The working group on the education was set up in January 2005. It deals with issues related to science education and with European policies in the sector of higher education.

Scientific education and research are often perceived as sequential stages in a researcher’s career, but they should be considered as connected. There are many examples of brilliant ideas that were first born in the mind of students: it is important to recognize and to nurture real talent at an early stage during the education process. The involvement of students in elements of “real” research work might need changes in course structure and teaching methods. Forms of multi-, inter- and trans-disciplinarity, features of contemporary science, should figure prominently within educational programmes. Spreading examples of good practice in teaching is vital. For example, brilliant university courses such as the famous one by Richard Feynman - as reported in his textbook Feynman’s Lectures in Physics - need to be identified and widely disseminated. Pan-European exchanges of information and experience relating to the introduction of new approaches to scientific education (e.g. distance learning) should be strengthened. The introduction of good courses on the history of science may help students understand the logic of scientific development.

The European policies in the field of education take the form of cooperation and coordination among States, and notably through the funding of mobility programs of students and teachers. The role of the European Union is limited, but on the rise, and is clustered around the Lifelong Learning Programme, encompassing the well-known Erasmus programme for student exchange in higher education – however all the stages, including school, vocational and adult education, are considered. Other instruments like Erasmus Mundus or Tempus address the cooperation with non-EU countries. There is support for cooperative interactions amongst schools and European universities, and for the collection and analysis of comparative data.

The most politically relevant form of cooperation in higher education in Europe is the “Bologna Process”, a voluntary and mostly intergovernmental coordination of policy activities and studies aimed at the creation of the European Higher Education Area. The cooperation includes a consultative role for major stakeholders like, of course, Universities and students, represented through their European associations. There is also a partnership role granted to other organisations, according to specific criteria. EuroScience has a formal status of partner of the Bologna Process.

During 2010 we have been following the European policies in this field, grouped under two general strands:

1) The Bologna Process/European Higher Education Area

2) Other activities, events, initiatives in this field, including those pertaining properly to the EU, and those promoted by other institutions/stakeholders.

Along the first line, we attended the main political event of the year, namely the formal creation of the European Higher Education Area out of the so far 11 years long “Bologna Process”. The event took place in Budapest and Vienna on 11-12 March:
http://www.ond.vlaanderen.be/hogeronderwijs/bologna/2010_conference/

Euroscience was thus represented, fulfilling its official role of observer to this Process. It is not a political role like the one played by consultative members, but we were at least able to “spot” the organisation in an major European political forum.

Before the Ministerial Meeting, we took part in one of the latest events of the Bologna calendar, namely the Seminar “Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) – sharing European principles and practice”, held in Brussels on 17 February 2010.

We remained in touch with all official information on the Process, distributed through the dedicated mailing-list managed by the Bologna Secretariat and with the public information available in the official web site.

As for the second policy line, we followed the flow of information coming from the EU institutions, whose competence in the field of higher education is limited in scope both for policies and programmes, but which nevertheless gained ground in the latest years. This includes in particular the establishment of the EIT, the place of HE in the EU 2020 Strategy (with a specific target for increasing the share of 30-34 years old having completed tertiary or equivalent education to at least 40%) and the enhanced relationships between HE, research and innovation underpinning many policy documents of the EU. This is not to forget the traditional Lifelong Learning Programme, and its HE section, the ERASMUS Programme.

Other novelties in the field, coming from EU institutions and stakeholders, regard the feasibility study for a multidimensional ranking of Universities, funded by the Commission (http://www.u-multirank.eu/). We filled in, but on a personal basis, a stakeholders’ questionnaire on the issue.

We attended the launch event by LERU (League of European Research Universities) of its advice paper “University rankings: Diversity, excellence and the European initiative”, held in Brussels on 23 June 2010.

We also kept in touch with the OECD’s ongoing AHELO project (Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes), which is likewise supposed to take centre stage in case of positive evaluation of its current feasibility study. AHELO is a sort of “PISA testing” for higher education.

Part of the information regarding the above activities was recorded in the traditional Policy Update delivered to the Secretariat on June 30.

The working group pursues several lines of activities in this area:

• Gathering of relevant information and establishing contacts with actors in the field of science education

• Liaise with the EU institutions and with European organisations concerned with higher education policies, including e.g. the European University Association (EUA), the European Students’ Union (ESU), the European Association of Institutions in Higher Education (EURASHE)

• Take part in the Bologna Process by maintaining contacts with the Bologna Follow-Up Group, participating in Bologna Seminars and other events of the Bologna calendar

• Possible advice to governments and institutions in specific fields of expertise of EuroScience, like the relationship between science and society, and its role in education

• Discussing specific topics, like the economics of higher education, or the assessment of educational programmes.

• Elaborate EuroScience’s position on issues at stake, preparing documents and specific studies

• The Bologna Process and the creation of the European Higher Education Area