The involvement of the European Union in career guidance policy: a brief history

The history of the involvement of the European Union in the development of policy related to career guidance is analysed in terms of three broad periods. In the first two of these, interventions were confined to pilot projects, exchanges and placements, study visits and studies/surveys, with particular attention to young people; whereas the period since 2000 has seen greater attention being paid to lifelong activities that support the implementation of EU policy priorities and their mainstreaming at national level. These trends reflect both the EU’s “creeping competence” and the emerging concept of “lifelong guidance.”     

How Europe Shapes Academic Research: insights from participation in European Union Framework Programmes

This article describes the effects of participating in European Union Framework Programmes (EUFPs) at the level of research units and researchers. We consider EUFPs as policy instruments that contribute to the Europeanisation of academic research and study the changes they produce with respect to: 1) the organisation and activities of Departments, 2) the type of knowledge produced, and 3) the ways of doing research. The analysis is based on a case study of the Sapienza University in Rome. We also discuss the extent to which EUFPs produce different effects at the level of scientific fields. This pilot study analyses changes driven by EUFPs from an institutional perspective and uses the concept of institutionalisation to explain how these changes are translated into rules and practices by research units and researchers. Our preliminary investigation supports the idea that EUFPs do not trigger a process of Europeanisation and lead, within academic institutions, to highly diversified institutional responses by scientific fields rather than to undifferentiated ones. They strengthen leading research groups and Departments, already competitive at the EU level, by enhancing existing international behaviours and practices. However, they do not support and, at times, even decrease competition opportunities for less experienced participants and they do not promote the participation of new groups. Moreover, the absence of relevant organisational changes at the University level and the lack of incentives for EUFP participation seem to strengthen these trends. What emerges is the need for decisions at the University level, taking into account differences across scientific groups.     

浅谈转基因食品安全问题及欧盟对其政策

转基因生物技术是20世纪人类所掌握的最重要的生命技术之一。到目前为之,人类在转基因生物技术领域已经取得显著成就,转基因生物也逐渐呈现出商品化、产业化的发展趋势。尤其是在农业生产领域,转基因生物技术与农业生产技术进行结合,被认为是农业可持续发展的最好途径。然而转基因技术引发的安全问题,尤其是食品安全问题,引发了世界各国的高度关注。各个国家纷纷运用法律和政策对转基因食品的安全风险进行预防和控制。     

'The centre cannot hold': complexity and difference in European Union policy towards a learning society

The notions of lifelong learning and a learning society have been an important policy driver in the European Union at both the Commission and national government levels for a number of years. Overall, these policies aim to promote the twin goals of competitiveness in international markets and social cohesion within the still-expanding borders of the Union itself. To date, however, the impact of this emphasis on lifelong learning has been relatively slight. This article argues that this is in part because the policy process in relation to the development of a learning society is based on a view of governance and power that is open to reasoned dispute, and is, therefore, bound to disappoint in relation to its espoused goals. It is suggested that, rather than implementation being the main ‘problem’ of policy, the policy context inevitably generates many recontextualizations and renegotiations of meanings according to the situations and the actors involved, thereby undermining the notion of ‘implementation’ as a technical-rational process. It is argued that the complex negotiations enacted at local level reveal and are fashioned by tensions between the membership resources available to actors. This emphasizes complexity, diversity, and difference in policy processes, bringing to the fore a communicative and distributed approach to policy rather than one that is technical and centralizing.     

Learning as renewal: contribution to the present theoretical background of the lifelong learning policy of the European Union

There are a number of EU documents on the term and way of implementation of lifelong learning. However, the characteristics of learning from adult education perspectives are not sufficiently emphasized and are undertheorized in them. Numerous new, theoretical works have been published on adult learning in the related adult education literature since the millennium, which have not yet been integrated into the lifelong learning policy. This article analyses the documents of the European Union on lifelong learning from the aspect of how compatible they are with the most recent adult learning theories assisting the deeper understanding of the characteristics of adult learning. According to the recommendation of the author, the present transformation of Europe experiencing recession should be thought of as a learning process, of which the newest, innovation-oriented adult learning theories say a lot. These are, for example, the process-, biography- and change-oriented theories which contain the elements of transformative learning theory as well, and are also compatible with action-learning theories focusing on solving the tasks and problems of the workplace through learning. Further relevant theories can be the theories of innovation management and the flow theory. It would be worth integrating the relevant elements of these theories into a new, innovation-centred concept which would include the innovation indicators of adult learning/adult education.     

欧盟与土耳其关系发展的障碍

作为一个横跨欧亚大陆的伊斯兰教国家,土耳其多年来一直积极申请加入欧洲联盟,但却屡屡碰壁。加入欧盟是土耳其长期的和主要的对外战略目标,接纳土耳其入盟也符合欧盟的长远战略利益。为什么土耳其的入盟之路会如此坎坷,什么又是影响土耳其与欧盟关系的障碍呢?通过深入分析,着重论述了二者由于宗教信仰不同而形成的文明冲突。     

欧盟国家发展私立学前机构的经验探究

欧盟国家发展私立学前机构的经验主要体现在四个方面:关注私立学前机构的三大功能,将其作为建设福利国家的重要手段;努力兴办"付得起"的学前教育,为私立学前机构提供政府拨款;通过加强学前教育立法,促进私立学前机构的健康发展;重视国家和地方政府之间的分工与合作.     

