From 16-06-11 to 18-06-11. PLACE: Toronto, Canada. ORGANIZED BY: OISE/University of Toronto
Higher education affects every aspect of our lives – from the economy and the environment, to culture and communications. While the media play a critical role in shaping public understanding of this institution, little discussion has taken place about how that influence is manifested – or about how, in turn, higher education uses the media to mould how the public perceives it. But that’s about to change.
Introducing Worldviews: Media Coverage of Higher Education in the 21st Century. This innovative conference, scheduled for June 2011 in Toronto, Canada, will not only examine these issues, but explore why it’s important to do so.
The 2011 inaugural conference will consider a range of important issues, including:
-How media coverage of higher education has changed over the past two decades and where it is headed
-The impact of social media and how it is changing what is covered and how higher education is understood
-The role the media play in influencing public policy debates on public education
-How higher education engages with the media to inform public opinion
-The different realities of the developing and developed worlds
These issues will be examined in a format designed to maximize participation and discussion that will feature:
-Café discussions and salons, interviews with leading thinkers, readings and workshops, in addition to keynote addresses and panel debates
-The opportunity for audience members to become speakers and debaters
-Open programming reserved for sessions to respond to specific ideas that emerge from the conference itself
We look forward to welcoming you to Toronto in 2011.
2011 Conference Themes
Worldviews: Media Coverage of Higher Education in the 21st Century will be organized around five broad themes, each with a range of topics to be discussed and debated:
Media depictions of higher education
    Current media portrayals of higher education and possibilities for the future
    Creating dialogue and understanding between journalists and academia
    Understanding the media world and its impact on higher education coverage
    The globalization of higher education coverage: impact and trends
    Muted voices in higher education coverage
    “Hollywood goes to college”: Images of higher education in film and television
Wagging the dog: The media as the driver of higher education policy
    Responsibilities of media and higher education in creating an informed public policy debate
    Do rankings in the media drive higher education priorities? Are they helping or hurting higher education?
    The competition among international and national rankings: Which methodology is best?
    Public opinion surveys, public perceptions of higher education, and the media: Who is shaping whom?
Seizing the initiative: the role of higher education in shaping media and public perceptions
    Do public and media relations take up a disproportionate amount of attention and resources in the modern university and college? Or should even greater efforts be devoted to these activities?
    Reaching out to community and minority group media
    Science journalism: The battle between the uncertainty of science and the certainty of “news”
    Current, emerging and future media models for media coverage of research
    The research “arms war” and the battle for researchers
    Flashpoints in media coverage of research
The dawning of a new age? New media technology and new types of publications
    The impact and implications of social media for higher education
    New innovations in social media for colleges and universities and their communities
    Higher education’s contribution to new media and citizen journalism
Cross-dressing media and academy
    When the media and academia take on roles in each other’s worlds, does it lead to better understandings, or do they essentially remain two solitudes?
    Practitioners v. Academics: What’s really valued in the academy?
    Embedded journalists – the student media.

EUCEN 42nd European Conference. Lifelong Learning: a new mission for University? 16-18 November 2011, Genoa, Italy.

Conference Theme
Nowadays, universities are increasingly called upon to address various issues relating to adult education. Be they people wanting to get academic recognition, to resume previously interrupted university studies, or to see their skills recognized, these adults lead universities to face new challenges.
In partnership with other educational agencies and with methods and paths other than traditional ones, higher education institutions are indeed expected to contribute to the development of a new learning paradigm. This model should promote an active process of orientation and personalization of the courses, as well as recognition of competences that the adult may have already acquired non-formally or informally through the workplace, through vocational training courses conducted independently or, again, cultivating a hobby.
Universities are therefore demanded to expand their mission by increasing, even with innovative approaches, the dissemination of knowledge, by enhancing the learning spaces for a variety of new kind of learners, so that citizens can be offered real training opportunities, and finally by fostering the recognition and validation of acquired experience.
Conference topics
- Tools and methodologies to recognize, assess and validate prior experiential learning outcomes
- Proper technologies as support for developing best practices
- Ways to spread out and share common regulations
- Enhancing free movement of people with their competences.

