EU STEM Coalition’s Post

🇪🇺 European Commission Political Guidelines 2024-2029🚀 On 18 July 2024, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who has been confirmed today for a second mandate, presented to the European Parliament her Political Guidelines for the next European Commission 2024-2029 🇪🇺 🎯 Key highlights on #skills and #Education: 🔹 The European Union is committed to enhancing its competitive edge by addressing skill shortages and labor market needs. Initiatives include: - 📈 Establishing a Union of Skills focusing on investment, adult learning, and skill retention. - 📚 Embedding lifelong learning into education and careers. - 👩🏫 Supporting the training and career prospects of teachers. 🔹 Enhancing STEM Education To tackle the decline in performance and lack of qualified teachers in STEM fields, the EU will: - 🧑🔬 Propose a STEM Education Strategic Plan. - 👩🔬 Encourage more girls and women to pursue STEM education and careers. 🔹 Vocational Education and Training (VET) Recognizing the importance of VET in preparing individuals for the workforce, the EU will: - 🛠️ Propose a European Strategy for Vocational Education and Training. - 🎓 Boost the number of people with a secondary VET degree. - 💼 Ensure skills funding is better linked to labor markets and focused on sectors crucial for digital and green transitions. 🔹 Skills Portability and Recognition To ensure high-quality skills are recognized across borders, the EU will: - 🌍 Work towards a European Degree. - 🌐 Implement a Skills Portability Initiative to facilitate the recognition of skills across member states. 📚 Investing in skills and education is essential for Europe's prosperity and competitive future. #Skills #Education #VET #STEM #LifelongLearning EfVET European Association of Institutes for Vocational Training (EVBB) European Vocational Training Association - EVTA EURASHE eucen Cedefop European Training Foundation World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics (WFCP) WorldSkills International National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) Agência Nacional Erasmus+ Educação e Formação SEPIE - Servicio Español para la Internacionalización de la Educación Teresa e Alexandre Soares dos Santos - Iniciativa Educação Euro App Mobility ENAIP Veneto Grupo ENSINUS Chiara Riondino EU Employment & Skills

Bloomer House works in line with the Skills Agenda of the EU... this is the idea behind... We enhance the capacities of early and late bloomers and also organizations in RTDI Ecosystem to leverage their potential. Here is the Political Guidelines for 2024-29 and key highlights on #skills #education

🇪🇺 European Commission News!!! On 18 July 2024, candidate European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented to the European Parliament her Political Guidelines for the next European Commission 2024-2029 One of the highlights is on #STEM #Education an #skills. 👉🏼 The European Union is committed to enhancing its competitive edge by addressing skill shortages and labor market needs. Initiatives include: ✅ Enhancing STEM Education To tackle the decline in performance and lack of qualified teachers in STEM fields, the EU will: ✅ Propose a STEM Education Strategic Plan. ✅ Encourage more girls and women to pursue STEM education and careers. The EU STEM Coalition has mapped the strategic plans in many EU member states and will continue to do so. Also, good practices on stem and girls can be found on its website www.stemcoalition.eu. Joep Bresser Mikkel Bohm Francoise Chombar Zoltan Marton Tamas Kersanszki Susanne Jakobs-Bohack Janic Kreutter Julia Saalmann Johan Ståhl Boudewijn Grievink Miriam Korstanje Meüs van der Poel Derk Marseille

The European Commission’s announcement regarding the creation of a European degree is a significant step forward in promoting higher education mobility and fostering competitiveness in Europe. This initiative aligns closely with SDG 4- Quality Education- particularly target 4.3 which aims to ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational, and tertiary education, including university. By facilitating cross-border cooperation between universities and introducing joint degree programs, the European degree initiative enhances learning mobility, making it easier for students to pursue education opportunities in different EU countries. This is vital to promoting inclusive and equitable quality education, as it opens up access to diverse educational experiences for students across Europe. #SDG4 #Education #Inclusion

