EURASHE Newsletter
September 2011
In this issue:
Quick Links

EURASHE has a new President

During the General Assembly of EURASHE, hosted by Erasmus University College in Brussels  on Saturday 24th September EURASHE elected a new President.

Professor Andreas G. Orphanides, Rector of European University Cyprus and Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences, who succeeded Lars Lynge Nielsen, from the University College Lilleb�lt in Denmark. Andreas G. Orphanides has been a member of EURASHE since the association's establishment. He served as Vice President of EURASHE in charge of Bologna and QA issues from 2004 to 2011. He has served, on behalf of EURASHE, as a member of the Bologna Follow-up Group (BFUG), the BFUG Board and the E4 Group (EUA, ESU, ENQA, EURASHE). Furthermore, he was President and currently is Vice-President of the EQAR Board and Member of the Cyprus Rectors' Conference.

On the same occasion, Michal Karpisek (SPTV/CASPHE) was re-elected Vice-President of EURASHE for a two-year mandate and Patrick Blond� (Director General of the Maritime Academy of Antwerp, a member of the Council of the Flemish University Colleges -VLHORA) was elected Vice-President in replacement of Andreas Orphanides. More information at www.eurashe.eu .
 

Highlights

Lean Learning Academies (LAA) -This project aimed at creating strong links between the local and regional academic partners and the industrial partners in each of the participating countries. We are happy to inform you that the modular online state-of-the-art course in lean manufacturing was published in English (soon also in Dutch, Polish, Swedish, Romanian and Portuguese). These course modules give bachelor and master students in applied sciences an excellent opportunity to learn the lean concepts and to improve their education curriculum. Moreover, it will be soon available an accompanying Lean Production Game which make that course more attractive, resulting in more motivated students and higher study yields. To download the course and to learn more about this project visit its website

2012 EURASHE Annual Conference and General Assembly in Riga - EURASHE is pleased to invite you to its 22nd Annual Conference titled "Lifelong Learning and HE for the Welfare Society". It will be held at the BA School of Business and Finance in Riga on 10th and 11th May 2012. In this occasion the FLLLEX project will be presented. The provisional agenda will be available soon and registrations will open in January: stay tuned and save your dates!

EURASHE HAS BECOME MEMBER OF EUCIS-LLL - After a long year of fruitful cooperation as a partner, EURASHE has became a EUCIS-LLL full member. The European Civil Society Platform on Lifelong Learning will serve as a forum for cooperation between education and training actors to build innovative project, as a tool to push forward strong messages to EU institution and as a space in which discuss transversal topics on lifelong learning.
 
EURASHE NEW WEBSITE WILL BE ONLINE SOON! - EURASHE secretariat is pleased to announce that the association is adopting a new communication tool, which will include a new and more interactive website.  

Updates from EURASHE projects
"The Impact of Lifelong Learning Strategies on Professional Higher Education in Europe" (FLLLEX) is a project coordinated by a EURASHE member institution, the Leuven University College, in partnership with EURASHE, ESU and Business Europe representing stakeholders, and a representative sample of professional HEIs and VET providers in 8 countries. It aims at identifying challenges and implications of the incorporation of a LLL strategy on an institutional and national level. In the last months, The FLLLEX project has now entered its second phase. A self-evaluation instrument has been developed and we will now start with testing a tool for Lifelong Learning at a HEI in the different partner institutions. Review panels will visit these institutions and draft a report on the tool by the summer of 2011. The LLL tool will be presented in the EURASHE Annual conference in Riga which will be held in May 2012. Learn more at www.flllex.eu.

The "E4" project "Mapping the implementation of the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ESG for QA)" responds to the need to map the implementation and application of the ESG, after they have been used for five years. The main outcome of the project is a survey based report on how the ESG have been implemented in the EHEA and it will provide recommendations on how their application could be improved, and whether there is a need for a revision of the ESG. The joint E4 report is currently being finalized and shall be presented at the BFUG meeting on the 17th January 2012 in Copenhagen. In the course of  2012 EURASHE will organize a serious of workshops and seminars in order to present EURASHE's individual report for our members and stakeholders, based on the internal ESG consultation. Leran more at http://mapesg.wordpress.com.

