It contains the report of the various sessions and workshops of the Seminar, dedicated to Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL): Flexible Ties within Higher Education as well as information on the keynote speeches and the social programme proposed to the participants.
With the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union
22nd Annual Conference in Riga – 2012
EURASHE is pleased to report that its 22nd Annual Conference held on 10-11 May2012 in Riga (Latvia) was dedicated to ‘Responding to Challenges in European Higher Education: Lifelong Learning and the Welfare Society’.
On this page you will find all the relevant information on:
Andreas G. Oprhanides (CY), President of EURASHE, opening the 22nd Annual Conference – photograph kindly provided by the Banku Augstskola
Responding to Challenges in European Higher Education: Lifelong Learning and the Welfare Society
The 22nd EURASHE Annual Conference will bring together leaders in the field of Professional Higher Education for a comprehensive overview of both related themes. The Conference will be held in Riga (Latvia) on May 10-11, 2012 at the Radisson Latvija Hotel. The Conference is hosted by the Banku Augstskola (BSF) in partnership with the FLLLEX project consortium.
The Conference is traditionally a meeting of EURASHE’s 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 the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and beyond. This conference will look at two features which are crucial for today’s developments in Europe, namely Lifelong Learning and the Welfare Society.
Lifelong Learning is hailed as by many European member states as an instrument to address the problem of a decreasing working population and to undercut the need for an increasingly better educated labour force.
‘At first sight Lifelong Learning may be regarded as an inclusive part of professional higher education, which has always been closely linked to the professional life of its students and alumni. In reality, it is not so evident that institutions cover the entire learning life span of a student’, explains Klaas Vansteenhuyse (Leuven University College – BE, coordinator of the FLLLEX project).
‘The conference will present the results of a European funded project initiated by EURASHE about the impact of Lifelong Learning strategies on professional higher education (FLLLEX). The project has investigated how national governments attempt to implement European strategies into their national legislation. This in turn should strongly influence the (professional) higher education institution, which are generally funded by that same government. Results from our project show that national and European strategies are only implemented in varying degrees. The project further aims to aid institutions in assessing the relationship between their strategy to incorporate lifelong learning within their institution in response to the needs of learners and businesses. This tool will be demonstrated at the conference, along with results of surveys among learners and employers. The project’s final publication will be made available to all participants of the conference.’
The EURASHE Annual Conference 2012 will also explore and address the challenges brought by another thorny topic: the Welfare Society. It is no coincidence that the European Commission has adopted the theme of ‘Active Ageing’ as the topic in focus for 2012.
Indeed, in most European countries since the previous century the states structures have included a ‘social contract’ between the state and its citizens: the State takes responsibility for the health and education of its citizens, supports the weak and assists the old. And in return, the citizens work for the state, either directly or through taxation. Various political systems and differences in economic resources have resulted in different models and standards for the provision of services, but the basic construction of a ‘Welfare Society’ has remained in focus, and in most European countries the growing economies after the 2nd World War have also led to expansions of the range or level of public responsibilities.
However, the Welfare Society is now more challenged than ever. Not only are we all facing economic recession and increased global competition, but we are also in the middle of a unprecedented change in the demographic balance, especially with a fast growing percentage of elderly and a just as rapidly decreasing labour-market-active population. For all actors in the public or semi-public sector this means that in a very near future fewer professionals will have to better educate our children and students, nurse our sick and disabled, support the outcasts and assist the old.
This development also challenges the HE institutions that educate these professionals. We have to prepare our students for a future where basic knowledge and skills will have to be on par with-job-innovation and an extensive use of IT-based solutions in all fields.
Yet, while the primary partners for institutions to talk to when it comes to lifelong learning seem to be the businesses, the web of our society is much broader than that. Stefan Delplace, secretary general of EURASHE makes that point: ‘Many other organisations contribute to our welfare society. This aspect as well needs skilled employees. The connection to Lifelong Learning also seems obvious here. Schools, hospitals, social and health care, cultural organisations,… they all cover aspects of our European societies beyond the pure economic needs. While it may be daring to discuss these elements in the midst of a financial crisis, EURASHE members have the responsibility to train future professionals for this sector as well.’
