In international education policy articulations by organisations such as the UNESCO, inclusive education is defined rather vaguely, usually in terms of human rights. Yet, national reception it is more or less taken for granted. Analyses of "policy lending" show that when national education traditions are not respected, the lack of…

Many policy makers and scholars consider higher education to be a key driver for states' implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); however, the impact of higher education in national SDGs adoption likely differs, based on features and characteristics of particular states. Hence, this study has two aims: (a) to analyse the public…

The evolution in Europe towards more competence-based curricula in the last ten years or so is the result of several exogenous factors and a determined European policy. The Reference Framework of Key Competences for Lifelong Learning, a Recommendation approved by the European Parliament and the Council in 2006, and the work carried out within the…

Although originally created for economic purposes, the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) has increasingly gained weight in education policy in recent years and is now regarded as an international authority in the field, particularly through its "Programme for International Student Assessment" (PISA), which was…

Since the beginning of the 20th century, integration with the Western world has been a determining driver of higher education policies, as well as many other policy areas in Turkey. Becoming a signatory country of the Bologna Process in 2001 brought a new impulse to the higher education policies in this direction. The Bologna Process reforms…

This article analyses the work of the Bologna Follow Up Group as the main institution of the Bologna Process and the perceptions of the policy actors involved concerning the character of the process in terms of its functioning in contrast to similar multi-level multi-actor European processes, its modes of communication and consensus seeking, as…

The Bologna Process is one of the major developments to have taken place in higher education in recent centuries. It has had an impact beyond European borders and repercussions in other parts of the world. Ibero-America has also sat up and taken note, even though scholars agree that there would be difficulties with its direct implementation in the…

Beginning in the year 2000, higher education policies all over Europe were transformed by the launching and evolution of the Bologna Process, otherwise known as the process of creating a European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Initially, this process was flexible and informal, which makes the rapidity and scope of the changes it brought about…

The aim of this article is to contribute to realising the progressive and democratic opportunities that National Qualifications Frameworks (NQFs) can offer. In doing so it will be critical of many of the ways that NQFs have been interpreted to date and the claims that have been made for them. The article has six sections. Section 1 considers some…

There is an ongoing discussion about teacher education today: its organisation, its academic status and the competence that results from different programmes. There is no one best way to organise teacher education. Rather, the appropriateness of organisation is related to the desired aims. In this article, we discuss one way to organise and…

Kaunas is the second largest city in Lithuania and has strong links with its large rural hinterland. Working from the ideas and examples in "Learning Cities for a Learning Century," (Longworth, 1999) and through contact with other cities that have already implemented lifelong learning concepts, the city has, since 2001, started out on…

This article focuses on work-based learning in higher vocational education and training in relation to lifelong learning. It begins with an overview of the Dutch National Policy and the ambitions of a national Project Directorate Learning & Working. It then goes on to the concrete results of projects within higher education (HE) aimed at the…

Since 1986 when the National People's Congress ratified the Compulsory Education Law, China's achievement of nine-year compulsory basic education for its huge school-age population has been rapid and successful. However, the rate of achievement has grown unevenly across the country, reflecting the different economic development patterns of the…

The genesis of this article is based on the observation by the authors that the French training system has witnessed an evolution since the 1970s that corresponds to the one that was later recommended by the European authorities, i.e.: --the creation of a national qualifications framework that integrates general and vocational training and initial…