The European Association of Higher Education Institutions (EURASHE) 18th general assembly and annual conference will take place on May 8-9 in Malta.
EURASHE is the association of European Higher Education Institutions - Polytechnics, Colleges, University Colleges, etc - devoted to professional higher education and related research within the Bachelor-Master's structure. EURASHE was founded in Patras, Greece, in 1990. It has the status of a non-profit international association according to Belgian law and its secretariat is located in Brussels. EURASHE has organised its first annual conference in Setubal, Portugal 1991.
The Malta Qualifications Council in collaboration with the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology and the University of Malta is organising the event. The central theme of the Conference is Qualifications in a Quality Assurance Culture and Moving Bologna and Copenhagen towards a Europe-wide response to Employability. Over 100 principals and heads of university colleges and higher education institutions are expected to participate in the conference. The conference will be inaugurated by Education Minister Dolores Cristina.
The Bologna and the Copenhagen processes have brought a culture change in higher education institutions. The European Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning and the Qualifications Framework of the European Higher Education Area unfold a new and exciting reality for education systems across Europe.
The sustained reaffirmation of easily readable and comparable qualifications, the three cycles system, the development of the ECTS and the ECVET, mobility of students, teachers and researchers, the social dimension of higher education and quality assurance are indicative of parallel processes which ensure qualifications that respond to employability. The objectives of the EURASHE Conference are to present the Bologna and the Copenhagen processes as the two faces of the same coin - higher and vocational education, to explore the short-, medium- and long-term policies needed to transform these processes into policies and agents for change, and to create opportunities for further interaction between vocational and higher education institutions so that learners can benefit from shared resources and expertise.
The EURASHE conference also aims at addressing the impact of qualifications on processes of recognition of qualifications by means of common quality assurance mechanisms which provide learners, teachers, employers and social partners with access to employability and higher living standards. The conference will have as its main goal to encourage participants to keep, through their deliberations, Bologna and Copenhagen in view of each other.
The set-up of the conference will guarantee a mix of plenary meetings, interactive workshops and round-table sessions, providing inputs from renowned experts in prominent areas of the Bologna Process (lifelong learning, institutional quality enhancement, qualifications frameworks, employability and intercultural issues).
Persons who wish to register for this conference may contact Carmen Dalli or Sylvana Caruana at the Malta Qualifications Council on 2754 0051, 2180 1411 or mqc@gov.mt. The conference will be held at the Dolmen Hotel, Qawra. The registration fee for local participants is €55 which includes conference material, lunch and refreshments.
Bookings and payment must be affected by April 30. Further information may be downloaded from www.eurashe.eu or www.mqc.gov.mt.