On 14 September 2020, EURASHE members' representatives were invited to the targeted online consultation on the European Education Area and Digital Education Action Plan with the EU Commissioner Margaritis Schinas who is responsible for Promoting our European Way of Life. Earlier this year, in July, our members also took part in the consultation on the European Education Area with Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth.

At the moment the most urgent priority is educating the educators in the use of digital didactics and understanding what quality in online education is, at the same time maintaining the practical side of the study programmes.

During both of the meetings our members stressed the importance of inclusivity and our sector's readiness to equip students’ from underprivileged backgrounds.

Finally, European regions need more support after the pandemic too and we need to rethink a new role of PHE institutions in the regions and regional competitiveness.

Conclusions from targeted consultations with stakeholders were incorporated in the recently launched Communication A new ERA for Research and Innovation, Digital Education Action Plan and Communication on European Education Area.

On 27 August 2020, EURASHE organised the online event 'Quality in Work-based Learning: the way to maximise the value of Professional Higher Education' in the framework of ApprenticeshipQ project and invited participants to discuss how to ensure sustainable apprenticeship programmes.

During the meeting, the ApprenticeshipQ (AppQ) project partners presented two Manuals, respectively for Professional Higher education institutions and SMEs which give the picture of the current situation about the quality of apprenticeships and enable users to implement improvements.

The launch of the Manuals were followed by the presentations of the representatives from the European Commission, EUROCHAMBRES, UNIBASQ, European Students' Union and Mondragon University.

Recording of the webinar can be found here.

A Bologna Advisory Group on Teaching and Learning has completed their work and presented their report and recommendations. The Advisory Group was co-chaired by EURASHE Vice-President Ulf-Daniel Ehlers.

The main recommendations of the group were the following:

-To make a student-centred learning a reality;

-To foster continuous enhancement of teaching;

-To strengthen higher education institutional and systems’ capacity to enhance learning and teaching.

EURASHE also has been actively involved in Bologna Implementation Coordination Group and thematic support groups.

The next EHEA Ministerial Conference will be held online, hosted by Italy on 19 November 2020. More information here.

Check out the agendas and register for the webinars here.

The deadline to participate is 2 November 2020. 

For more information on the envisaged activities under the Leadership Development Programme and the terms and conditions for participation, please consult the call for participation. Higher education institutions interested in participating in the Programme are invited to fill in the online application form before the deadline.

The Leadership Developpment Programme is funded by Erasmus+ project LOTUS (Leadership and Organisation for Teaching and Learning at European Universities). 

EURASHE and SPRINT project partners invite to the training that will be organised online on October 15-16, 2020.

The objectives of the training are the following:

To register for the training, please send a confirmation email here with your name, first name, institution and email address.

More information here.

EURASHE invites its community to take a survey which aims to explore the knowledge that organisations within and outside the VET4EU2 platform have about the European Vocational Skills Week 2020 and understand the level of involvement they wish to have or not have with it and why.

This survey is being conducted in the framework of the project 'VENHANS - VET European Networking Enhancement', which is funded by the Erasmus+ programme.

EURASHE and Apprenticetrack project partners are inviting you to the online event on best practices on Quality Work based learning on the 26th of November, 10:00-12:00 CET.

Project Apprenticetrack has developed a digital management tool which supports Professional Higher Education (PHE) institutions and employers to offer and direct high-quality apprenticeships. An interactive digital tool and its features will be presented during the online webinar followed by relevant presentations on work based learning.

At the end of the event, project partners and European Commission’s representative will sign the European Alliance for Apprenticeships pledge which will demonstrate stakeholders’ commitment to strengthen the supply, quality and image of apprenticeships.

EURASHE, together with the independent group of experts Friends of Smart Specialisation, is organising a series of webinars, which will address the potential role of professional higher education institutions in the design and implementation of regional Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3).

The online event will start this autumn, with two webinars taking place before the end of 2020, and continue in the next year, with three more webinars until spring 2021. Each webinar will focus on a different European country or region and will provide insight on the S3 developments as well as case studies of successful involvement of professional higher education institutions in their design and implementation.

The Conference theme will cover the sustainable development goals and professional higher education also stressing an importance of research and regional development.

Students from different European countries share their stories and ask: What can higher education learn from this shutdown – and what is the “Next Normal” in European Higher Education?

Do you have some bright students in your institutions who would be willing to share their stories in the Podcast? Contact us here.

Tune in here.