September 2012

IN THIS ISSUE

FROM SEFI

FROM the EUROPEAN UNION

CALENDAR 14

SEFI Annual conference - Celebrating our 40th Anniversary 2 General News 3 New SEFI - IFEES Calendar 3 Students Column 4

FROM MEMBERS

FROM PARTNERS

University of Birmingham: Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 2013

EUA: First Arab-Euro Conferenceon on Higher Education 4 CLAIU-EU: Conference on ‘the Bologna Process and Engineering Education’ 2013 5

Council conclusions on investing in education and training 5 European Union awards two mega-research projects 5 European Council agrees on EU budget 2014-2020 5 What the European Council agreement means for EU education 6 Research and higher education cooperation promoted at EU-CELAC summit 6 U-Multirank is launched, 500 universities expected to sign up 6 European Commission Call for Proposals 2013 7

PUBLICATIONS 13

GENERAL NEWS FROM EUROPE 7

NEWS FROM THE REST OF THE WORLD 9

Issue 2 / 2013

news@SEFI

5th European Convention of Engineering Deans

18-19 April 2013, Aalborg, DK For registration and more information about programme, speakers, accommodation etc. please visit: www.eced2013.aau.dk

The General Assembly of the European Engineering Deans Council –EEDC– will be held just prior to this event. More information on www.eedcouncil.eu

Don’t forget!

2 February 2013

Technology has been and will be an essential tool both in daily life and in education. From the birth of SEFI in 1973 until now, engineering and education have developed in a revolu-tionary way. During the SEFI conference 2013 we look back in order to turn the strengths and weaknesses of engineering education into opportunities. We celebrate a lifetime of SEFI working on a bright future. Delegates from all over Europe and from the World, academic and corporate representa-tives as well as students will join the SEFI Annual Conference on Engineering Education from September 16th till September 20th 2013, in the beautiful city of Leuven, Belgium.

SEFI Annual Conference and 40th Anniversary in Leuven

KU Leuven - the perfect host for the SEFI Annual Conference:

Associated Events

2nd ENAEE Annual Conference, 16-17 September 2013, Leuven, BE → www.enaee.eu Mathworks EMEA EDU Workshop, 16 September 2013 → www.sefi2013.com HP Workshop, (tbc) International Workshop on “ The Different Formats of Engineering Doctorates in Europe”, 16 September 2013 → www.sefi.be and www.eedcouncil.eu

Reminder: SEFI PhD Thesis Competition To celebrate the 40th anniversary, SEFI launches a competition for Engineering Education thesis at PhD level. The winners will receive their prizes at the Awards celebration of the SEFI Annual Conference Application deadline: 15 April 2013 For full details, visit www.sefi.be/?p=3273

For the full information Programme, topics, registration and abstract submission go to: www.sefi2013.be

Deadline for submission of abstracts: March 15, 2013

Deadline for submission of papers: May 15, 2013

Early registration deadline: June 30, 2013

One of the oldest universities in Europe

Founded in 1425 Strongly research-

oriented More than 41,000 Students

Ranked 58th in the world and 13th in Europe in THES 2012/13

Largest university in Belgium and the Low Countries

Birthplace of SEFI

"Engineering Educaionon Fast Forward"

3 February 2013

FROM SEFI

On February 26th, SEFI Secretary General attended the meeting organised by EUA at the Permanent Representation of Ireland to EU. The objective of the meeting was for EUA to present the ARDE two-year project “Accountable Research Envi-ronments for Doctoral Education” final report and findings. The report analyses the development of quality assurance proc-esses for doctoral education in European universities and is based on quantitative information gathered from over 100 uni-versities across Europe and qualitative information collected focus groups and a workshop. Thomas Jorgensen, Head of the EUA Council for Doctoral Education of EUA, explained that the project had shown that doctoral education was being man-aged more professionally and that institutions were giving more attention to accountability and quality enhancement. The ARDE project highlighted that universities have set up internal quality processes at doctoral level including mechanisms for monitoring time-to-degree and completion rates, and guidelines for admission, supervision and the thesis. These processes focus on the quality of the research environment and seek to engage different stakeholders. The survey revealed that almost 90% of respondents had written procedures/regulations for admission of candidates and 91% systematically monitored pro-gress of candidates. In the key area of doctoral supervision, there is a notable trend towards establishing rules or guidelin es as well as using individual contract-type agreements between supervisor and supervisee. Quality enhancement processes are also prominent in doctoral education. In terms of external quality assurance, it was explained that several external stake-holders often monitor doctoral education in parallel (e.g. national QA agencies, research assessment exercises and external funding bodies). The report highlights that it would make sense to coordinate the many different evaluations that pro-grammes are subject to and establish a greater degree of coherence among them. One of the project’s partners, University College Cork (UCC), in the person of its Dean for Graduate Studies, Alan Kelly, explained that in Ireland doctoral education had undergone many changes in recent years. Access the full report. SEFI was invited to attend on 21st February, a Stakeholders’ consultation took place in the Committee of the Regions, upon request of the Irish Presidency. It was organised by CoR Rapporteur Mr. Markku Markkula, on the theme of “Closing the Inno-vation Divide – how local and regional authorities can best use EU programmes to better link research, innovation and regional development”. The opinion could help identify in more detail the role cities and regions can play in implementing successfully the Horizon 2020 Programme. This could address: the research and innovation challenges that different types of region face; identify added value niche opportunities; and (c) the synergies with ERDF notably on Smart Specialisation Strategies. The potential that cities and regions have to act as platforms to benchmark, trial the viability and act as test-beds for innovations and establish future partnerships could be looked at. The opinion could also address how regions see their role in the Knowledge Innovation Communities (KICs) and how other initiatives (such as JPIs and EIPs) can be better embed-ded in regions. Special emphasis should be on research and innovation of concepts and methods needed to increase the so-cietal impact of knowledge flows between various actors from knowledge creators through knowledge users to final benefi-ciaries. Conclusions about the consultation will be presented by M. Markkula in our next issue. On 20th February, F. Côme attended the presentation organised by DG EAC of the Draft results of the Study on Univer-sity-Business cooperation in the US. After an introduction made by Harald Hartung, Head of Unit International Cooperation and Programmes; Jean Monnet and by Mr Peter Baur, Deputy Head of Unit Higher Education and Innovation, Entrepreneur-ship, Mr Niccolo Durazzi (LSE Enterprise), Dr Marina Ranga (LSE Enterprise / Stanford University) and Dr Cecile Hoareau (LSE Enterprise / Maastricht University) presented the findings and recommendation from the study which has as overall objec-tive, to support the work of the Commission and Member States within the Education and Training work programme by pro-viding information on and examples of university-business cooperation in a North-American context , as specific to provide an exploratory study on best practices in university-business cooperation across the US and Canada, with the aim of distilling fundamental characteristics of their existence for application in a European context. The goals of the study was to provide an overview of university-business cooperation (UBC) in the US and Canada, with a particular focus on federal/state frameworks and to identify examples of good practices, looking at current development and delivery by undertaking 10 case studies from the US and 5 from Canada of UBC. The slides of the presentation are available to SEFI members by contacting fran-coise.come@sefi.be.