Jørn Henrik Petersen, Joeri van den Steenhoven, and Michal Karpíšek, Executive officer of the Czech Association of Schools of Professional Higher Education (CZ), Vice-President of EURASHE as Interviewer,Couch discussion with both keynote speakers[Video]
The video recording of the couch discussion is available just under, orheredirectly!
Session 1a: Lifelong Learning and National and EU policy
Joost Degenaar (NL) presenting ‘Demographic change and Healthy Ageing: one of the grand societal challenges of Europe and an opportunity for Universities of Applied Sciences’
Session 2a: A self-evaluation tool for Lifelong Learning
George Ubachs (left NL), Margriet de Jong (middle left BE), Josep Grifoll (middle right ES), Ronald Guillen (right FR)
Session 2b: Welfare technology – use of technology in developing and defending welfare society in Europe
Anthony Lewis Brooks (Aalborg University), Leading researcher/innovator on Welfare Technology (DK), Eva Petersson Brooks (Aalborg University), Leading researcher in the field of Non-formal Learning (DK),Towards a creative society: ludic engagement designs for all
Anthony Lewis Brooks (left DK) and Eva Petersson Brooks (right DK) presenting ‘Towards a creative society: ludic engagement designs for all’
Session 3a: Results from the Lifelong Learning projects
EURASHE organised a really theme-bound conference which produced a conference rich in subject specific content.
A successful cooperation with the FLLLEX project (on the impact of Lifelong learning in Higher Education institutions) that was initiated by EURASHE’s working group for Lifelong Learning and further executed by one of our member institutions, a Flemish University college (KHLeuven) helped to achieve this outcome.
Keynote speakers provided the wider background for the two themes.
The Latvian Minister’s presentation showed clearly that they see a role for education in ‘social innovation in their country, expecting concrete outcomes from Higher Education institutions.
Lifelong learning, social innovation and the welfare society was discussed by Joeri van den Steenhoven, Young Foundation (UK), member of the Lisbon Council think tank.
He reflected on the modernisation of the welfare society and the role of (higher) education in this. Noticing the trends in Lifelong Learning, action-oriented learning, transformational learning, trends of e-learning and distance-learning. These are exactly areas where professional Higher education especially should play an important part. Societal challenges can be solved by stimulating innovation. Europe is considered an example of good practice, but what are Higher education Institutions doing to stimulate innovation, also in the field of societal welfare? Are we educating people for innovative jobs in changing societies? If not, we may lose our competitive advantage as an innovative society, when the world of education does not follow.
A normative theory of the welfare state and its inherent dilemmas was the title of Jørn Henrik Petersen’s keynote speech, Centre for Welfare State Research, University of Southern Denmark (DK).
Social Welfare is not a luxury discussion, as it touches at the heart of our society: take care of those who cannot take care of themselves. A dilemma embedded in all European societies is the weakening of individual responsibility as the State has taken over. We are all brought up in the belief that we can achieve something with little effort. Where is the education link? Education should teach (societal, moral) values next to skills. Attitude of the State so far are to remain neutral towards moral views of citizens. It can be concluded that we are looking into the wrong places. Our education is too much focused on technical achievements, using economic arguments. We have to look into the behaviour of the individual people. This is also the role of education.
Participants at the welcome desk of the Conference
Annual Conference Report
EURASHE pleased to present you with the Report of the Annual Conference here.
You can also access the report by clicking on the cover next directly! The Conference report contains all the information on the Conference, the speakers, the thematics discussed and the conclusions of the Conference.
EURASHE is continually searching for improvements. Therefore we would like to ask for a few minutes of your time to help us evaluate our performance.
This way we are hoping to build upon existing commitments, increase the satisfaction of our loyal participants, and at the same time enhance their networking opportunities by attracting more participants.
The very short and quick evaluation form should not take more than a couple of minutes of your time.
We will be pleased to receive even only partial answers to the questions, on things you personally find most relevant. There are also fields for open questions answers, comments and proposals.
