Connecting Continents: Where now for Australian - European cooperation? A European perspective Hans-Georg van Liempd - President EAIE Tilburg University, the Netherlands AIEC Canberra 2013 Explore What continents are we talking about: differences and similarities How do Europeans envision Australia Observations on Internationalisation from the Leadership Study IEAA and EAIE: priorities and obstacles Trends in Europe for cooperation Potential areas www.aiec.ipd.com 1
Two very different continents Australia Language of instruction is English Inhabitants: 23,2 million Students: 1,25 million Institutions: 39 HE strategy: 1 Student visa: 1 Europe 225 > 700 million > 19 million > 4000 > many > many Australia according to Europeans www.aiec.ipd.com 2
Australia according to Europeans Far away (it takes two days) Similar academic culture and tradition Anglo Saxon same as UK North America Quality education and research English is the language of instruction Australia is primarily focused on Asia Competitive tradition vs Cooperation in Europe Priorities Internationalisation (Leadership study IEAA-EAIE 2013) 1. Focus on student and staff mobility Australia focus on inbound and Asia 2. Building international partnerships Australia focus on research Europe focus on teaching and joint degrees 3. Internationalisation of Curricula and use of technology www.aiec.ipd.com 3
Mobility around the world Inbound mobile students Outbound mobile students www.aiec.ipd.com 4
Mobility as percentage of world total (2010) Australia Europe In 8.9% Out 0.9% EU27 In 37.8% Out 17.9% Europe (non EU) In 7.3% Out 8.6% Europe (total) In 45.1% Out 26.5% Obstacles internationalisation (Leadership study IEAA-EAIE 2013) 1. Funding human, infrastructure, financial resources, administration 2. Australia: government regulations and politicisation of international higher education Europe: Lack of leadership, vision & strategy in internationalisation and awareness of the importance of internationalisation www.aiec.ipd.com 5
Possibilities for the future Some member states invest in (international) HE despite the budget cuts Some member states define strategy for international HE EU strategy also focus on outside EU cooperation New programme Erasmus + Erasmus+ : Key Action 1: Learning mobility of individuals Staff: teachers, trainers, school leaders & youth workers Students: HE students (including joint/double degrees) & VET students Masters Students: additional opportunities via a new loan guarantee mechanism Youth mobility: volunteering & youth exchanges International dimension: HE mobility for EU & non-eu beneficiaries www.aiec.ipd.com 6
Key Action 1: Australia relevance Degree mobility (masters level) - European joint masters (old Erasmus Mundus) - Australia participate in consortia offering joint programmes, & in staff mobility Credit mobility (BA, MA & PhD) - Australia can send & receive students for 3-12 month mobility periods, or staff mobility 5 days 2 months - Bilateral agreements ensure QA, recognition of credits & learning agreements Key Action 2: Cooperation Strategic partnerships between education/youth institutions and/or relevant actors Knowledge Alliances: Large-scale partnerships between higher education/training institutions & businesses Sector Skills Alliances IT support platforms, including e- Twinning International dimension: Capacity building in non-eu countries, focus on Neighbourhood countries www.aiec.ipd.com 7
Key Action 2: Australia relevance Institutions & organisations from non-eu countries can participate, as long as they bring a clear added value to the partnership. There must always be min. 3 organisations/institutions from 3 EU countries represented in each partnership. Key Action 3: Support for policy reform Support for Open Method of Coordination ET 2020, EU youth strategy & EU 2020 EU transparency tools: dissemination & implementation Policy dialogue with stakeholders International dimension: Policy dialogue with third countries & international organisations www.aiec.ipd.com 8
Key Action 3: relevance for the Australia Bilateral policy dialogue Dialogue: concrete output, e.g. joint Tuning projects. Academic experts from both sides invited to participate: informs future policy making. Jean Monnet Include support for teaching & research on European integration via Jean Monnet a activities Institutional support for College of Europe (Bruges & Natolin) & the European Institute of Florence Competitive support to other institutions based on excellence & added value Jean Monnet Chairs continue to be key feature Creation of Jean Monnet Label of Excellence www.aiec.ipd.com 9
Australia Relevance: Jean Monnet Chairs Jean Monnet Chairs: teaching posts with a specialisation in European integration studies. HEIs world-wide eligible for a 3 yr grant. Chairs teach min. 90hrs /yr European integration studies incl. BA/MA/PhD Industrialised Countries Instrument - Education Co-operation Programme - Final call in December 2013-2.2 million - aim to fund 2-3 EU-Australia projects - either Joint Degrees Projects or Joint Mobility Projects. I - Last year 17 applications from Australia and funded 2 http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/bilateral_cooperation/eu_ici_ecp/funding/call_2012_en.php https://aei.gov.au/internationalnetwork/europe/eubilateralmobilityprojects/pages/jointmobilityprojects.aspx www.aiec.ipd.com 10
Take away - AU: see benefit of to increase mobility of staff and students via EU programmes and bilateral. It could lead to research cooperation - Europe: seek opportunities in EU programmes for increased research cooperation - Worldwide networks of institutions will become increasingly important www.aiec.ipd.com 11