CounCil oF europe
The Council of Europe: Ann-Sofie Pauwelyn, EDS
education policy1
The Council of Europe, founded by 10 countries in 1949 and now counting 47 member states, wants to “create a common democratic and legal area throughout the whole of the continent, ensuring respect for its fundamental values: human rights, democracy and the rule of law.” The Council of Europe wants to achieve this democratic and legal area by outlining plans for different policy areas. As the topic of the EDS Council Meeting in Antwerp is “Knowledge is Power”, it seems to be appropriate to have a look at the activities of the Council of Europe concerning higher education. For the Council of Europe, higher education should be of such quality that students are prepared for the labour market as well as for living as an active citizen in a democratic society. Higher education should develop the personality of the student and should make him able to achieve and maintain an advanced knowledge base in a broad area of academic disciplines. As society is always changing there is a need for a better trained and educated workforce, so that the rising number of
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students can get education of the highest quality. The Council of Europe also stresses the need for a stronger education system in the international context and for a knowledge society, based on competitive research results. Furthermore the Council of Europe is a proponent of more social cohesion in socially, culturally and linguistically diverse societies. To achieve all this, the Council of Europe created the Steering Committee for Higher Education and Research (CDESR). This Committee oversees the higher education and research programme of the Council of Europe. It consists of public authorities, higher education institutions and their associations, students’ and other professional associations. In the CDESR they work together to better understand each other’s situation and to find answers to the challenges that arise in the world of higher education. The cooperation between the members of the CDESR results in publications,
guidelines, recommendations and conventions. The Committee is the only pan-European forum where public authorities and academic representatives can work together. It meets once a year in plenary session and can appoint working groups to undertake research on different projects. The key points of the CDERS are policies and instruments for the recognition of qualifications, the European Higher Education Area, Academic Freedom and University Autonomy and Targeted Cooperation Activities. The programmes around these key points must meet the concerns of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe and they must also contribute to the main goals of the Council of Europe: democracy, human rights and the rule of law. The programmes must focus on the one hand on the social dimension of education and on the other hand on contents and structures of education that are of relevance for education policy makers. PoliCiES AND iNSTRuMENTS FoR THE RECoGNiTioN oF QuAliFiCATioNS Policies and instruments for the recognition of qualifications is about broadening opportunities for all learners by lifelong learning. To achieve this big parts of the education system and its contents should be rethought. The Council of Europe also focuses on social cohesion because it should be possible for more learners to obtain a higher education qualification. Also they are searching for reasonable ways of recognizing prior education. European Higher Education Area The Council of Europe contributes to the Bologna
Bullseye
Process by working on the recognition of qualifications. The Council is also an active participant in the steering and policy-making mechanisms in the Bologna Follow-Up Group and representatives are often invited in official Bologna seminars. Furthermore the Council gives advice and assistance to the countries that have recently taken part in the Bologna Process. Academic Freedom and University Autonomy The Council of Europe supports academic freedom and the autonomy of universities because only when this is achieved can education promote democratic values. Democratic culture is needed to achieve the Council of Europe’s core objectives, human rights, democracy and the rule of law, and therefore the Council sees academic freedom and the autonomy of universities as the cornerstones of Europe’s academic heritage. Targeted Cooperation Activities The activities of the Council of Europe always have clear targets. The areas the Council of Europe is currently focusing on are South East Europe and some countries that used to be part of the Sovjet Union. One of the latest activities took place in Moldova (1-2 December 2011). A seminar on implementation of the European Higher Education Area in the Republic of Moldova was organized by the Free International University of Moldova in cooperation with the Ministry of Education of Moldova, the Council of Europe and the Bologna
Secretariat. The participants reviewed the higher education reform in Moldova in order to ensure convergence with the principles of the European Higher Education Area. The Steering Committee for Higher Education and Research works together with other international and regional institutions (e.g. UNESCO, the European Commission, OECD, the Nordic Council of Ministers). It also cooperates with NGOs like EUA and the South East European Educational Cooperation Network. For the future, the Council of Europe is supporting knowledge societies: the CDESR stresses the importance of flexibility and the development of transversal competencies as well as competence in specific subject areas without forgetting the need to spread the core values of democratic and humanitarian societies. Higher education and research play an important role in establishing knowledge societies. “The future development of our societies requires broad access to and investment in higher education, both to allow each individual to develop to the full extent of his or her possibilities and to allow society to make good use of the capacities and talents of all its members”, the Council of Europe concludes..
1 http://www.coe.int/aboutCoe/index.asp?page=nosObjectifs&l=en
CounCil oF europe
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