The EHEA: Attractive at what Cost?

From 11th-13th April, ESIB members will assemble in Malta for a student conference on the attractiveness of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and the external dimension of the Bologna Process.

This conference is the closing symposium in a series of conferences dealing with the Bologna Process and Lisbon Agenda as we move closer to 2010.

Emphasis will be given to the perspective of other international actors as well as to the issue of International Students and the problems they face with regards to tuition fees, integration and social needs, amongst others. The Conference is also intended as a platform for student representatives to air and develop their views on implications of the Lisbon Agenda and on the external dimension of the Bologna Process.

Participants will have a chance to take part in various workshops, focusing on different key issues: the mobility of students, international trade in the provision of Higher Education, developing the Student Movement, pedagogical barriers to the internationalisation of Universities, the future of Higher Education in a globalised world and the social and economic perspective of the External Dimension.

The Conference, part-financed by the European Commission, will aim to deliver a number of tools to participating members. First and foremost it will offer them the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the debate surrounding the external dimension and the commodification of Higher Education through globalisation. They will learn how these issues tie in with the Bologna Process and the Lisbon Agenda. Furthermore, they will gain knowledge about countries’ different perspectives on the globalisation of education. On a more practical level, they will obtain valuable lobbying and argumentation skills and garner an insider’s view of the workings of the European Parliament.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This article reflects the views only of the author, and the commission cannot be held reponsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.