We hope to translate the participants’ view into concrete arrangements for the 23rd Annual Conference in Split, Croatia and maybe other EURASHE venues at which we hope to welcome you.
BA School of Business and Finance is one of the leading, self-financing business schools in Latvia. It was founded in 1992 as Banking College under the Bank of Latvia and in 1997 accredited as Higher Educational Institution.
In 2007 BA School of Business and Finance celebrated its 15th anniversary. It supports United Nations initiative and follows the Principles for Responsible Management Education. On December 11 BA School of Business and Finance announced its decision to achieve Investors in Excellence Standard (a national standard which is based on the concepts of Excellence and the nine criteria of the widely used European Excellence Model (EFQM)). In 2007/2008 BA School of Business and Finance has been recognized as one of 1000 world’s best Business Schools!
Today it offers undergraduate, graduate and post – graduate programmes in Economics and Entrepreneurship, Business Administration and Finance. The study processes have gained an explicit international dimension. Graduates are nationally and internationally recognized entrepreneurs, managers, consultants, experts and professionals.
The Danish Rectors’ Conference – University Colleges Denmark (UC-DK)
The Danish Rectors’ Conference – University Colleges Denmark (UC-DK) is also a partner of this event. UC-DK is a policy-making and coordinating body of professionally-oriented higher education at university college level in Denmark. It represents 9 institutions.
FLLLEX: The impact of LLL strategies on professional higher education
The FLLLEX project (jan 2010 –aug 2012) aims at identifying challenges and implications of the incorporation of Lifelong Learning (LLL) into European professional higher education institutions (HEI’s). LLL opens up a multitude of new possibilities for higher education institutions but the impact on the organisation as such remains understudied. How flexible are those institutions when it comes to LifeLong Learning?
To address this question, a self-assessment Radar has been developed to support HEI’s in setting out the lines for an institutional strategy for lifelong learning.
A starting point for such a strategy is to assess the role of professional higher education within the broader landscape determined by the national policies and as perceived by the stakeholders: lifelong learners, employers and other lifelong learning providers. FLLLEX carried out a review study on Lifelong Learning Policy Implementation in FLLLEX Countries and surveys among lifelong learners, employers supporting LLL and other providers of LLL.
In the conference documentation you will find the FLLLEX self-assessment Radar as well as a brochure that summarizes the key findings of the project and resulting policy advice.
FLLLEX was initiated and is supported by EURASHE. The project consortium consists of a representative sample of professional HEIs in 8 countries, together with the national organisation representing them. ESU, Education International and Business Europe represent stakeholders in the Advisory Board. The external evaluation is carried out by Educonsult.
City of Riga
Riga, the capital of Latvia, was officially founded in 1201. Riga is divided into six administrative districts: Centra, Kurzeme, Ziemeļu, Latgale, Vidzeme and Zemgale districts.
Riga is located along the Baltic Sea at the southern coast of the Gulf of Riga, on the Rigava coastal plain. The historical core of Riga is situated on the right bank of the Daugava River, about 10 kilometers from where the Daugava flows into the Gulf of Riga. The natural terrain of this area is a flat and sandy plain, about 1 to 10 meters above the sea level.
In the architecture of the historic centre of Riga examples of all architectural styles characteristic for the Northern Europe, from Gothic to Modernism, are found.
The regular building of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries is characteristic for the planning of the historic centre, oriented towards the direction of main streets in the Old City, which emerged approximately in the 14th century. Dismantling of outdated defense systems (ramparts, dams, constructions) in 1857 – 1863 was an important impetus for the development of the city construction.
Pictures of the city of Riga, kindly provided by Zdenka Steblovnik Župan (SI)
As a result, the picturesque Boulevard Circle was designed and in the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, with the rapid development of high-rise dwelling construction, unique Art Nouveau examples were created. In some districts of Riga, for various reasons, complex wooden constructions of that time have still been preserved, and that is an amazing phenomenon in the 21st century. In 1997 the historic center of Riga due to this valued architecture was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
(Text taken from the Municipal online portal of Riga)
