Describes the Bologna Process (a European-wide project to create a European Higher Education Area and harmonize degree structures), examining how educational policy has reached a stage for considering a European Higher Education Area that examines concepts of harmonization and the Bologna Process. Discusses future scenarios, highlighting why…

The principal set of challenges facing tertiary education today is that set which links it to the construction of knowledge societies. Governments, the private sector, and the World Bank have specific tasks to perform in meeting these challenges. Countries--depending upon whether or not they are transition economies, low-income countries, or small…

Asserts that the principal driving forces changing higher education are the development of knowledge societies and economies, the all-pervasiveness of information technologies, globalization, and the debate on the public or private nature of higher education. Suggests that these forces generate a myriad of responses that, while defying the…

Asserts that the interaction of twin philosophies in U.S. higher education (commitment to the discovery and furtherance of knowledge, and fulfillment of the needs of the people) has been tempered by public control of higher education through boards of trustees, open admissions for high school graduates, the university in service to the community,…

The newly appointed secretary-general of the International Association of Universities (IAU) reflects on her years of association with UNESCO-CEPES, first as one of its liaison officers and then as a member of its advisory board. Asserts that the Centre has played--and still plays--a key role in East-West cooperation in higher education. Calls for…

Chairman of the Steering Committee for Higher Education and Research of the Council of Europe focuses on cooperation between UNESCO-CEPES and the Council of Europe, pointing out that central building blocks of the Bologna Process are results of this cooperation. (EV)

Summarizes the conference proceedings, asserting that two fundamental questions were addressed: "How can international cohesion be achieved without also reducing diversity?" and "How can collateral damage to local higher education systems be avoided?" (EV)

Discussion asserts that Romania recognizes the crucial importance of higher education's role in the development of the knowledge society of the twenty-first century, the importance of university education for the training of young people, and the need to develop Romanian higher education according to the norms of the Bologna Process and of…

Romania's prime minister evokes the role of UNESCO-CEPES as a forum for discussion of the principal issues of higher education. The pre-1989 activities of the Centre are compared to the post-1989 ones and to the role of the Centre in supporting the general reform of higher education in Central and Eastern Europe. (EV)

Asserts that European higher education must integrate itself so as to better prepare the highly trained workforce that Europe needs if it is to become the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world. Suggests that the Bologna Process will lead to the required integration while preserving the diversity of European cultures and…

Asserts that universities in Africa are generators of development and of modernization, even if higher education in Africa is poorly developed and faced with serious problems. Proposes various initiatives for redressing the situation including NEPAD, the New Partnership for Africa's Development. Suggests that in targeted areas, such as the…

Presents an analysis of, and proposals for, international cooperation in higher education. Focuses on Latin American higher education, its current situation, and the expected transformation of the goals of higher education in the context of international cooperation. Describes the challenges that globalization poses to Latin American higher…

Cooperation in higher education between the Arab world and Europe and America must be pushed in the following main directions: (1) efforts to stem and reverse the brain drain; (2) development of non-conventional forms of higher education; (3) development of research programs and infrastructure; and (4) promotion and use of information and…

Briefly traces the history of the European Centre for Higher Education (UNESCO-CEPES) since its founding in 1972 and the involvement of the author in its activities, as of the 1980s, as a member of its advisory committee. Further evokes the involvement of UNESCO itself in education, particularly higher education, an involvement with roots…

The chairperson of ESIB--the National Union of Students in Europe, a student union umbrella organization--briefly traces the origins of her organization and argues vigorously for strong government support for well-developed and diverse tertiary education systems. These must be broadly engaged both in their respective societies and internationally…