欧盟委员会框架下欧洲高等教育:角色与话语

从上个世纪90年代开始，欧盟委员会制定与实施了“里斯本战略”和“博洛尼亚进程”等欧洲层面的政策战略协议，并对欧洲高等教育的发展产生了深远影响。本文首先简述了欧盟委员会参与高等教育的历程。并分别论述了“里斯本战略”和“博洛尼亚进程”对欧洲高等教育产生的具体影响。欧盟委员会的角色在参与高等教育的制定过程中发生了转变，更具目的性与针对性，提高质量，促进与欧洲的合作，同时更具国际视野：在欧盟的框架下。欧盟委员会逐步扩大了参与高等教育的广度与深度，促进欧洲大学地位的提高，并且使成员国家的教育政策边缘化。欧盟委员会占据了欧洲高等教育话语的霸权．使高等教育成为欧洲的公共讨论空间．     

European Union and Greek lifelong learning policy within an intercultural context: preliminary insights from research in the Sociology of Law

This paper presents preliminary findings of an extensive socio-legal research project, currently in progress, concerning the implementation of the European Union and the Greek institutional framework on lifelong learning (LLL) and exploring the social effectiveness of LLL policy. The main outcomes, based on testing two research hypotheses through quantitative and qualitative content analysis, are presented. Firstly, there are significant differences in the ranking of four LLL objectives (employability/adaptability takes priority over social inclusion, personal fulfilment and active citizenship) as between legal documents of different origin (EU or national) and binding force (hard or soft law). Secondly, the key role of the global recession of 2008 in reinforcing the economic dimension of EU policy in the field is revealed. These data, considered from a socio-legal perspective, provide a basis for further discussion regarding national alignment to the EU’s LLL policy and argue for new ‘policy syntheses’ informed by the views of social actors concerned with policy implementation, in line with a broad humanistic notion of LLL.     

Education and Multimedia: the actions of the European Union

This paper sets out the findings and recommendations of a task force which was set up by the European Commission which investigated the “Educational Multimedia”. It illustrates some of the strategic planning which has taken place across EU member states to co‐ordinate work on new education technologies to enhance teaching and learning.     

Evaluation of education in the European Union: Policy and methodology

Given the new European institutional environment for education and training, policy and methodology for evaluation have become closely interwoven and stakes have been raised. This emerging situation calls for a robust reappraisal of existing comparative evaluation data and systems in the light of the perceived needs of European countries and of the specificity of European policies. Educational evaluation in Europe is not meant to compare results in the usual sense of the word but rather to help set global policy objectives and provide data to see if those are reached within national contexts. Is it really possible to do this without developing a 'unified' European understanding and methodology of evaluation? To what extent can existing national and international data be used for the purpose, knowing that in some instances they measure aspects of education which are either not relevant for or are contrary to the educational objectives of the construction of the Union? What are the alternatives? What are the consequences for education and for assessment research in Europe?     

Lifelong Learning in the European Union: whither the Lisbon Strategy?

This article traces the Lisbon strategy back to the White Paper issued by President Jacques Delors in 1993 on Growth, Competitiveness, and Jobs as the launching point for the structural reform agenda needed to turn around the massive unemployment crisis and proposing a combination of policies for the structural reform of the labour market and stability‐oriented macroeconomic policies designed to stimulate economic growth. The centrality of education and training in the Lisbon strategy is seen as key to the lifelong chances of every citizen linked to the need for Europe to compete on the basis of a knowledge‐based economy if it is to maintain its high social standards. Describing the first years of the Lisbon strategy as ‘a stuttering start’, the mid‐term stock‐taking which offered European leaders the opportunity to fine‐tune or radically modify the strategy is analysed. The article highlights the paradox that, although human capital is claimed to be Europe's most precious resource, there is inadequate focus on the weakest aspects of current systems. It also focuses on policy and financial levers which need to be mobilised within Member States as well as the implications for national budgets. It suggests the prioritisation of a small number of areas on which to concentrate efforts and echoes the Council calling for a ‘quantum leap’ in the ambition of the EU to ensure that the necessary follow‐up is given to meet the challenges. Finally, a strong argument is put forward to take steps to move towards a unified set of proposals for lifelong learning.     

一体化进程中的欧盟职业教育培训计划

随着欧盟经济的发展和社会的进步，职业教育得到了越来越多的关注。本文主要分析自20世纪90年代以来．欧盟职业教育与培训计划的缘起产生、主要培训计划及其实施的特点。     

欧盟高等教育的自我救赎

欧盟于2014年1月1日以147亿欧元预算启动“伊拉斯谟加强版”,力图在2020年前打造教育国际化标杆并实现欧盟高等教育全球战略。通过塑造一代又一代“伊拉斯谟学子”,欧盟意在赢取未来。当下,欧盟深陷经济与信任双重危机无法自拔,被寄寓厚望的欧盟教育也失守宗庙,表现为三大缺失,即青春梦想的缺失、标杆效应的缺失和全球视野的缺失。由此,欧盟高等教育全球战略的实质与意图昭然若揭———危机时代的自我救赎与全球时代的人才争夺。在实质与意图的张力之间,欧盟高等教育的身份认同深陷双重二律背反,即融合与差异、中心与边缘。三条原则可供欧盟高等教育实现自我救赎：以本土高等教育质量为核心,以培育全球公民为目标,以国家文化软实力为基础。