News Bulletin
News
EAN at 2nd Access to Success Workshop
March 2010
The second workshop of the Access to Success: Fostering Trust & Exchange between Europe & Africa project, of which the EAN is one of the partners, took place on 25-26 February in Oslo, Norway. This workshop focused on policies and programmes that structure institutional co-operation and capacity building between Europe and Africa. Represented by Mee Foong Lee, the EAN was rapporteur for working group 2: "Universities as a catalyst for change". Presentations and pictures from the workshop are now available on the Access to Success website, and can be found here. Please note that you might need to install additional software to open the videos from Brian O’Connell’s presentation.
UK: Participation in HE
March 2010
The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has published 'Trends in Young Participation in Higher Edcuation: Core Results for England', which shows that participation has increased from 30% in the mid 1990's to 36% at the end of the 2000's. The study shows that there are very large differences depending on where students live, and that there have been substantial increases in the most disadvantaged areas since the mid 2000's.
http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2010/10_03/
UK: Inclusion in HE
March 2010
The Higher Education Academy has published a report, 'Developing and Embedding Inclusive Policy and Practice in Higher Education'. It concluded that inclusive cultural exchange will only occur if the institutions also work with individual staff to enoucrage positive attitudes and practices.
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/news/detail/2010/Developing_and_embedding_inclusive_policy_and_practice
South Africa: Access to HE
March 2010
The public universities of South Africa have committed themselves to facilitate access to and the affordability of HE: read more
The Centre for Higher Education Transformation (CHET) has released 'Responding to the Educational Needs of Post-School Youth: Determining the Scope of the Problem and Developing a Capacity-Building Model'. The publication analyses the scope of and provides solutions to the problem posed by three million youths currently out of education, training or employment.
Ireland: Equality of Access- Survey
March 2010
The Central Applications Office (CAO) is asking all students to provide information on their social, economic and cultural backgrounds as part of their college application in order to measure equality of access to higher education and to help identify how to attract students of all backgrounds to higher education and support them. click to read more
Ireland: Equality of Access - Studies
March 2010
The Higher Education Authority (HEA) has launched two reports. A Study on the Costs of Participation in Higer Education and Hidden Disadvantages? A Study on the Low Particpation in Higher Education by Non-Manual Group. The two studies are inter-related and offer new insights on the cost of going to college for students today. The studies also impart new knowledge ont he reasons for the worryingly low rate of participation in HE by those from the 'Non-Manual' group category- the largest social group in Ireland.
France's 'Grand Ecoles' Protest Against Government Proposals
February 2010
French ‘Grandes Ecoles’ have protested to the French Government over calls to widen access to pupils from poorer backgrounds. French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the Ministers for Education and Higher Education, have called upon Grandes Ecoles to change their admissions procedures to ensure that roughly 30 per cent of students come from poorer backgrounds. The Conférence des Grandes Ecoles (CGE), which represents over 220 institutions, argues that such a change to admissions procedures would lead to reduced standards in education and research. For more information, view http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/revolt-at-sarkozys-attempts-to-open-igrandes-ecolesi-to-poorer-students-1859016.html
Norway 2010 Budget Reveals HE Priorities
February 2010
The Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research announced its priorities for Higher Education in its 2010 budget. The government plans to ecourage more students to complete upper secondary education, and to subsequently increase the number of higher education places, particularly on professional courses in high priority subject areas. The Government also plans to establish a knowledge centre to compare and present the results of Norwegian and international educational research by 2011. For more information, view http://www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/kd/press-contacts/Press-releases/2009/--supporting-the-norwegian-knowledge-eco.html?id=581329
Australia: Students' Socio-Economic Status- Discussion Paper
February 2010
The Australian Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relation (DEEWR) has released the discussion paper, Measuring the Socio-Economic Status of Higher Education Students as a means to start the process of reflecting on the most accurate ways to determine and assess students' socio-economic status. It is hoped that this process will enable the finding of better ways to widen the social basis of degree holders.
to read more click here
In related news, aptitude tests, such as the uniTEST, are under trial in several universities to assess students' intellectual capacities. In an attempt to increase the number of Bachelor's degree holders and their social repartition, these test results would be considered alongside secondary education records to determine the candidate's suitability for university studies.
EAN in Ethiopia: Access and Retention
February 2010
The European University Association, the Association of African Universities and the Flemish Interuniversity Council Development Cooperation organised the first Dialogue meeting of African and European Rectors and also a workshop, with EAN representation, on Access and retention: Sharing Best Practices Between Europe and Africa, in Addis Ababa in November 2009. The need for stronger relations was emphasized as was the stating that investment in HE is key to societal development in both continents.
http://www.accesstosuccess-africa.eu/web/events/workshops/access-and-retention/103.html
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