📢 G7 Education Ministers' Declaration: Trieste 2024 Highlights 🌍🎓 🤝 G7 Education Ministers met in Trieste, Italy (June 27-29, 2024) to address global education challenges 🎯 Focus on two priorities: 1️⃣ Valorizing everyone's talents 2️⃣ Innovative education and new competences for the future 🌍 Emphasized education as a universal human right and a tool to mitigate crises such as conflicts, climate change, and economic instability. 🌱 Reaffirmed commitment to SDG 4 and quality education as a universal human right 📚 Emphasized need to combat learning declines, especially in literacy and numeracy 💖 Stressed importance of holistic education, including physical and social-emotional well-being 👨🏫👩🏫 Acknowledged critical role of teachers; called for improved working conditions and professional development 🖥️ Recognized potential of digital technologies (including AI) in education, while emphasizing human-centered approach 🔄 Highlighted importance of lifelong learning and skills development for all ages 🤝 Called for stronger collaboration between education institutions and private sector 👩🔬 Renewed commitment to support women and girls in STEM fields 🌍 Pledged increased cooperation with African Union and African Countries on education challenges 💰 Emphasized need for increased, equitable, and effective investment in education, to advance prosperity, sustainable development, and peace globally. #ErasmusPlus #G7Education #QualityEducation #LifelongLearning #DigitalLearning #WomenInSTEM #InternationalCooperation #EducationForAll EU Employment & Skills EfVET European Association of Institutes for Vocational Training (EVBB) European Vocational Training Association - EVTA EURASHE eucen Cedefop European Training Foundation UNESCO-UNEVOC International Labour Organization OECD Education and Skills World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics (WFCP) WorldSkills International National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) Agência Nacional Erasmus+ Educação e Formação SEPIE - Servicio Español para la Internacionalización de la Educación ANESPO - Associação Nacional de Escolas Profissionais Teresa e Alexandre Soares dos Santos - Iniciativa Educação Euro App Mobility ENAIP Veneto

🚀 The Erasmus+ Call for Proposals 2025 is Now Open! 🌍🌱🎓 Explore unparalleled funding opportunities to foster innovation, inclusion, and collaboration through the 2025 Erasmus+ Programme. 🌟 Key Actions Key Action 1: Learning Mobility of Individuals - Supports individual and group mobility in education, training, and youth. - Includes DiscoverEU Inclusion Action, virtual exchanges, and sports staff mobility. Key Action 2: Cooperation Among Organisations - Partnerships for Cooperation: Small-scale and Cooperation Partnerships. - Partnerships for Excellence: Erasmus+ Teacher Academies, Erasmus Mundus Action, Centres of Vocational Excellence. - Partnerships for Innovation: Alliances for Innovation and Capacity Building. Key Action 3: Policy Development and Cooperation - Promotes civic engagement via European Youth Together projects. Jean Monnet Actions - Modules, chairs, and policy debates in higher education and beyond. --- 💶 Budget Overview 💡 Total Budget: €4.42 billion - Education and Training: €3.97 billion - Youth: €379 million - Sport: €76 million --- 📅 Key Deadlines 6 February 2025: Capacity Building in higher education. 12 February 2025: DiscoverEU Inclusion Action, Jean Monnet Actions, Youth Mobility. 13 February 2025: Erasmus Mundus Action. 19 February 2025: Mobility in higher education, VET, school, and adult education. 27 February 2025: Capacity Building in VET. 5 March 2025: Partnerships for Cooperation, Small-scale Partnerships, and sport initiatives. 6 March 2025: Alliances for Innovation, European Youth Together, and Capacity Building in youth. 26 March 2025: Erasmus+ Teacher Academies. 29 April 2025: Erasmus+ Virtual Exchanges. 11 June 2025: Centres of Vocational Excellence. 1 October 2025: Erasmus Accreditations and second round for youth mobility. --- 📢 More details The full official document can be accessed on EUR-Lex: Call for Proposals 2025 – Official Journal of the EU. Don’t miss your chance to contribute to an inclusive, sustainable, and innovative Europe! 🌟 #ErasmusPlus #Innovation #Inclusion #Sustainability #Youth #Education

