EURASHE organised a Seminar on Lifelong Learning (LLL) titled ‘Lifelong Learning and Intermediate Level in Higher Education‘ in Stuttgart (Germany) on 12 March 2007. Underneath are further information on:
(Photograph: CC by-nc-sa by Dan Zelazo)
Day 1 – Monday 12 March 2007
09.00 – Welcoming participants (coffee/refreshments)
09.45 – Introduction to the seminar
10.00 – The Intermediate Level in the European Union and Lifelong Learning – a general statement
Hans Daale (Netherlands), chair EURASHE Working Group LLL
10.30 – Transfer from short professional higher education to bachelor programmes in formal education – a comparison between Germany and UK
Christoph Veigel (Germany), director Business School ABW/AIM, chair of the network ESA
10.50 – Lifelong Learning in the Policy Paper of EURASHE for ‘London’
Lars Lynge Nielsen (Denmark), president of EURASHE
11.10 – Coffee break
11.30 – Learning from experiences and diplomas
Brigitte Bouquet (France), Ministry of Employment, DG Education and Professional Trainings
11.55 – Question time – with all speakers – and formulating propositions for the forum discussion
12.30 – Lunch
13.30 – Statements about:
Position of the Government and the ‘policy makers’
Need for flexible frameworks, looking at the necessary qualifications
Point of view of Employer’s organisations
Possibilities for the transfer from the intermediate level to bachelor programmes
13.30 – Julia Gocke (Germany), BDA/UNICE Representative in the Bologna Follow-Up Group
13.50 – Stefan Küpper (Germany), Verband der Metall- und Elektro-industrie und Bildungswerk Baden-Württemberg
14.10 – Marianne van Loenhout (Netherlands), Metaalunie
14.30 – Stinna Gammelgaard (Denmark), ESIB
14.50 – Coffee break (and time for the organisation to formulate propositions as input for the forum)
15.15 – Forum discussion
Reactions on the statements, discussion about the propositions, also with the participants of the seminar
Stefan Küpper, Julia Gocke, Marianne van Loenhout, Stinna Gammelgaard, Alexandra Angress (Germany), Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD)
16.15 – Our EURASHE Policy Paper on LLL… and further actions…
16.30 – Closure of the seminar
The stimulus for Lifelong Learning (LLL) including the Intermediate Level in Higher Education (short-cycle higher education, SCHE) comes from the world of employment: they see a need for qualified staff in a ‘middle position’ which they would like to see ‘filled’. There is a need for young people with specific skills, for specific jobs/profiles in both for-profit and no-profit employment. They are also employed people who want to upgrade their skills, so as to be able to meet the demands better for the (continually developing) jobs they currently hold.
In this seminar we are in particular focussing on the German speaking countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland). The reason for this is that, in line with the specific mention of SCHE in the Bergen Communiqué (“including, within national contexts, the possibility of intermediate qualifications”) for every seminar we position the needs of a specific country:
- Amsterdam (Netherlands), in 2005, when support was needed for (re-)introducing the short-cycle higher education in the framework of the first-cycle (Bachelors) degree.
- Blois (France), in 2006, with a focus on post-secondary institutions that were seeking to upgrade their trainings, by adding a third year, in cooperation with a degree-awarding institution (a university).
- and now: Stuttgart (Germany) in 2007, in support of the labour market, which wants to open up higher education to people in employment, wishing to upgrade their skills. This way we can help create an intermediate step between secondary school, including post-secondary education (with little or no? job perspectives) and the first-cycle degree, which, for a great number of people is impossible, due to lack of adequate schooling or for socio-economic reasons.
Rationale
Someone with a minimum standard of education (Certificate of Secondary Education) should have the opportunity to embark on higher education, both in public and private institutions, and should also have the prospect of continuing this higher education up to the level of the first cycle (BA degree), subject to requirements for quality assurance (QA) and minimum levels of competence. This may be one of the ways to reach the (Lisbon-related) objective to attain 50 per cent of the population in the 18-34 age group graduating in higher education, as formulated in a large number of European countries.
Irrespective of the prevailing legislation that does not (for the moment) foresee such a solution in a number of European countries, the demand for creating these pathways is obviously present among the employers in a (growing) number of countries, and at this moment only short cycle trainings and studies (either in the public or the private education sector) are able to fill this vacancy, in the framework of lifelong learning.
The moment is appropriate as the Ministers meeting in Bergen in May last year, created an opening for a provision of shorter training courses and studies in the countries that saw a need for this. This provision in the Bergen Communiqué needs to be followed up, like all the other provisions, such as stocktaking, the mandate to the E4-Group for quality assurance, etc. Moreover, this pathway is a unique illustration of how the lifelong learning concept can be put in practice.
Stefan Küpper - Stefan Küpper represents the Verband der Metall- und Elektro-industrie und Bildungswerk Baden Württemberg, Germany.
Brigitte Bouquet - Brigitte Bouquet represents the Directorate General for Education and Professional Trainings of the French Ministry of Employment.
Christoph Veigel - Christoph Veigel, graduated in 1981 from the University of Tübingen with degrees in English and Physical Education. From 1979 to 1980, he followed a two Semester study programme at the... Read more
Julia Gocke - Julia Gocke was in 2007 the representative of UNICE through Germany’s BDA in the Bologna Follow-Up Group (BFUG).
Alexandra Angress - Alexandra Angress has been project coordinator at Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) in Germany. Stinna Gammelgaard - Ms Stinna Gammelgaard from the National Union of Students in Denmark was member of the Executive Committee of the European Students’ Union (ESU) in 2007.
Lars Lynge Nielsen - Born 1948, Copenhagen, Denmark. Holds an MA in Psychology from the University of Copenhagen. Lars Lynge Nielsen joined EURASHE in 1998. Previously he held a number of senior positions in... Read more
Marianne van Loenhout - Marianne van Loenhout is Policy Maker at the Dutch Metal Union.
Hans Daale - Hans Daale is general manager of LEIDO, an independent network in the Netherlands, involved in lifelong learning. One of the most important tasks of LEIDO is to organise national and... Read moreOrganisers
European Association of Institutions in Higher Education (EURASHE) - EURASHE is the European Association of Institutions in Higher Education that offer professionally orientated programmes and are engaged in applied research within the Bologna cycles. EURASHE represents universities of applied sciences... Read more- 2007 Seminar LLL: Programme (44 KB)
- Lifelong Learning and Intermediate Level (6.1 MB)
- Royal Metaalunie (34 KB)
- The demand of business „Shared interests of Employers and Life Long Learning“ (0.2 MB)
- The way to lifelong learning: Shared interests of employers and lifelong learning (0.6 MB)
- Transfer from short professional higher education to bachelor programs in formal education - experiences of managers and students (47 KB)
- Validation of non formal and informal apprenticeship: Learning from experience and diplomas ? (0.1 MB)