Nos universités de Cergy-Pontoise, d’Evry-Val d’Essonne, de Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée et de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, créées en 1991, issues du plan de modernisation de l’enseignement supérieur « Université 2000 », fêtent leurs vingt ans, le mardi 14 juin 2011 de 14h à 18h au Grand Auditorium de la Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Télécharger l'invitation.
L’âge de tous les possibles, l’âge où l’on a la vie devant soi, mais également celui des choix stratégiques pour son avenir. C’est pourquoi il nous apparaissait utile d’organiser, dans l’unité et la diversité, ce colloque en nous entourant de ceux qui ont fait et font nos universités, de ceux qui collaborent et contribuent à leur développement, pour revenir sur la création de celles-ci, dresser le bilan de vingt années passées au service de la formation, de la recherche, de la diffusion de la connaissance et, ce faisant, au développement socio-économique de nos territoires, pour nous projeter enfin dans les vingt années à venir.
Cet avenir, qu’on le bâtisse ensemble ou séparément, se construit sur des fondations solides, ancrées dans la réalité de nos territoires, et façonnées autour de principes clairs : la professionnalisation de nos formations et son corollaire, l’insertion de nos étudiants, l’excellence de la recherche et sa conséquence logique, la reconnaissance internationale de nos enseignants-chercheurs. Enfin, il repose sur le travail et le dévouement des personnels qui veillent à la bonne marche de nos universités.
On n’a pas tous les jours vingt ans ! Que ce colloque soit ainsi l’occasion d’échanges, de rencontres et surtout de projets féconds ! Si nous y parvenons nous aurons rendu un vibrant hommage à tous ceux qui ont apporté leur pierre à l’édifice de nos universités et qui en ont fait des lieux propices à la création des savoirs, de la connaissance et de l’innovation !
Sylvie Faucheux
Présidente de l’université de Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ).
Francis Godard
Président de l’université de Paris-Est Marne-La-Vallée (UPEMLV).
Richard Messina
Président de l’université d'Evry-Val-d’Essonne (UEVE).
Françoise Moulin Civil
Présidente de l’université de Cergy-Pontoise (UCP).

Conferencia Internacional ICDE 2011 III Foro Internacional de Educación Superior en Entornos Virtuales.  From 13-04-11 to 15-04-11.  PLACE: Quilmes, Buenos Aires, Argentina.  ORGANIZED BY: Universidad Nacional de Quilmes.
Following the aims of UNESCO declaration 2009, Universidad Nacional de Quilmes consider that the increasing social responsibility of higher education institutions is challenging to respond to social demands at local, regional, national and international levels. Thus, distance education and communication technologies become central tools in this field.The initiative will explore topics such equity and access, innovation, technology and management in distance education, technological changes and educative process. The conference is opened to higher education managers and authorities, policy makers, researchers and experts.
Conferencia Internacional ICDE 2011, UNQ, Argentina, 14 y 15 de abril de 2011
La Conferencia Internacional ICDE 2011 propone la realización de Conferencias Plenarias y Paneles de Expertos donde académicos y referentes del campo trabajarán sobre aspectos generales. Además, se convoca a especialistas e investigadores a participar de un espacio de debate y reflexión a partir de la presentación de ponencias sobre los ejes de trabajo propuestos.
La UNESCO en su declaración en la Conferencia Mundial de Educación Superior 2009: Las nuevas dinámicas de la Educación Superior y de la Investigación para el Cambio Social y el Desarrollo, concibe a la Educación Superior como un bien público, base de la innovación, la investigación y la creatividad.
La creciente responsabilidad social de las instituciones de Educación Superior compromete a las universidades a desarrollar nuevas estrategias y nuevos abordajes que le permitan enfrentar los cambios tecnológicos y sociales.
La educación a distancia y las TIC se convierten en este contexto en herramientas centrales para dar respuesta a las demandas locales, regionales, nacionales e internacionales. De allí que se proponga convertirlas también en el centro de nuestras actividades de investigación, debate, innovación y desarrollo.
En este marco, la Universidad Nacional de Quilmes se ha propuesto convocar a una reunión internacional de Rectores, expertos, investigadores y universitarios interesados en la problemática, con el fin de generar un espacio de debate, cooperación y producción científica y académica a nivel regional.

