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CONSTRUCTING NEW KNOWLEDGE SPACES: THE CASE OF THE EUROPEAN HIGHER EDUCATION AREA Roger Dale U of Bristol Policy Futures in Higher Education CKS/WUN Horizon’s Seminar Series 2006 The Lisbon Agenda of the EU is for Europe “to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledgebased economy in the world capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion” EC 2000 Background to BP/EHEA •Lifelong Learning •Vocational Education and Training –common standards agreed in Copenhagen 2005 •EHEA 3 pronged strategy for Bologna •Enhancing mobility of labour •Contributing to Europe’s economic competitiveness (the ‘master discourse’ of Lisbon) •Improving the attractiveness and international competitiveness of European higher education 45 Members, 600+ Universities • Albania - Andorra - Armenia -Austria - Azerbaijan Belgium - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Bulgaria - Croatia Cyprus - Czech Republic - Denmark - Estonia - Finland France - Georgia - Germany - Greece - Holy See Hungary - Iceland - Ireland - Italy - Latvia - Lithuania Luxembourg - Malta - Moldova - Netherlands - Norway Poland - Portugal - FYR Macedonia - Romania - Russia Serbia and Montenegro - Slovakia - Slovenia - Spain Sweden - Switzerland - Turkey - Ukraine - UK Key elements of Bologna process: mobility •Common degree architecture (3+2+3) •European Credit Transfer System •European Qualifications Framework •‘Tuning’ (Generic and specific competences) •‘Euroquality labels’ (Engineering, Chemistry) Key elements of Bologna process: competitiveness 1. ‘Contribution of Universities to Europe of Knowledge” (2003) (benchmarking with US and Japan, especially on number of science and technology graduates) 2. ‘Mobilising the Brainpower of Europe’ (2005) COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES Brussels, 05.02.2003 COM(2003) 58 final COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION The role of the universities in the Europe of knowledge COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION Mobilising the brainpower of Europe: enabling universities to make their full contribution to the Lisbon Strategy “The search for knowledge has always been at the heart of the European adventure. It has helped to define our identity and our values, and it is the driving force behind our future competitiveness” Key elements of Bologna process: Attractiveness •Erasmus Mundus (European Fulbright) •Marie Curie measures (repatriation, etc) •‘Passively’, by removing the non-EU members from the US sphere of influence What does it mean? •Construction of parallel HE sectors (European/national) •Extending competitiveness beyond commercialisation, brain competition, etc, to competition over the rules—QA, degree architecture, mobility •Discursive and Institutional thickening of ‘Europe’