Discover EUCIS-LLL key messages on the European Year of 2013 of Citizens
EUCIS-LLL welcomes the European Year of Citizens by releasing its key messages that highlight important topics to our organisations, such as education to (European) citizenship or civil dialogue and participatory democracy. Those messages include recommendations such as valuing citizenship education or raising the level of basic skills for all. They will also be published in our next LLL Mag on citizenship and will be further discussed during our next Annual Conference to take place in Vilnius on 14 May 2013. EUCIS-LLL is also a member of the coalition of NGOs “European Year of Citizens 2013 Alliance“.
EUCIS-LLL public hearing on Basic Skills for Inclusive Growth: general report is out!
EUCIS-LLL had organised on 28 November 2012 a public hearing on “Basic Skills for Inclusive Growth: a civil society perspective” in the framework of its Lifelong Learning Week. Right after the Commission’s new Communication release on Rethinking Education, this hearing was aimed to highlight that progress in equipping citizens with basic skills remains largely insufficient. Civil society organisations, as basic skills providers, gathered with many other stakeholders including EU representatives to discuss this skills challenge. Find the report on our website.
Commissioner Andor and Hahn positive response to joint letter to defend the Partnership Principle
In November 2012 EUCIS-LLL together with more than 40 NGOs had signed a joint open letter to EU institutions written by WWF to defend the Partnership Principle in the Common Provisions Regulation for future Cohesion Policy 2014-2020. This Principle notably recommends to involve national stakeholders in the design, implementation and evaluation of the next European Social Fund, including civil society organisations. Commissioner Andor for employment, social affairs and inclusion and Commissioner Hahn for regional policy, have assured in their reply to the letter that the Commission is fully committed to defend our common views on the partnership principle and the European Code of Conduct on Partnership, as the involvement of all relevant stakeholders in key to achieve Europe 2020 objectives. See the Commission’s response on our website.
/// NEWS FROM MEMBERS AND PARTNERS ///
EDEN Annual Conference coming up – 12-15 June, Oslo
“The joy of learning – enhancing learning experience, improving learning quality” will be the theme of EDEN Annual Conference on 12-15 June in Olso, Norway. The conference will present the latest best practices, share progressive concepts, inventive solutions, and promote joint-thinking and collaboration to find out what best can be done to make learning a more attractive experience notably via e-learning, open and distance education.
Save the date for the 5th Move Congress (partnering ISCA), 16-19 October 2013, Barcelona
The annual MOVE congresses has now become an important moment for the promotion of physical activity and grassroots sport. This year the MOVE Congress 2013 will be held on the 16-19 October in Barcelona. Over 30 speakers from the sectors such as municipalities, education, health, and corporate organisations will present covering topics ranging from using sport as a tool for social inclusion and health promotion as well as facilities management, communication and cross-sector collaboration. Register soon on ISCA’s website.
Put your organisation on the European map of eInclusion
At the beginning of the month was launched the MIREIA survey by Telecentre-Europe, the network of European Telecentres aiming at sharing knowledge and increase the impact of telecentres across Europe. The MIREIA survey has been commissioned by the Commission’s JRC-IPTS and DG Connect. Its objective is to map eInclusion actors across the 27 Member States, i.e. telecentres and libraries, and measure their impact. Fill in the survey and become a member of the European eInclusion map! Find also MIREIA on Facebook.
/// INSTITUTIONAL NEWS ///
European Parliament report on Erasmus for all is finally out!
Doris Pack, chairman of the CULT Committee in the European Parliament and rapporteur on the Erasmus for All Commission proposal, has released her report this week. Mrs Pack has notably reintroduced the sectors’ brand names and minimum allocations and renamed the programme “YES Europe” for Youth, Education and Sport. EUCIS-LLL especially welcomes the reintroduction of operating grants for civil society organisations in the field of education and training along with youth operating support, and the will to involve civil society representatives in the Programme Committee as consultative bodies. EUCIS-LLL is closely following the trialogue outcomes (starting February) and keeps on advocating for civil society participation in the Programme via the Coalition set up with the European Youth Forum more than a year ago.
U-Multirank, a new university ranking
In Dublin on 30 January was launched by the Irish Presidency a new university ranking, U-Multirank. The ranking is aimed to be more innovative than existing ones by assessing several new dimensions, such as reputation for research, quality of teaching and learning, international orientation, success in knowledge transfer and contribution to regional growth. 2014 will see the first results of the assessment of more than 500 universities across the world. With a budget on €2 million, U-Multirank is the achievement of an initiative originally coming from the French Presidency back in 2008 that had called for a new method to assess higher education excellence.
Literacy in developing countries: Commission intensifies the effort
To raise the level of basic skills and especially literacy in Europe, the Commission has done a lot during the past years notably with the campaign Europe loves reading and the setup of a High-Level Group on Literacy. EU action to tackle this challenge also extends beyond borders with 4 billion invested in 48 partner countries since 2007. In the Global Partnership for Education including UN agencies, 19 million children have been put to school; yet 775 million adults still lack basic reading and writing skills. The Commission is notably committed to support national education strategies and to implement the education objectives of the Agenda for Change.
UNESCO’s new hub “Education post-2015” and “The World We Want” consultation
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has launched its new online resources platform in the framework of the Education for All Global Monitoring Report, “Education post-2015”.Education for All is a Movement committed to provide basic education for all children, youth and adults born in 2000. The Global Report has been elaborated to monitor progress towards Education for all goals (see 2013 report). “Education post-2015” compiles all relevant contributions to the EFA Global Monitoring Report; you will find on the hub many useful presentations, blogs or papers. Another international thematic consultation has also been launched on the United Nations’ post-2015 agenda in the field of education: you can contribute to it on “The World We Want” website.
/// RESEARCH & INNOVATION ///
New CEDEFOP research on skills mismatches across Europe
The Commission has released a new staff working document on Employment and Social Developments in Europe 2012, which includes a chapter on the Skill Mismatch in Europe jointly elaborated with the CEDEFOP team. To tackle those mismatches, the research notably includes recommendations to enhance the responsiveness of education and training to labour market needs i.e. by analysing the cost-sharing challenge of continuing training between institutions and individuals. Lifelong learning is indeed an absolute necessity to the need for continuous skills update and workers’ adaptability to labour market changes.
Education Today 2013: OECD perspective on upcoming challenges
With the release of its “Education Today 2013: the OECD perspective”, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development assesses the state of education today and delivers its key messages on various issues, from early childhood education to education spending across the OECD area. The recommendations build upon the latest OECD research work. Among key findings, the publication highlights the need to build more bridges between educational research, policy and practice and devote the necessary resources of people, time and money to lifelong learning.
/// EU FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES ///
Call for proposals for joint mobility and degree projects
The 2012 ICI (Industrialised Countries Instrument)-ECP Call for Proposals supports co-operation with Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea by means of Joint Degree projects (JDP) and Joint Mobility projects (JMP). Such projects should focus on structured exchanges of students and faculty members and notably develop innovative international curricula or student services. Deadline for application is 15th May 2013.