General News

Announcement

New calendar for Events in Engineering Education on SEFI website

The International Engineering Events 2013 calendar is active on the SEFI website for already a few weeks now. This calendar created by SEFI with the participation of IFEES is built on a Google calendar frame. It provides useful details and links, and al-lows direct integration in your calendar. The International Engineering Education Events 2013 calendar is available directly through SEFI homepage or www.sefi.be/?page_id=3307.

4 February 2013

FROM MEMBERS

FROM PARTNERS

Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 2013 The Higher Education Academy's second annual learning and teaching STEM conference entitled “Where practice and pedagogy meet” will take place on 17-18 April 2013 at The University of Birmingham.

Higher education has changed dramatically over the past ten years with advances in technology, the changing ex-pectations of students, growing diversity and the increasing variety of higher education institutions. This conference aims to disseminate evidence based, effective practice and to examine how this impacts on STEM disciplines. Martyn Poliakoff has accepted our invitation to be the Keynote speaker at our annual conference this year. Martyn is a Research Professor in Chemistry at the University of Nottingham and is the narrator of a series of over 400 short vi-deos called The Periodic Table of Videos. Martyn's videos on YouTube are worth watching and are very popular, his one on supercritical fluids has had 153,748 hits!

The Conference will explore the relationship between pedagogy and practice across the full range of HEA STEM disci-plines (see below for the full list of HEA STEM disciplines). TO read the full Article, go to: www.heacademy.ac.uk/events/detail/2012/17_18_Apr_HEA_STEM_2013_Conf_Bham Source: heacademy.ac.uk

First Arab-Euro University Conference on Higher Education

The University of Barcelona (UB), the Association of Arab Universities (AARU) and the European University Association (EUA) announce the First Arab-Euro University Conference on Higher Education. The conference will consider specific themes in Arab-European collaboration and compare recent higher education developments in both regions, including internationalisation. The main topics to be discussed are the following: • Higher education development trends in Europe and the Arab World - Comparability and Equivalence of Higher Education Systems: Bologna as an example - Employability: Cultural, Social and Economic Perspectives - Research and Doctoral Education - Internationalisation of Higher Education • Towards enhanced higher education collaboration between Europe and the Arab World The discussions will be introduced by two introductory keynote speeches on: • Strategies for Enhancing Cooperation between our Universities in a Changing World through Dialogue, Understand-ing, and Exchange of Knowledge, and two introductory presentations about the nature and history of the AARU and the EUA, delivered by their respective Secretary Generals. To read the full article, got to: http://www.eua.be/aeche-barcelona.aspx

Source: www.eua.be

Students Column

A call to SEFI members

BEST provides several services to students of technology all over Europe. To improve them, we are currently running an online survey open to all engineering students in Europe till the end of March. One of our main services is to give students the chance to participate in and contribute to the shaping of their education, which is why several ques-tions deal with the ways in which students prefer to do this. Also, we try to get an overview on various other topics connected to their education, such as internships, study opportunities outside of the normal curriculum, etc. Because we are interested in gathering input from as many students as possible, we thought of asking the help of the SEFI network to reach as many students as possible. Therefore, we kindly ask you to distribute the link below to the students in your institution. We hope to share some preliminary results by the end of April, and more detailed on the Annual Conference in Leuven in September. on behalf of BEST, Pieter Coppens

