This book is the result of a higher education forum held in June 2006 on the responsibility of higher education for citizenship, human rights and sustainability. The responsibility of public authorities for a high-quality higher education system must go hand in hand with the responsibility of higher education institutions towards the advancement of society.--Publisher's description.

This publication is the result of a conference on higher education governance, held in Strasbourg in September 2005, and also the outcome of a project launched by the Council of Europe's Steering Committee for Higher Education and Research. It considers current challenges relating to governance issues the higher education sector in Europe, in the context of the Bologna Process which seeks to establish a European Higher Education Area, including governance in its wider societal context of change; a literature review; case studies from Georgia, Estonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and Turkey; suggestions for further development and the conference report.

Democracy, sustainability and social justice: the leading role that higher education must play in maintaining these three principles This publication, Higher education leadership for democracy, sustainability and social justice, arises from the global forum that the Council of Europe, the International Consortium for Higher Education, Civic Responsibility and Democracy, the Organization of American States and the International Association of Universities organised at Dublin City University in June 2022. It also arises from the challenges of Covid-19, which both highlighted and contributed to the fragility of democracy, with the increasing erosion of democratic participation, the deepening of extreme inequities, the strengthening of identity and nationalistic politics and the promotion of populist anti-intellectualism, involving attacks on science and knowledge itself. In this book, authors from Europe, the United States and Latin America argue that democracy, sustainability and social justice are inextricably linked, and that we can impact none of them unless higher education plays an important role in identifying the issues and helping society devise a viable and robust response. The book argues that higher education must do more than develop and disseminate knowledge and understanding. Higher education must influence the way individuals and societies behave. Higher education must lead. The importance of this leadership is illustrated by the inclusion of the Dublin Global Forum in the programme of the Irish Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe and will be borne out by the positions and actions of the higher education community.

Democracy is increasingly the standard against which societies are measured. The term “democratic culture” designates the set of attitudes and behaviours that citizens need to have for democratic institutions and laws to function in practice. This is an important development from older perceptions of democracy, which focused on institutions, laws and procedures. It is a recognition that democracy will not function unless citizens want it to function. In all countries there are committed individuals aspiring to make their societies better democracies. As the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, has said on several occasions, our societies seek to address 21st-century issues through 19th-century institutions. Through contributions by authors from Europe, North America and other parts of the world, this book explores how higher education can help find new ways to develop commitment to public space and societal engagement and make democracy more vibrant.

The efficient functioning of democracies depends on social inclusion and societal integration, and these in turn depend on an understanding of, respect for and engagement with linguistic and cultural diversity. The Council of Europe advocates plurilingual and intercultural education as a means of achieving these goals. Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)1 draws on previous Council of Europe documents to define the key concepts that underpin plurilingual and intercultural education and sets out a comprehensive list of measures that member states are invited to take. While acknowledging that full implementation of these measures is the work of many years, the Recommendation points out that much can be achieved in the short term within existing policy frameworks. Together with its explanatory memorandum, Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)1 is essential reading for policy makers, curriculum developers, teachers, teacher educators, textbook authors, examination agencies, parents’ organisations, educational associations and leaders of civil society.

Education is to society what oxygen is to living beings: we cannot exist without it... The Council of Europe Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC) sets out 20 competences our education system should develop in students to prepare them for lives as active citizens in democratic societies. The competences included are organised in four clusters: values, attitudes, skills and knowledge and critical understanding. This publication explores how the RFCDC can be used in higher education. As much as any other level of education, higher education fosters a culture of democracy through the transversal competences it develops in all its students, the way in which institutions are run, how the members of the academic community interact, and how higher education institutions see themselves and behave as actors in society at large. The full implementation of the RFCDC (or “CDC Framework”) requires a whole-institution approach that makes the promotion and fostering of competences for democratic culture an institutional priority for policy as well as practice. This guidance document offers suggestions for teaching, learning and institutional policy.

This volume addresses the conceptions of actors and actorhood in higher education research. It explores the range of actors that are (or should be) recognized and theorized in higher education research, the processes that shape actorhood in the higher education reforms and explores the relations between the actors and higher education reforms. Drawing on a range of theoretical frameworks and research projects, the volume provides in-depth analyses of higher education actors and reform issues through institutional, system or international comparative perspective. The volume celebrates and is in conversation with the intellectual contributions of Professor Pavel Zgaga whose work advances our understanding of actors and actorhood in higher education and higher education reforms.

The public responsibility for higher education and research is a cornerstone of the European university heritage. Yet, our societies are changing rapidly, and clinging to old solutions will not further the very values that these solutions were originally designed to protect. The claim on public attention and public funds is growing, but public funds are not, or at least not at the same rate. While public funding of higher education and research is still important, the concept of public responsibility must be understood much more widely. It must also be nuanced by looking more closely at different degrees and levels of public responsibility as well as at the instruments available for exercising such responsibility. The book, which builds on a Council of Europe conference, aims to explore what public responsibility means in the complex societies that have just crossed the threshold to the 21st century by examining both overall higher education policies and specific aspects of it such as higher education for a democratic culture, access to research results, financing, equal opportunities, the approach to regulation and new trends in higher education.

Developing learners' competence is an important part of the mission of higher education. The kind of competences that higher education should develop depend on what we see as the purposes of higher education. The term "converging competences" points to the need not only to train individuals for specific tasks, but to educate the whole person. Education is about acquiring skills, but also about acquiring values and attitudes. As education policies move from an emphasis on process to a stronger emphasis on the results of the education processes, learning outcomes have come to be seen as an essential feature of policies both in Europe and North America. This book explores the roles and purposes of higher education in modern, complex societies and the importance of competences in this respect. Although public debate in Europe could give the impression that the sole purpose of higher education is to prepare for the labour market, this important role is complemented by at least three others: preparation for democratic citizenship, personal development and the development of a broad and advanced knowledge base. This work draws on the experiences in both Europe and North America to underline that the discussion is not in fact about which of these different purposes is the "real" one; they are all important, and they coexist.

A particularly timely book, given the high proportion of international students and staff in higher education Public health was the immediate concern when the Covid-19 pandemic struck in Asia, then in Europe and other parts of the world. The response of our education systems is no less vital. Higher education has played a major role in responding to the pandemic and it must help shape a better, more equitable and just post-Covid-19 world. This book explores the various responses of higher education to the pandemic across Europe and North America, with contributions also from Africa, Asia and South America. The contributors write from the perspective of higher education leaders with institutional responsibility, as well as from that of public authorities or specialists in specific aspects of higher education policy and practice. Some contributions analyse how specific higher education institutions reacted, while others reflect on the impact of Covid-19 on key issues such as internationalisation, finance, academic freedom and institutional autonomy, inclusion and equality and public responsibility. The book describes the various ways in which higher education is facing the Covid-19 pandemic. It is designed to help universities, specifically their staff and students as well as their partners, contribute to a more sustainable and democratic future.