The 2011 Biennial Conference will take place in Madrid, Spain, from the 4th till the 7th of April, 2011. The National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation (ANECA) is hosting this conference.
During the conference we will also celebrate INQAAHE's 20th anniversary!
The conference theme is "Quality Assurance: Foundation for the Future". Click here to consult the Conference Programme.
There are four subthemes:
* Globalizing forces and national/regional goals in higher education: emerging issues
* Professionalization of quality assurance
* Effective QA processes for diversity, development and sustainability
* Independence of QA vis a vis different stakeholders
Workshop 1: Standards, learning outcomes and program accreditation,
Workshop 2:Managing an external quality assurance agency
Workshop 3: Internal QA systems within HEIs,
Workshop 4:Effective site visits
See also INQHAAHE Conference 2009.

A unique conference bringing together theorists, researchers and policy-makers in higher education, working on fair admissions to competitive higher education institutions. The full programme for the conference will be available from February 2011.
This unique conference will seek to bring together theorists, researchers and policy-makers in higher education working on fair admissions to competitive higher education institutions.
There has been a sustained drive by government and higher education institutions to improve the fairness of admissions procedures. Many leading universities have introduced new policies, which use measures of social and educational disadvantage as relevant factors in the admissions process. Concepts such as disadvantage, achievement, aptitude, potential, under-representation and social class have variously been used to justify such approaches. These practices raise three inter-related questions for the conference:
1) Normative questions: who should be admitted to leading higher education institutions?
2) Empirical questions: who is admitted?
3) Policy questions: how can fair admissions be pursued in practice?
All too often, these three questions are answered by distinct groups – namely philosophers, empirical researchers and policy makers/practitioners respectively. This conference bridges these divides and brings all three perspectives together. The conference will be attended by empirical researchers, policy-makers and theorists, including those with a comparative or international perspective.

Growing research brings professional higher education outputs closer to important practical applications
EURASHE 21st Annual Conference in Nice to Examine Expanding Field of Professionally Oriented Programmes in Higher Education, March, 31 – April, 1 2011,  at the Institut Universitaire de Technologie Nice in partnership with ADIUT-France.
The Conference is traditionally a meeting of EURASHE’s individual and associate members, outside experts from a range of academic fields and stakeholders to construct a unique range of educational experiences of relevance to professionals from all geographical regions and sectors of European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and from outside the EHEA.
"This year's conference is particularly important for professional higher education," said conference co-organizer and the Vice-President of l'ADIUT Philippe PIERROT. "The IUTs (Instituts Universitaires de Technologie), which form an integrated part of the university system, focus on the professionally oriented programmes in France. These technological and commercial tracks within the university system, contribute to regional development and applied research. One of the peculiarities of the IUTs is well-developed co-operation with other ‘regions’ in the world, such as Latin America, Africa and Asia. In addition to the growth in basic research activities related to professionally oriented programmes, we are also looking at the main features of ‘professionally oriented mobility’ outside the EHEA, with examples from the experience of the French IUTs, and other member associations of EURASHE, so as to give a varied picture of mobility in professional and vocational contexts. We would also like to underline the role which technological higher education plays in the policies of town and country planning and as tool mattering from accession in higher education for strata less favoured by society”.
Over the next decade, European Professional Higher Education is expected to undergo a profound change because of the “Europe 2020 Strategy”. The two tracks of the conference will provide the input for some of the topics in EURASHE’s planned Bologna 2020 publication, based on “EURASHE’s Ten Commitments for the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) in 2020 – Visions & Strategies”.
The conference will cover the topic of European Mobility in the global context, and the special role of professional Higher Education: higher interest in applied research, synergies through innovative role of placements; factors and conditions influencing the mobility flows and the position of the individual institution on the global market.
Mr.Delplace, Secretary General of EURASHE, underlined that EURASHE would in this upcoming 21st conference pay attention to the unique position of one of its member organisations and compare their achievements to other models in European Higher Education. It will also be an outstanding occasion for EURASHE to develop and present its own involvement in a recently approved Erasmus Mundus project, in the Caribbean Islands, where there is a broad spectrum of professionally oriented institutions and programmes.
In the margin of the conference, a ‘mini-seminar’ will offer to participating heads of institutions and of faculties, quality assurance coordinators and stakeholders in QA, the possibility to give their feedback on the “Implementation of the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance on an institutional level”, an EU funded project.