5 February 2013

FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION

Council conclusions on investing in education and training

On 20 November 2012, the European Commission issued a communication entitled Rethinking Education: Investing in skills for better socio-economic outcomes. The European Council has now responded to this communication, as well as to the 2013 Annual Growth Survey in the form of Council conclusions. Against the backdrop of the continuing economic crisis and high unemployment, particularly amongst young people, the communication addresses central issues of education and training in the EU. The Council underlines the key role of education and training for growth and competitiveness, and of investments in people for combatting unemployment and preparing a labour-market rebound. It underscores the importance of skills, training, education and lifelong learn-ing in preventing youth unemployment by addressing its “root causes”, many of which the earlier communication had identified. The Council makes a number of recommendations to member states and the European Commission. It intends to sup-port member countries in their efforts to improve the quality of their education and training systems, amongst other things through making full use of EU education and training programmes. Source: www.aca-secretariat.com

CLAIU-EU Conference on ‘the Bologna Process and Engineering Education’ 2013

The CLAIU-EU Conference on ‘the Bologna Process and Engineering Education’ 2013 will be held in Bologna, Italy 11&12 April 2013. This time it will be held at two special locations, the first day at the New University of Bologna - Fac-ulty of Engineering and the second day at the old University, called Palazzio Archiginnasio, in the Sala dello Stabat Ma-ter. To get to the “CLAIU-EU Conference Bologna 11/12 April 2013 - Invitation brochure”, go to: http://claiu.fabi.be/home/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/CLAIUBolognaConference-2013.pdf Source: www.claiu.fabi.be

European Union awards two mega-research projects

Chalmers University in Sweden and the Swiss Federal Polytechnique in Lausanne have been selected to coordinate the European Union’s (EU) two biggest ever research grants. The Graphene and Human Brain mega-projects each have a budget of around €1 billion (US$1.36 billion). The projects were selected from among six finalists to receive up to €1 billion each over a 10-year period, and will in-volve researchers in at least 15 EU member states and many institutions abroad – more than 200 institutions in all. The European Commission will support the two projects under the Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) Flagship Initiative for large-scale, science-driven projects “to achieve visionary technological goals”. To read the full article, got to: http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20130201132611111

Source: www.universityworldnews.com

European Council agrees on EU budget 2014-2020

On 7 and 8 February, European heads of state and government reached a deal on the European Union’s Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), the EU budget for the years 2014-2020. For the first time in EU history, the budget foresees a decrease compared to the previous period (2007-2013). The ceiling for ‘commitments’ was set at EUR 960 billion, cor-responding to 1% of the gross national income (compared to 1.12% in 2007-2013). Actual expenditure was fixed at EUR 908 billion, i.e. 0.95% of GNI (1.06% in 2007-2013). The difference between both amounts is a peculiarity of EU budget law. The deal was a compromise between mostly net paying member states, such as the UK and Germany, and others who would have preferred higher ceilings. It still needs approval of the European Parliament (EP). In a first statement, EP President Martin Schulz threatened that the Parliament would reject the deal. He called it “the most backward-looking financial framework in the history of the EU”, missing sufficient future-oriented investments, for example in research and education. He also pointed out that the MFF proposal lacked realism, because the gap between actual expendi-

6 February 2013

What the European Council agreement means for EU education, youth and culture pro-grammes

On 8 February, the heads of state and government of all the EU member states (European Council) reached an agree-ment on the EU's long-term budget. The agreement means that the overall EU budget, for the first time ever, will decrease. However, the member states recognised the importance of education, training, research and innovation for jobs and growth and the allocation for this area is proposed to increase compared to the current levels. The suggested allocation for the "Creative Europe programme" supporting cultural and creative industries – a high contributor to jobs and growth in Europe – would also mean an increase. While the agreement between member states is an important step towards a final budget decision it is by no means the last step. The new budget proposal will now be discussed in the European Parliament before it is put to a final vote in a few months' time. In the meantime, the Commission will take into account this new budget allocation proposal and come up with suggestions how the available funds could be concretely divided among the funding programmes. Source: www.ec.europa.eu

Research and higher education cooperation promoted at EU-CELAC summit

Heads of state and government of the European Union countries and CELAC countries (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) convened in Santiago de Chile from 26 to 27 January under the theme ‘Alliance for Sustainable Development: Promoting Investments of Social and Environmental Quality’. One of the points highlighted by the Summit Declaration was the need to reinforce the Strategic Partnership between the two regions in research and higher education. Higher education was declared an official action point to be fol-lowed up under the EU-CELAC Action Plan 2013-2015. In conjunction with partners of the ALFA PUENTES project, EUA and 23 university associations in Europe and Latin America submitted a statement to heads of state and government in the run-up to the summit. Based to a large extent on the outcomes of the recent bi-regional EU-LA University Association Conference held in São Paulo, Brazil (11-14 November, 2012), organised under the ALFA PUENTES project, the statement stresses the importance of higher educa-tion and research investment in meeting the priorities for sustainable development outlined under the EU-CELAC Ac-tion Plan. To read the full article, go to: http://www.eua.be/news/13-02-08/

ALFA_PUENTES_project_Research_and_higher_education_cooperation_promoted_at_EU-CELAC_summit.aspx

