After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the universities of the former Soviet states faced a lack of public funding that left them with tuition fees as their main--and sometimes only--source of revenue. In a context where universities were exclusively focused on their economic survival, the decision of Ilia State University (ISU) to introduce in…

With the policy of developing a transparent and competitive European higher education sector, learning outcomes (LOs) are attributed a foundation stone role in policy and curriculum development. A premise for their implementation is that they bear fundamental similarities across national, institutional or professional/disciplinary contexts. In…

The emergence of the European Standards and Guidelines (ESG) for Quality Assurance has been seen as an important step towards realising the European Higher Education Area by creating more transparency and accountability in the area of quality assurance. The ESG also include standards as to how quality assurance agencies should be reviewed. In a…

A discussion of secondary education curriculum reform, particularly in Eastern and Central Europe, examines potentially conflicting concerns characterizing the current reform debate: stronger national policies alongside calls for curricula responsive to local needs; broad versus core curricula; central versus decentralized control of assessment;…

A discussion of secondary education in Europe in the last 30 years focuses on the appropriate scope and function of secondary education, trends in policy concerning comprehensive schooling, changes in student assessment and program/institutional evaluation, and the overall direction of secondary education. Reference is made to events and trends in…

In both Britain and France, evaluation has been seen as one element of national strategies to internationalise higher education (HE), with the spread of evaluation indicating policy convergence. However, there are dangers in describing the cross-national adoption of evaluation as an instance of policy transfer in higher education. This article…

Evaluation of the European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students (ERASMUS) focused on four major actions: (1) establishment and operation of a European university network; (2) the ERASMUS student grants program; (3) intercommunity academic recognition of diplomas and periods of study; and (4) promotion of student mobility…

A discussion of environmental education in elementary, secondary, and higher education in Spain chronicles its history since 1970, the roles of public and private agencies in educational change, research initiatives, the effects of 1990 educational reforms, trends in facilities available for environmental education, program evaluation, and…