L'Institut International Joseph Jacotot pour la formation professionnelle, porté par le Conseil régional de Bourgogne, organise un colloque sur le thème Territoires, développement et formation les lundi 6 et mardi 7 décembre 2010 à Dijon. Colloque Territoires_Jacotot.
Ce colloque propose d'explorer la richesse de cette articulation entre les notions de territoire, de développement et de formation, au niveau de la réflexion et au niveau des pratiques (économiques, éducatives, sociales...). Il s'agit donc d'une rencontre entre chercheurs et praticiens destinée à informer et à valoriser les réalisations mais également à mettre en débat les conceptions et les actions menées dans le domaine.
Les apports seront pluridisciplinaires ; les réalisations viendront d'opérateurs de terrain français et étrangers qui s'efforcent de renouveler la réflexion et d'inventer des démarches nouvelles. La perspective proprement politique ne sera pas oubliée. Les membres des Conseils régionaux et généraux, ceux des agences, organismes, administrations, services de l'emploi, des réseaux éducatifs, de formation, d'insertion, de développement, sont directement concernés par la thématique territoriale. Plus d'infos: Véronique Briet, Institut International Joseph Jacotot pour la formation professionnelle, 15 place Grangier, 21 000 Dijon, 03 80 54 14 14, v.briet@institut-jacotot.eu.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 10 - 12 November 2010. The 3LInC ’10 conference provides an opportunity to discuss issues of importance and relevance to advancing knowledge and democratising education. This conference is of interest to all those involved in Continuing Education, Continuing Professional Development, Educational Programme Developers, Academicians, Researchers, Regulators, Policy Makers, Professional Associations and Learning Organisations from around the world. 3LInC’10 is unique in its diversity with a common focus to enhance human and social capital through lifelong learning.
Ideas to ascertain that the future workforce becomes better trained and more functional will be discussed. With ever-accelerating developments continuing to influence the changing educational landscape, 3LInC’10 is here to provide an avenue - for scholars and educators to continue to exchange views and experiences, formulate strategies, forge academic fraternities, and, all in all, contribute positively towards democratising education for ALL.
It is pertinent to look back and reflect on the many changes that have taken place on professional development of human, and social capital, and education. At a time when national education systems are going through some of their most dramatic changes, a focus that seems to be universal is to keep teaching, learning and training of human capital as up-to-date and relevant as possible. Higher learning institutions are expected to adapt their own methodologies to reflect the new reality of a world characterised by technological advancements and globalisation, to make the necessary changes to keep up with the best practices available and help to deliver the best possible educational experience and training to all human beings.
Objectives:
   1. To search for innovative discoveries, renewed existing modes and strengthen the existing fraternity on lifelong learning.
   2. To keep our minds open towards the changes of how lifelong learning fits into our individual and collective perspectives.
   3. To develop scholarship on lifelong learning.
   4. To establish collaboration and partnership in research on lifelong learning.
   5. To establish a global network of scholars and managers of lifelong learning education.