Source: www.eua.be

U-Multirank is launched, 500 universities expected to sign up

A new university ranking system, U-Multirank, was officially launched by the European Union (EU) in Dublin on Wednesday, bringing a new and broader approach to the assessment of universities throughout the world. Some 500 universities worldwide are expected to sign up to U-Multirank, and the first results will be published in early 2014. U-Multirank will rate universities in five separate areas: reputation for research, quality of teaching and learning, inter-national orientation, success in knowledge transfer – such as partnerships with businesses, and start-ups – and contri-bution to regional growth.

ture and spending commitments was far too big. If the Parliament rejects the MFF on 13 and 14 March, there will still be a few weeks to work out a compromise between the Council and the EP. Should such attempts fail, then the 2013 ceilings of the 2013 budget would apply (with a 2% inflation compensation), and funds would be made available in a cumbersome month-by-month procedure. What would this mean for the Erasmus for All and Horizon 2020 programmes? Erasmus for All would get a 7-year budget of EUR 11.8 billion, about 3.4 billion less than the EU Commission had initially requested. Horizon 2020 would get a 7-year envelope of some EUR 71 billion, 10 billion short of the Commission’s proposal. In both cases, and unlike most other parts of the budget, this would represent a net increase compared to the MFF 2007-2013. But these figures are most certainly going to change. Source: www.aca-secretariat.be

7 February 2013

European Commission Call for proposals 2013 Still open: Call for proposals – EACEA/35/12 – Tempus IV, 6th call for proposals Deadline: 26 March 2013 Link: http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/

Call for proposals – EACEA/38/12 – Erasmus Mundus Deadline: 15 April 2013 Link: http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/

Call for proposals – EACEA/44/12 – EU ICI-ECP Programme Deadline: 15 May 2013 Link : http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/

Call for proposals – FP7-ERAChairs-PilotCall-2013 Deadline: 30 May 2013 Link: http://ec.europa.eu/

GENERAL NEWS FROM EUROPE

Generation Y - High-tech industry in Europe in search of skilled young people

Companies increasingly must play an active role in training young people and helping them obtain the right skills needed on the labour market. High-tech industry in Eindhoven is a relevant example in this regard, companies receiving lots of talented youngsters from other countries to do traineeships thanks to international projects run by their training centres. In this way, they make the best of the Leonardo da Vinci programme, a European Union scheme that supports traineeships abroad for youngsters in initial vocational training. To read the full article, go to: http://ec.europa.eu/education/news/20130205_en.htm Source: www.ec.europa.eu

Universities prepare to change PhD students’ status

Several Swedish universities are preparing to employ all doctoral students from 2015, changing from the current sys-tem in which PhD students receive financial support that varies according to the funding source. In 2011, foreign students accounted for 37% of an intake of 3,650 new doctoral students. This was up from 34% in 2010, according to a report from the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education, titled Universitet & Högskolor – Universities and Colleges. In addition, 18% had a ‘foreign background’, meaning that they were either born abroad and had immigrated to Sweden or were born in Sweden of parents who had been born abroad. About half of the foreign doctoral students came from Asia, and a third from Europe, with China the country that sent the most PhD students to Sweden. PhD students are exempted from the introduction in 2010 of tuition fees for stu-

From Sweden

The aim, said Androulla Vassiliou, the European commissioner for education, is to give students and institutions a clear picture of their performance across a range of important areas. Until now university rankings have placed “disproportionate” weight on research excellence, she said. Brussels has proposed a funding allocation of €2 million (US$2.7 million) from the EU’s Lifelong Learning Programme in 2013-14, with the possibility of a further two years of seed funding in 2015-16. The lead partners for U-Multirank are the Centre for Higher Education in Germany and the Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies in The Netherlands. The idea of a university rankings system based on a wider range of performance than hitherto was first broached by the EU in 1998. To read the full article, go to: http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20130201144343699

Source: www.universityworldnews.com

8 February 2013

United Kingdom: Applications and enrolments in higher education institutions

Over the past two months, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Services (UCAS) have published important data on applications and enrolments in higher education institutions in the United Kingdom (UK). In December, the UCAS End of Cycle 2012 report was released. This report includes data on the first students applying under the new tuition fee regime. The average tuition fee of UK acceptances at English higher education institutions was GBP 8 389 (EUR 9 704). The results show that the total number of applicants in 2012 dropped by 6.6% to 653 600, a decline of about 27 000 students. On the other hand, the overall acceptance rate increased to 71.1%, almost one percentage point higher than in the previous academic year. However, according to UCAS, “this increase was not enough to offset the decrease in total applications”. Other key results include the growth in entry rates for disadvan-taged 18 year-old students, which was especially marked in England, Wales and in Northern Ireland. The report states that in 2012, 18 year-olds from disadvantaged areas were 40% to 60% more likely to enter higher education than they were in 2004. Also among 18 year-olds, the proportion of women entering higher education was much higher than men’s. The report says that women were a third more likely than men to enter higher education in 2012, adding fur-ther that “women remain more likely to enter higher education than men are to apply.” In January, UCAS released the figures on applicants for full-time undergraduate higher education for the 2013 appli-cation cycle. These statistics include students who have applied until 15 January. After initial concerns over declines in applications due to the figures released in October and November, the most recent UCAS figures show that there has actually been an increase of 3.5% in applicants to UK institutions, compared to the same period last year. The results also indicate that applications from disadvantaged, mature and international students have increased. Source: www.aca-secretariat.com

