will be involved in the CeQuInt project in other ways too. They can take part in a good practices workshop, contribute to the newsletter, help finalise the methodology and participate in the CeQuInt conference.
Expert panels and training: The experts in the assessment panel play a crucial role in the evaluation of the quality of internationalisation. In addition to the regular expertise and experience, all panels will include experts that have an unquestionably international profile. Over the last months quality assurance agencies have proposed these experts and from that list, the CeQuInt partners are now composing a core group of twelve experts. These twelve experts will take part in several of the pilot procedures and help to improve consistency across all procedures. On 3 May 2013, all of them will be trained in audit techniques and intercultural competencies by AQ Austria.

Call for contribution - The 8th European Quality Assurance Forum (EQAF) will take place at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, on 21-23 November 2013
Through a mix of plenary and parallel sessions, the 2013 EQAF, entitled “Working together to take quality forward”, will combine practice-oriented or research-based discussions that will take place in the paper sessions and workshops with presentations of current developments in quality assurance. This year the Forum 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 to take quality forward.
The Forum organisers, ENQA, ESU, EUA and EURASHE, have now opened a call for contributions from QA practitioners in higher education institutions and quality assurance agencies, students, institutional leaders and researchers in the field. Two types of contributions are sought: papers and workshops.
The deadline to submit contributions is 2 August 2013. For more information, please consult the call here.
EQAF 2013 Submission Form Paper
EQAF 2013 Submission Form Workshop
Further information on the event, including the programme and registration information will become available in summer 2013.
Please do not hesitate to contact Ivana Juraga (ivana.juraga@eua.be) should you have any questions.