  

The CaribErasmus project is an Erasmus Mundus project that aims at fostering cooperation between European and Caribbean higher education institutions in a structured and sustainable perspective. The project is run by a consortium of key European and Caribbean organisations and institutions active in the field of (professional) higher education. The project is now in its second phase during which the integration seminars are being organized (Jamaica - May 2011, Dominican Republic - October 2011, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago - November 2011 and Cuba - February 2012). Learn more at www.cariberasmus.eu.  

  

EQAF - The European Quality Assurance Forum is an annual European conference on quality assurance in HE co-organised by EUA, ENQA, EURASHE and ESU. This event is a major contribution to QA in higher education and a flagship activity in this field. Since 2011 EQAF has continued to create a common European understanding of QA through a dialogue among different stakeholder groups without funding, thus only thanks to the commitment and the will of the partners to foster a dialogue on QA. The sixth European Quality Assurance Forum, entitled "Quality and Trust: at the heart of what we do", will be jointly hosted by the University of Antwerp and Artesis University College (a member of EURASHE) on 17-19th November 2011, and will take place in Antwerp, Belgium. Through a mix of plenary and parallel sessions, EQAF 2011 will specifically aim to explore the impact and essence of both internal and external QA, and how QA can be further developed to serve these better. We invite you to register at this enriching event or to learn more about it at http://www.eua.be/eqaf-antwerp.aspx.  

 

EQUNET - Enhancing Access through a focus on Equity - EQUNET is a 3-year project aiming at increasing access to Higher Education for all marginalized and non-traditional groups based on a principle of equity. The EQUNet 2nd Conference on the Future of Social Dimension in Higher Education will held in Sofia, Bulgaria on 8-9th November 2011, with the cooperation with ESU. The objectives of the seminar are to present and discuss outcomes of EQUNet project and agree on the steps forward; to bring together relevant stakeholders from the European level, both from organisational level and institutions; to discuss challenges and approaches towards widening access to HE to all groups; to raise awareness on the barriers to reaching equal access and success and find solutions to addressing these barriers on various levels and working with different target groups; to share good practices and success stories. Learn more about the project on www.EQUNet.info .

Past events
EURASHE - Bologna Seminar 2-3 June 2011- Russian New University, Moscow
The Bologna-related seminar aimed at illustrating the impact of the Bologna Reform on Russian Higher Education Institutions & Universities. The focus was on the 'real implementation' in the institutions, public and private universities. The programme included a state of affairs from the point of view of those who are in charge of monitoring the Process; the country situation from the point of view of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation; a point of view from the part of stakeholders in the HE reform process; a keynote speech on the links between Learning Outcomes, Quality Assurance and the Qualifications Frameworks and case studies with the 'Bologna tools'. In the concluding session, the chair presided as a follow-up, a dialogue of the Western contributors with the RF institutions, on the basis of an input from the Council of Europe delegate in the BFUG. Learn more at http://www.eurashe.eu/RunScript.asp?Page=196&p=ASP\Pg196.asp
 

Future commitments
Next Ministerial Conference of the EHEA in Bucharest (26 April 2012) - EURASHE is preparing a Stakeholder's Publication on the Action Lines of the European Higher Education Area 2012. It will build upon the priorities identified in our publication for the 10th Bologna Anniversary held in Budapest-Vienna, "EURASHE's 10 Commitments for the EHEA in 2020", and will define our position on five themes as it is being developed in our five working groups named after the five themes: Mobility and International Openness, Qualification Frameworks and Student-Centred Learning, Lifelong Learning and employability, Quality Assurance and Transparency Tools, Profile of professional higher education & Innovation. 
Sincerely,
The EURASHE Secretariat

EURASHE Secretariat
27/3 Ravensteingalerji/Galerie Ravenstein
1000 Brussels
Belgium
Tel.:+32 2 211 41 97
Fax: +32 2 211 41 99