From the United Kingdom

Investigating ways of improving Sweden’s standing in cutting edge research

Last December, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences released the results of a study aiming to compare the re-search system in Sweden with that of Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland. The need for this analysis arose from the recognition that over the last two decades research conducted in Sweden with a major international impact has declined, especially when compared to the reference countries under study (Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland). This has been defined as the ‘top-decile index’, i.e., the 10% of most highly-cited scientific papers worldwide compared with the global mean. Nowadays, Sweden exceeds the world aver-age for the ‘top-decile index’ by 15%, while Denmark and the Netherlands do so by 35% and Switzerland by 40%. In addition, the number of young researchers defined as being in the ‘top-decile index’ is lower in Sweden than in the reference countries. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the reasons accounting for these differences, taking a historical perspective of the last 20 years and examining policy decisions taken at the governmental level, developments in universities’ gov-ernance and in their research funding systems. The authors of the study identify several elements that set Swedish universities apart from the ones in the reference countries, namely the stronger focus on collaboration with the local community and business sector, the dominance of external funding, the lack of in-house quality control as a basis for allocating faculty resources, and the inability to provide clear career paths and good conditions for young researchers (e.g., tenure-track positions). The authors also propose several measures to foster sustainable scientific quality, ranging from funding to university governance and broader policy decisions. For example, the authors recommend that the ratio of in-house to external funding should be at least 60/40 and that a tenure-track system with basic funding should be put into place. Source: www.aca-secretariat.be

dents from outside Europe. The total number of active doctoral students was 18,900 in 2011 and 60% of them were employees of the university or college that admitted them. Three-quarters were in medicine, health sciences or tech-nology. Institutions with a majority of foreign citizens among new doctorate students were KTH-Royal Institute of Technology (177 new students, 63%); Blekinge Technological University (10 students, 63%); Borås University College (11 students, 61%); Luleå Technological University (59 students, 57%) and Chalmers Technological University (122 students, 54%).

To read the full article, go to: http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=2013022211571120

Source: www.universityworldnews.com

9 February 2013

North African, Arab nations in open access initiative

Ten North African and 12 Arab countries are to benefit from an initiative called the Open Book Project, which will provide universities with open access to high quality educational materials in Arabic, with a focus on science and technology. The countries in North Africa are Algeria, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan, Somalia and Tunisia. Despite rapid improvements in digital readiness in Arab states, which include 22 countries with a population of about 350 million – of which 70 million people are between the ages of 15 to 24, representing 19% of the population – adoption of e-books is still at an early stage in universities, as indicated in the 2012 Global Information Technology Report. This is due to several challenging factors facing Arab states including limited internet penetration, challenges of pi-racy, issues related to the rule of law and censorship, and vast disparities in purchasing power, according to the March 2012 survey, What is the Biggest Obstacle to Arab Digital Publishing? To read the full article, go to: http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20130213164614159

Source: www.universityworldnews.com

From the USA

Obama unveils major changes to HE policy

US president Barack Obama has said that taxpayers “cannot continue to subsidise higher and higher and higher costs of higher education” in his annual State of the Union Address, and published proposals that would require colleges to meet performance thresholds to qualify for federal funding. “Colleges must do their part to keep their costs down, and it’s our job to make sure they do,” he said in the speech, delivered yesterday. “Tonight, I ask Congress to change the Higher Education Act, so that affordability and value are included in determining which colleges receive certain types of federal aid.” A policy document released following the address gives more detail on the president’s plans, and proposes changes to the way in which institutions are accredited, and allocated federal funding. It states that Mr Obama will call on Congress “to consider value, affordability, and student outcomes in making determinations about which colleges and universities receive access to federal student aid”. This might involve amending the current system by “incorporating measures of value and affordability”, or could mean that a new “alternative system of accreditation” is created to “provide pathways for higher education models and colleges to receive federal student aid based on performance and results”. These changes, if introduced, would mean accreditors would be required to ensure that the cost and value of an insti-tution’s higher education have more influence over how financial aid is allocated. Mr Obama also confirmed that details of a new “College Scorecard” would be unveiled later today, allowing parents and students to compare institutions based on “a simple criteria: where you can get the most bang for your educa-tional buck”. “Today, skyrocketing costs price way too many young people out of a higher education, or saddle them with unsus-tainable debt,” Mr Obama said. Source: www.timeshighereducation.co.uk

The ‘E’ in STEM gets its moment

If you have ever used a cell phone, undergone PRK or LASIK eye surgery or are wondering what it takes to get $500,000 for “developing effective engineering leaders,” you’re probably going to want to know who was in Wash-ington Tuesday. The National Academy of Engineering has given out a total of $1.5 million over three awards to pioneers in cellular telephony, individuals whose research was integral to the development of PRK and LASIK and Olin College’s first

FROM THE REST OF THE WORLD

10 February 2013

UNESCO and MBI Foundation Join Forces for Education in Yemen

With the aim to support the transition in Yemen through strengthening the education system, the Director-General signed an agreement with Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber, founder and chairman of the MBI Al Jaber Foundation, on 7 February 2013 at UNESCO Headquarters. “This is a cornerstone of reform in Yemen,” said Sheikh Al Jaber, who indicated that the $1 million funding marked a first step in a drive to make education a central feature of donor support to the country, where a Government of Na-tional Unity was formed in December 2011.

