The Accelerating Roles of Higher Education in Regions through the European Lifelong Learning Initiative

This article assesses the network development and promotion of the learning region model in HEIs in the framework of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), focusing on quality, partnership and social equality in the Hungarian context. It argues that the learning city-region model can be used and put into practice in many different ways for a new learning climate to occur, as in the case of the Pécs Learning City-Region Forum. However, there are parallel ways to implement the model for HEIs. The first is a purely economically centred one for those HEIs that reflect a reformed social identity to serve mainly employability, economic productivity and innovation through education and research in post socialist countries. The second is more holistic, reflecting not only education and research, but also making use of innovation based on economic and social partnership and networking in local, regional, national and international contexts. The article elaborates on the opportunities for this model as one into which Hungarian HEIs may develop.