The 1st #UNESCO International Forum on the Futures of Education 2024 – Renewing the Social Contract for Education concluded on 4 December, in Suwon. The Republic of Korea organisors ensured a very succesful forum on “Why a new social contract for education?”; “What Futures of education can be envisaged?”; it looked at different perspectives from around the world, zoomed in on the RoK national policy & strategy to transform education; discussed the right to education throughout life in the digital era; “Renewing Education as a Common Good : Who and How?”; “Mobilizing Knowledge and Research for Just and Sustainable Futures” and concluded with “Views from the International Commission on the Futures of Education and authors of the UNESCO Report, “Reimagining Our Futures Together: A new social contract for education” - a call to action. Questions were: What should we continue to do? What should we rethink? and What should be discontinued? I spoke to “Where will higher Education be in 2050” & “What role for a global Association of Universities in shaping the Future of Higher Education?”. The link to the IAU Conference 2024 (www.iau-aiu.net) at Sophia University in Tokyo just one week earlier, on University Values in a Changing world, was obvions to make. This timely global event saw strong adherence by the global HE community to reaffirming both the values and the value of the sector for the future of society. What came out of the UNESCO Forum, like at the IAU Conference, is the need to redefine & affirm the values upon which to develop (highe) Education. Speakers agreed that the new social contract of education should be based on a human rights approach, including the freedom to think, to develop academic and critical thinking, of conscience and of expression. It should lead to respect of diversity, difference and multiperspectivity. The catch phrase during the Forum was ‘we go together’; it reaffirmed the need for the future of education to be based on collaboration rather than on competition. In the interconnected world, which will be increased by AI, professors will have the important task to educate the next generations in making sense of information shared around the world and to adress : the tension between modernisation versus transformation; the call for global solutions and the need for local rooting; the tension between the need for innovation and risk avoidance. The “Future is already here” and education needs to be developer together with students & staff. For SDG4 to get back on track a strong commitment by all stakeholders - in particular governments will be essential. Yet education budgets are being cut as never before, along with an increasing development of non-regulated privatisation of (higher) education; we may ask ourselves if we are serious about the goals set for education and for the world we need and want. HE in particular needs strong public support to achieve the above.

Together with colleague Meng-Hsuan Chou from NTU Singapore, our CHER member Jens Jungblut, from the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Oslo, was successful in getting a panel accepted at the International Conference on Public Policy in Chiang Mai Thailand July 2-4, 2025. Their panel is on "Comparing Higher Education Policy in Asia: Politics, Actors, and Processes" and you can find the call for papers below. If you are interested in contributing to the panel, please submit your abstracts via the web site of the IPPA by January 31,2025:https://lnkd.in/dmQU4QgR The number of the panel is T21P05 Comparing Higher Education Policy in Asia: Politics, Actors, and Processes Asia is an exciting region for examining contemporary higher education politics and policies. Traditionally a sending region of international students, scholars, and scientists to established institutions in the West, Asian governments are transforming the region into an attractive global destination for scientific talents. This is visible in world university rankings where flagship universities from China, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, or South Korea are recognised alongside top institutions from the West. Asia is also where new initiatives facilitating intra-, inter-, and trans-regional higher education cooperation are observed; hence, positioning the region as a node in the global higher education landscape. As Asian governments strive to stabilise their higher education systems amid demographic pressures and skill shortages, the literature tells us that non-democratic states would struggle to meet the demands of widening higher education access at the risk of system stability. Asia is home to a variety of democratic and authoritarian regimes; thus, examining the Asian experience provides an opportunity to assess this assumed relationship between higher education policies and democratic development, and how governments in the region are meeting global challenges. This panel invites papers addressing one or several of the following overarching themes. First, the politics of higher education governance reforms focusses on how governments steer higher education, and the tools used to ensure that universities meet state and societal expectations. Second, the politics of higher education finance covers how higher education is funded and the politics behind changes in the funding system. Third, the framing of higher education policy over time explores how governments talk about higher education policy and the linkages they create between this policy area and other issues (e.g., economic growth, social mobility). Fourth, the varieties of Asian higher education regionalism identify the forms of, and mechanisms driving, regional institutional and policy collaboration.

Roohi Ghosh: "Amidst the discussions at the Times Higher Education Asia Summit 2024 (April 29-May 1, Malaysia), the resounding buzz around transnational education (TNE) could not be ignored. Educators, policymakers, and representatives from the education ministry of various Asian countries, appeared united in their efforts to expand educational accessibility and foster global collaboration. During the opening ceremony at the summit, Zambry Abdul Kadir, Malaysia’s Minister of Higher Education, emphasized the importance of avoiding 'isomorphic mimicry.' He highlighted that while aspiring to achieve an Ivy League status is common, it is crucial to prioritize meeting the specific needs of students in the region. TNE was much discussed during the course of the 3-day event. It presents a paradigm shift in how universities engage with students, faculty, and educational institutions worldwide. It refers to 'Education provided by institutions in one country to students in another.' There are currently more international students pursuing UK credentials abroad than within the UK. This has significantly expanded opportunities for students ensuring their preparedness on a global scale. Some institutions have already taken steps in this direction and others are keen to follow suit, but are uncertain about the next steps. However, realizing its full potential necessitates a deliberate examination of various aspects, from the regulatory frameworks that have been established to navigating cultural inclusivity, and gaining deeper insights into the distinction between TNE and online learning."

ASEAN-SEAMEO Joint Declaration on the Common Space in Southeast Asian Higher Education: This landmark agreement paves the way for enhanced collaboration in higher education across Southeast Asia, directly benefiting students and strengthening the region’s human capital.