The project will facilitate policy dialogue and provide advice and technical support to the Government in its ambi-tion to develop a National Education Vision through a comprehensive sector-wide approach. As part of this, the pro-ject will also assist in the reform of technical and vocational education and training to meet the aspirations of youth and make the system more relevant to labour market needs. Nearly half of Yemen’s 23 million inhabitants are under the age of 15, and 50% of the population lives in poverty. Despite significant progress towards universal primary education and gender parity, the overall quality of education and learning outcomes are weak. “This is the right time and the right place to start,” said the Director-General. “By accompanying the government in building a strong education system, we are investing in the country’s future peace and stability.” Mr Al Jaber also shared his ambition to launch a large scholarship programme in order to build the future leadership of the country. ­Source: www.unesco.org

From Yemen

Obama proposes surprising changes to accreditation

Earlier this month, US President Obama held his yearly State of the Union address. Accreditation of US higher educa-tion was not among the issues raised in the address, but preschool and secondary education, as well as accreditation in higher education, figured prominently in a nine-page supplemental document entitled The President’s Plan for a Strong Middle Class and a Strong America. The President’s accreditation plans took almost everybody by surprise. Obama is worried by the burden student aid represents to US tax payers. Even though direct grant and loan aid for students has been raised considerably in his first term in office, and now stands at about USD 150 billion (EUR 114 billion), the cost of higher education has increased faster, threatening to exclude parts of the middle and the lower classes. To fight this danger, Obama wants colleges and universities to become less expensive. For this purpose, “the President will call on Congress to consider value, affordability, and student outcomes in making determinations about which colleges and universities receive access to federal student aid, either by incorporating measures of value and affordability into the existing accreditation system; or by establishing a new, alternative system of accredi-tation (…) based on performance and results.” Reactions to the proposal were mixed. While almost everybody acknowledges the need to rein in the costs of higher education, the present peer-based accreditation system is not easily reconcilable with an accreditation system that might de facto have to be run by the Department of Education. Source: www.aca-secretariat.be

team of educators responsible for creating the institution’s engineering curriculum. The awards are among the most prestigious in the engineering community. “The ability to recognize these leading technical accomplishments in terms of the impact they’ve had is really just an important contribution to the field of engineering,” said James Shields, president of Draper Laboratory, and added, “there is no Nobel Prize in Engineering.” To read the full article, go to: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/post/the-e-in-stem-gets-its-

moment/2013/02/19/5597be52-7a3a-11e2-82e8-61a46c2cde3d_blog.html

Source: www.washingtonpost.com

11 February 2013

Mexico expresses how important Higher Education is for Latin

Three simultaneous events about Higher Education were celebrated in Merida (Yucatan): III Coloquio Internacional de Evaluación Acreditación y Certificación Profesional Universitaria en América Latina y el Caribe, the Módulo Trans-disciplinario de Especialización en Evaluación-Planeación Universitaria, and the meeting of Red Nacional de Evalua-dores de México. Those events seek to strengthen the evaluation and certification processes in Latin America. The Mexican president, Enrique Peña, said that there’s a demographic transition in Mexico and Latin America where young people are tak-ing up the most important social groups, thus Higher Education has to bring answers to that new trend to enhance university talent. For more information go to: http://www.iesalc.unesco.org.ve/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3128:mexico-expresa-la-importancia-de-la-educacion-superior-en-la-region&catid=11:iesalc&Itemid=466&lang=en Source: www.guninetwork.org

From Mexico

From India

Hundreds of business, engineering institutions close

Lack of quality teaching, absence of industry collaborations, a slowing economic growth rate and excess supply have forced the closure of hundreds of management and engineering institutions in India over the past few years, an in-dustry study has revealed. The study, published late last month by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), B-schools and Engineering Colleges Shut Down – Big business struggles, found that MBA seats grew almost four-fold: from 95,000 in 2006-07 to 360,000 in 2011-12.

From Kenya

Plans for 15 new public universities to boost places

Kenya has kicked off plans to upgrade 15 colleges into fully fledged universities as it seeks capacity to enrol at least 10,000 extra students annually. The upgrade will more than triple the number of public universities, from seven to 22. In just over a month, President Mwai Kibaki has awarded charters to five university colleges, allowing them to admit students and offer degree programmes on their own. He is expected to award charters to another 10 colleges in the next month, before he leaves power. Kenya goes to the polls on 4 March and Kibaki, who has served his two constitutional terms, will not stand for elec-tion. Two years ago, most colleges were upgraded into university colleges affiliated to Kenya’s seven public universi-ties. Eight of the colleges admitted 4,500 students in the 2012 intake. On 31 January, in the latest upgrade, Kibaki awarded a charter to Pwani University. In 2007, the institute was up-graded to Pwani University College, as a constituent college of Kenyatta University, Kenya’s second biggest univer-sity by student numbers after Nairobi. A day earlier, he granted a charter to the Technical University of Mombasa, formerly Mombasa Polytechnic. The institution was until recently affiliated to Jomo Kenyatta University of Agricul-ture and Technology, or JKUAT. In mid-January Kenya Polytechnic, a constituent college of the University of Nairobi, was upgraded to the Technical University of Kenya. Chuka University was formerly a constituent college of Egerton University. And in December a former constituent college of JKUAT became Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, in Nyeri. To read the full article, go to: http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20130208120627703

Source: www.universityworldnews.com

12 February 2013

From Egypt

Reform plan aims for 60 more universities in a decade

Egypt has launched a 10-year higher education plan aimed at reforming the sector and promoting the development

of a knowledge-based economy. One goal is to establish 60 new universities in the coming decade. The strategy,

announced by Minister of Higher Education Mustafa Musaad, was outlined in a 13 February report published by Ah-

ram newspaper.

