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Compete by staying unique
One of the most visible changes since the
1998 WCHE is the more pronounced presence of competitiveness
and attractiveness in higher education policies at the
institutional, national and regional levels.
An important consideration for
introduction, under the Bologna Process, of convergent
structures of programmes and degrees, mutual recognition of
academic qualifications and period of studies ,
together with an increase of study programmes in
international languages [in particular English], was the
strengthening of competitiveness and attractiveness of
studies in European countries. This dimension of the Bologna
Process is in line with much broader considerations of
economic competitiveness such as the one for the European
Union under the Lisbon Strategy as well as the recognition of
its reliance on research and innovation for which higher
education plays a crucial role.
The Forum will discuss various
ingredients that make higher education in the Europe
Region today competitive by focusing on topics such as the
complexity of assessing excellence, the challenges of
measuring excellence in diverse higher education systems
where institutions have distinctive missions, structures and
processes, and the relations between competitiveness and
cooperation as well as sharing experience on good practices
already implemented in various countries in the area of
improving competitiveness of the respective higher
education systems and institutions.
Discussion paper:
The Council of Europe/UNESCO Convention on the
Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher
Education in the European Region – the
Lisbon Recognition Convention
for which UNESCO-CEPES and the
Council of Europe assure a Co-Secretariat, provides
a legal framework for this development in all
countries which are signatories of this convention.
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