ON EQUAL TERMS‐NEW PARTNERS IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION

This article is an edited version of the Keynote Address given by the author at the Annual EAIE (European Association for International Education) Conference that was held in Budapest from 5 to 7 December 1996. It examined the question of the development of international educational exchanges on equal terms. Looking at the situation in Europe, the article suggests a number of preconditions that the author considers important in favouring the growth of partnerships on equal terms, referring, for example, to the different types of relationships that can exist and to the importance of the choice of partners. The question of financial inequality and what to do about it is evoked. The article also mentions different mechanisms available in Europe for building partnerships, concentrating on the impact of the enormous growth in European Union investment in higher education co‐operation programmes over the last ten years. The conclusions reached are that both institutional and individual commitment are crucial to the development of sustainable relationships, that each partner must contribute something of value to the relationship, and that the partners must have respect for and confidence in one another. Finally, co‐operation on equal terms must be seen as a work objective, one that is as much a challenge among western countries as it is between western countries and central and eastern European ones.     

What Happens After the Age of 14? Mapping Transitions for Pupils with Profound and Complex Learning Difficulties

This article reports on part one of a three-part national survey of provision for pupils aged 14 and older, in England and Wales, who have profound and complex learning difficulties. The survey is part of the Enhancing the Quality of Life (EqoL), a three-year research project jointly awarded to Skill: the National Bureau for Students with Disabilities, and the University of Cambridge School of Education. The aim of the project is to construct a framework for learning which will support improvements in the quality of life for these young people. It is funded by the National Lottery Charities Board.     

WESTERN ASSISTANCE TO HIGHER EDUCATION IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE: THE NEED FOR AN ASSESSMENT

This article introduces the topic of this issue of the review. Because there has been no systematic evaluation, so far, of the impact of western assistance programmes for higher education in eastern and central Europe since they got underway in 1989‐1990, the hope is that this publication will kick off the necessary debate. In general, two stages in the reform process can be identified, a reparatory stage that lasted around three years, and now a holistic stage, that emphasizes a systemic approach to reform. It is hoped that the eight articles making up the topic will serve as catalysts for many more studies on all aspects of this vast problem.     

Femininities and Friendship in a College of Education

In this autobiographical account, the author reminisces on the lives of women students at a college of education in the 1960s and questions the often popularly held belief that communities of women are inherently characterised by unity of purpose and a shared ideology of womanhood.