Egypt’s rapid population growth has proved an enormous challenge for its higher education system. The country

has one of the lowest number of universities per capita in the Middle East and North Africa, according to a report,

Science and Innovation in Egypt, launched at the 12th Islamic Summit of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference,

held in Cairo from 6-7 February. Overturning three decades of neglect will take time and commitment, and will re-

quire substantial change at many levels including in universities and research centres, the report indicated.

Under the higher education reform plan, 60 new universities will be established in the coming decade: 20 state and

40 private institutions. In line with international standards, the total number of students attending any one univer-

sity will not exceed 40,000.

Currently, Egypt has 18 public universities and 17 private universities that enrol only about 76,000 students – of

whom nearly 50% are foreign and Arab students. The higher education budget should be increased from the current

LE17 billion (US$2.5 billion) to LE70 billion (US$10.3 billion). A national council for education and research will be set

up, tasked with improving the performance of universities and drafting educational strategies and reform plans. The

council will be headed by either the country's president or the prime minister, and will include representatives of

ministries concerned and university presidents.

To read the full Article, go to: http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20130221084415823

Source: www.universityworldnews.com

From Russia

Faster, higher, stronger - the Russian university gambit

Russia adopted a series of changes supporting its universities, but introducing stricter control. A new Education Law has been passed by the parliament after three years of heated public debate. In addition, the government rolled out a new EUR 40 billion State Programme for the Development of Science and Technology in 2013-2020. Both docu-ments are highly relevant for the universities in Russia. The new law regulates all levels of education, including pre-primary and adult learning, and codifies the important (but relatively new for Russia) concepts of inclusive education and e-learning. In the case of higher education, changes mainly concern access and accountability. Firstly, privileged access to free higher education for certain groups of population is reduced. Secondly, the activities of all higher education institutions (HEI) will be subject to

However, job opportunities for MBA graduates have not increased at the same rate. On-campus recruitment by companies was down by 40% in 2012 compared to 2009, ASSOCHAM said. Just one in 10 students – not including graduates of the country’s top 20 business schools – secured a job just after graduating, compared to 54% of business school graduates in 2008, the study highlighted. More than 180 business schools closed down in 2012 in the major cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmadabad, Kolkata, Lucknow and Dehradun among others, because they could not attract enough students. Another 160 institutions are struggling to survive and are expected to close in 2013. The rapid expansion of tier-2 and tier-3 management education institutes without adequate quality controls was the primary reason behind the closures, said ASSOCHAM Secretary General DS Rawat. To read the full Article, go to: http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20130221160706547

Source: www.universityworldnews.com

13 February 2013

EUA has published a new report which examines the development of ‘full costing’ in Euro-pean universities.

Entitled “Financially Sustainable Universities. Full Costing: Progress and Practice”, the publica-tion aims to assist university practitioners in implementing full costing, with examples of good practice, whilst at the same time providing important information for policy makers and fun-ders, in particular for the current debate on Horizon 2020. Full costing – the ability to identify and calculate all the direct and indirect costs of an activity – has been identified as a crucial element for universities’ financial sustainability. It has become increasingly important as a result of the financial challenges that many universities currently face: reduced public funding (in many European countries); changes to the way funding is allo-cated (e.g. performance based elements); increasing use of ‘co-funding’ requirements; and the management of diverse income sources. The publication provides an update on the status of the implementation of full costing in 14 European higher educa-tion systems and examines its impact on the relationship between universities and different funders. It shows that funding rules are an important driver for full costing development. In 10 out of the 14 systems analysed the possibility to recover costs based on a full costing methodology under FP7 have been an important driver for development. The full report can be downloaded on: http://www.eua.be/Libraries/Publications_homepage_list/

Full_Costing_Progress_and_Practice_web.sflb.ashx Source: www.eua.be

Portuguese Higher Education - A view from the outside

EUA has this week published a new report on the Portuguese higher education system, which has been prepared by a team of European experts. This report was carried out at the request of the Portuguese Rectors’ Conference (CRUP), with a view to appraising the Portuguese HE system, identifying challenges and making recommendations. It was presented on Tuesday (19 Febru-ary) at a special event held at the National Council for Education (Conselho Nacional de Educa-ção) in Lisbon. The Portuguese Secretary of State for Higher Education was in attendance, as was the Deputy Director-General of the European Commission’s Directorate General for Education and Culture. The audience of 100 included university rectors, polytechnic presidents, representatives of the quality assurance and research funding agencies, and teacher and student unions. The event received substantial press coverage.

The team’s presentation was followed up by overviews, provided by Portuguese specialists, of the latest develop-ments in national quality assurance provision, knowledge transfer and regional development.

