The title of the 14th Annual EURASHE Conference will be “Networking in the Open European Higher Education Area”, and the activities on networking will be centred on three themes: 

1.     Associations and partnerships between Institutions of Professional Higher Education and Universities.

In several European countries the cooperation and even partnerships and associations between universities and institutions of professional higher education are increasing. How can this be realized in such a way, that both sectors of higher education are maintaining their profiles and strengths, when approaching a more coherent landscape of European higher education? And how will this evolution influence subjects and periods of study and success rates in the two sectors? Many other questions could be raised.

In the “Quality Culture Project – Round 2”, managed by EUA, EC-support is granted to establish partnerships between universities and other higher education institutions, and it is the aim to present examples of good practice from this project at the EURASHE Conference.

EURASHE will invite speakers from the Commission, European University Association (EUA), The National Union of Students in Europe (ESIB), along with the speakers representing EURASHE. 

2.     Recent Developments in Quality Assurance and Accreditation.

Quality assurance and accreditation have been the themes for several conferences and seminars in the last years.  – However, the strong emphasis in the Berlin Communiqué from September 2003 on these issues, with specific tasks for ENQA (European Network of Quality Assurance) to fulfil in the period up to the next summit in Bergen, Norway, in May 2005, has made this theme more relevant than ever before.

The Berlin Communiqué states: “At the European level, Ministers call upon ENQA through its members, in cooperation with the EUA, EURASHE and ESIB, to develop an agreed set of standards, procedures and guidelines on quality assurance, to explore ways of ensuring an adequate peer review system for quality assurance and/or accreditation agencies or bodies, and to report back through the Follow-up Group to Ministers in 2005”.

It is decided to establish two working groups, one to work out a proposal for “an agreed set of standards, procedures and guidelines for quality assurance” and one “to explore ways to ensure a peer review system for quality assurance and/or accreditation agencies or bodies”. Experts on quality assurance and accreditation, representing EURASHE, will be members of the working groups.

Representatives of ENQA, the EURASHE experts, and other stakeholders on QA will be invited as speakers at the Conference. 

3.     Linking Shorter Higher Education to the First Cycle.

At the EURASHE Annual Conference in June 2003 in Gyöngyös, Hungary, the EURASHE survey: “Tertiary Short Cycle Education in Europe” was presented, and the Report was forwarded to the Bologna Follow-up Group (for more information on the project, see the EURASHE website www.eurashe.be )

As a result of the survey and the recommendations, the Ministers in the Berlin Communiqué “invite the Follow-up Group to explore whether and how shorter higher education may be linked to the first cycle of a qualifications framework for the European Higher Education Area”. 

It is the aim of EURASHE to facilitate this process by the project: “Integrating shorter higher education in a qualifications framework for the European Higher Education Area”.

The activities will be organised in two phases:

Phase one: At the Berlin Summit the request for membership of the Bologna Group of Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Holy See, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” was accepted. – Accordingly, the analysis of the Tertiary Short Cycle Education should be extended to these countries.
The analysis will be carried out in the period March – September 2004, resulting in a supplementary report. Preliminary results will be presented at the Annual EURASHE Conference 6-7 May 2004 in Nicosia at Cyprus.
Phase two: Appointment of a working group, with representatives from the university sector, the sector of professional higher education and the students, with the task to carry out an in-dept study on how shorter higher education can be linked to the first cycle. Close contacts to other stakeholders, especially the Bologna working group on “a qualifications framework for the European Higher Education Area” will be established, eventually as members of the TSC working group.

The study will be carried out in the period September – December 2004, and is ended with a Seminar in January 2005. – A report of the study with conclusions and recommendations will be forwarded to the Bologna Follow-up Group in the end of January 2005.

The background workplan will be presented and discussed at the Conference, as basis for the study.

Experts on TSC education and representatives from the Bologna working group on establishing an “Overarching Qualifications Framework for the European Higher Education Area”, will be invited as speakers.

M. Misiūnas, Søren Nørgaard (iki konferencijos Kipre – EURASHE Generalinis Sekretorius), G. Bražiūnas, V. Senčila.