EURASHE organised a Seminar on Professional Higher Education (PHE) titled ‘Building bridges for a more professional higher education‘ in Otočec (Slovenia) on 16-17 October 2014. It is organised by EURASHE, the Association of Slovene Higher Vocational Colleges (ASHVC), and the HAPHE project. Underneath are further information on:
(Photograph: CC by-nc by Leonardo)

Day 1 – Thursday 16 October 2014
10.00 – Registration
10.30 – Opening of the Seminar and Welcome words
11.00 – Keynote speeches
Professional Higher Education in Europe – EURASHE’s perspective and policies
Business perspective to Professional Higher Education
12.30 – Lunch break
14.00 – Plenary session
Overview of trends in Professional Higher Education in Europe
14.30 – Parallel workshop sessions
Policy and Strategy: Overall development of policies for Universities of Applied Sciences and cooperation with the world of work
Teaching and Learning: Meeting characteristics of PHE in teaching and learning on the institutional level
Research, Development and Innovation: Developing the context of research and research agenda in cooperation with the world of work
16.30 – Panel discussion
Building bridges for a more professional higher education
19.30 – Dinner at Restaurant Grad, Otocec Castle
Day 2 – Friday 17 October 2014
09.30 – Plenary session
The role of Professional Higher Education in Education reforms/European Commission
10.10 – Award ceremony
Alliance for Apprenticeships – signing the pledge between EURASHE and European Commission
Awarding the best Slovene student diploma in the academic year 2013 – 2014 by the employers
10.30 – Parallel workshop sessions
Policy and Strategy: Regional cooperation for development of policy and strategy in professional higher education
Teaching and Learning: Development of staff and human resource management in PHE institutions
Research, Development and Innovation: Engaging students into research, development and innovation as well as entrepreneurship
12.30 – Closing remarks
Roadmap for successful harmonisation of professional higher education in Europe
13.00 – End of the Seminar and lunch
In the afternoon, a social programme will take place. More information will follow…
The Seminar on Building bridges for a more professional higher education is a 2 day event focusing on the mission of professional higher education (PHE). It is intended to inspire institutional management, staff members, the world of work and policy-makers in profiling their institutions and their everyday work.
Throughout Europe a significant number of institutions and programmes recognise themselves in a number of features that are linked to the predicate ‘professional’. PHE however cannot uniformly be defined within similar historical levels and (national) higher education structures, and even not to certain types of institutions and ways of learning. This because the programmes and institution that want to be styled as professional operate within the same triangle of education, knowledge creation (research) and services to the community, as would be expected from any form of higher education in the European landscape (now the European Higher Education Area (EHEA)). The contours of such (European) higher education are universally accepted by the different parties, including stakeholders like students and employers, as defined by the Council of Europe’s ‘four purposes’ of higher education, irrespective of the type and form of higher education.
Professional higher education is often associated with applied research, as opposed to classical universities who focus on basic research, but is characterised through experimental development and (other) services to the community. That becomes apparent with the close relationship between PHE institutions and its stakeholders.
Another feature is the pride of place that is given to the paradigm of ‘learning outcomes’. This is because PHE, and certainly its study programmes are shaped by specific professional goals or needs, in which the contexts of the future professions are clear and the learning outcomes are defined by the professional needs, in terms of integrated competences. A focus on learning outcomes comes naturally to PHE, due to its strong links with the professional world, in different forms of cooperation, via curriculum design and monitoring, work placements and internships, etc.
EURASHE has focused in the past years on the mission of professional higher education, mainly though the HAPHE (Harmonising Approaches to Professional Higher Education in Europe) project. At the very end of the project, EURASHE decided to host this Seminar, based on the outcomes of the organisation’s and project’s work. While developing Profile of Professional Higher Education in Europe, a diversity of approaches has been researched, large amount of stakeholders consulted, bringing us to the final ‘Definition and Characteristics of PHE’. These will serve as a basis for the discussions in Otočec, developing the programme in 3 tracks: Policy and Strategy, Teaching and Learning and Research, Innovation and Development. Throughout the sessions grouped around these core characteristics of PHE, we will gather input from institutional representatives, the world of work and other relevant stakeholders. We will as well welcome speakers from various countries in order to share with participants best practices from both institutional and policy point of view. Involvement of different stakeholders, with a strong position of the world of work in the programme will further stimulate building of bridges between the higher education sector and the world of work, for a more professional higher education.


















Travelling to Otočec
The seminar host is located between Zagreb and Ljubljana, the capital cities of Croatia and Slovenia, respectively. There is a possibility to book transfers to the venue from Zagreb, Ljubljana, Graz as well as major Italian airports.
Seminar map
View EURASHE Seminar on PHE in Google Maps here.
Seminar location
The seminar is hosted by Grm Novo Mesto – Center for Biotechnology and Tourism, located at Sevno 13, 8000 Novo Mesto, Slovenia. It is shown (in yellow) on the map above.
Suggested hotels
The following hotels are suggested to participants. They are shown (in red) on the map above. The hotels are located in a radius under 5 kilometres of the seminar location.
- Spa Hotel Krka 4*, Novi Trg 1, 8000 Novo Mesto, Slovenia – www.terme-krka.com
- Hotel Šmarjeta, Šmarješke Toplice Thermal Spa 4*, Brezovica 1, 8220 Šmarješke, Toplice, Slovenia – www.terme-krka.com
- Hotel Vitarium, Šmarješke Toplice Thermal Spa 4*, Šmarješke Toplice 100, 8220 Šmarješke Toplice, Slovenia – www.terme-krka.com
- Otočec Castle Hotel 5*, Grajska cesta 2, 8222 Otočec ob Krki, Slovenia – www.terme-krka.com
Organisers



- 2014 Seminar PHE: Programme (0.4 MB)
- 2014 Seminar PHE: Rationale (0.4 MB)
- 2014 Seminar PHE: Reader (2.1 MB)
- Because the difference is in experiences. But is it? (0.5 MB)
- Building bridges for a more professional higher education (1.9 MB)
- Building bridges for a more professional higher education - workshop session: Policy and Strategy (0.4 MB)
- Building bridges for a more professional higher education - workshop session: Research, Development and Innovation (6.7 MB)
- Co-Makership in the Region (0.7 MB)
- Emerging Modes of Cooperation Between Private Sector Organisation and Universities - Presentation of the project and its preliminary results (0.6 MB)
- Mission and Strategy in Professionally Oriented Institutions - The Irish Institutes of Technology (0.8 MB)
- Overview of Trends in Professional Higher Education in Europe (1.9 MB)
- Professional Higher Education in Europe: Characteristics, Practice examples and National differences (1.2 MB)
- Professional Higher Education: EURASHE's Perspective and Policies (5.1 MB)
- Putting IT to Work (0.9 MB)
- Regional Integration Concepts (0.3 MB)
- Roadmap for succesful harmonisation of professional higher education in Europe - General Conference Report (2.1 MB)
- Staff Development and HRM (0.5 MB)
- Teaching and Learning workshop– meeting the characteristics of PHE in teaching and learning at institutional level (0.6 MB)
- The importance of high education in technologies on Development and Innovation - Focus on the "Institut Universitaire de Technologie" (0.7 MB)