PUBLICATIONS

regular public monitoring and control (experts believe this measure will be used to reduce the number of inefficient HEIs). HEIs are also encouraged to conduct independent assessment of their work. Finally, the new law stipulates the special status of federal and national research universities (e.g. Moscow State University and St. Petersburg State Uni-versity), expressed in their right to establish their own educational standards. The new State Programme for the Development of S&T provides, amongst others, legal basis for the continuation of currently implemented measures for developing research at (historically teaching-oriented) universities in Russia, such as support for cooperation with high-tech industry and for ‘mega-grant’ research under the supervision of top scientists (see ACA Newsletter – Education Europe, November 2010, September 2011). One of the Programme’s specific objectives is to ensure stronger positions of Russian universities in top 100 world university rankings. Earlier in 2012, the government had prepared an action plan aiming to strengthen the competitiveness of Russia’s top universities worldwide. Several competitively pre-selected universities will obtain support for the implementation of roadmaps allowing them to recruit top (foreign and national) administration and scientific staff, and to more actively pursue research and higher education programmes jointly with international academic and corporate partners. Source: www.aca-secretariat.be

14 February 2013

MARCH 2013 02 Brussels, BE SEFI Bureau Meeting. 3-5 Washington DC, USA ERC 2013 ASEE Engineering Research Council Annual Conferen-ce (link) 3-6 Luanda, AO ICECE'2013 International Conference on Engineering and Com-puter Education (link) 7-9 Madrid, ES UNED-ICDE 2013 International Conference (link) 11-12 Paris, FR OECD Conference (for any further questions) SEFI will be representated by Prof. Michael Hoffman 13-15 Berlin, DE Global Engineering Education Conference IEEE EDUCON 2013 (link) 14-15 Philadephia, USA North American Materials Education Symposium (link) 18-19 Bergen, NW Conference on EE in Bergen With a presentation of Prof. Alpers Chair of WG Mathematics 21-22 Brussels, BE ECDEAST workshop organised by SEFI HQ. 21-23 Clermont-Ferrand, FR French Speaking Colloquium "Politic Ecology vs Industrial Ecolo-gy, which strategies for sustainable development » (Link) 26-28 Kuala Lumpur, MY 14th REAAA Conference 2013 (link)

APRIL 2013 2-4 Almaty, KZ First QUEECA TEMPUS Project Forum (link) SEFI will be represented at this event 4-5 Cambridge, UK 5th International Materials Education Symposium (link) 11-12 Bolona, IT CLAIU Conference (link) 11-12 Ghent, BE EUA Annual Conference (link) Sefi will be represented at this event 12-13 Portland, USA ABET Symposium (link) 14-16 New York, USA EDI 2013 Engineering Deans Institute (link) 17-18 Birmingham HEA STEM Annual Teaching and Learning Conference 2013 (link) 18-19 Aalborg, DK 5th European Convention of Engineering Deans (link) Organised by SEFI, AAU and CESAER

MAY 2013 13-15 Barcelona, ES 6th International Barcelona Conference on Higher Education (link) 27-29 Rourkela, Orissa, IN RTST 2013 - 6th National Workshop on Recent Trends in Softwa-re Testing (link) 29-31 Charmey, CH 45th EUCEN Conference (link) 31-31 Barcelona, ES First Arab-Euro University Conference on Higher Education (link)

Please find the complete list of our upcoming events on www.sefi.be.

CALENDAR

The expert report focuses on two issues which have been the object of discussion for some time, but which the recent international rescue package and its attendant austerity measures have brought to the fore: the re-structuring of the higher education (HE) system and the rationalisation of the national course portfolio. The expert team visited Portugal in October 2012 and consulted a wide range of stakeholders. It discussed the effects on HE of the current financial crisis, as well as the long-standing difficulties brought about by demographic decline and the migrations from the interior to the coast. To read the full article, got to: http://www.eua.be/News/13-02-21/New_report_Portuguese_Higher_Education_-_A_view_from_the_outside.aspx Source: www.eua.be

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SEFI aisbl 119, rue de Stassart, B-1050 Brussels Tel: +32 2 502 36 09 Fax: +32 2 502 96 11 info@sefi.be www.sefi.be Editor: SEFI aisbl

SEFI is the largest network of higher engineering education institutions (HEIs) and educators in Europe.

It is an international non-profit organisation created in 1973 to contribute to the development and improvement of HEE in Europe, to reinforce the posi-tion of the engineering professionals in society, to promote information about HEE and improve communication between teachers, researchers and students, to reinforce the university-business cooperation and to encourage the European dimension in higher engineering education.

Through its membership composed of HEIs, academic staff, students, related associations and companies, SEFI connects over 1 million students and 158000 academic staff members in 47 countries.

To reach its goals, SEFI implements diverse activities such as Annual Confe-rences, Ad hoc seminars/workshops organised by its thematic working groups and committees, SEFI organises the European Engineering Deans Conventions, publishes a series of Scientific publications (European Journal of Engineering Education) and Position Papers, is involved in European pro-jects, cooperates with other major European and international associations and international bodies (European Commission, UNESCO, Council of Europe, OECD).

SEFI also participated in the creation of ENAEE, IFEES, EuroPace, IACEE and very recently of the Institute for the development of Engineering Academics, IIDEA, and of the European Engineering Deans Council, EEDC.