About HED





 

Introduction
Aim
Project description & Structure
Target Group
Expected outcomes



Introduction

‘Higher Education Days’ (HED) is an AEGEE project carried out by active youth all over Europe!

The HED project aims to reach students and enable and encourage them to have a greater influence on the decision making process in their education. It assumes the need of including students as co-creators and partners in the delivery and governance of their learning experiences, since students wish to be consulted and heard by the people who are making decisions regarding their education.

As youth activists, we feel there is a strong need for young people to participate in the Higher Education decision-making process, because a student-centered approach may be fostered at European level only with the help of students. Since one of the aims of the Bologna reform is that of moving towards a learner-centered education, it seems clear to us that if education must focus on students, their opinion and especially their needs related to Higher Education deserve greater focus and attention.

By giving young people across Europe a chance to collaborate with Educational Policy makers and discuss possible solutions for the challenges that Higher Education is facing, the HED project encourages educational dialogue between its main actors, pointing out to the importance of establishing a solid platform for discussion about the most important problems concerning Higher Education in the European sphere of interest today.

We, as students and young Europeans, feel it is high time to get together for discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the current European education system and to seek for solutions for its development and for the enhancement of its unity and coherence.



Aims and objectives

The project aims to improve higher education by strengthening the student voice and striving for recognition of non-formal education (NFE).

Main objectives of the project are:

  1. To increase the student participation in Higher Education decision process, encouraging them to participate in it and providing them with a platform to express their opinion; 
  2. To initiate interactive and constructive dialogue between universities, private sector bodies and youth about Higher Education Systems, NFE and their complementarity; 
  3. To define different ways of improving the Higher Education by clarifying different fundamental problems of it and proposing valid solutions based on best practices and ideas gathered during the project; 
  4. To promote the recognition of NFE as a valid and effective source for the development of personal and professional skills;


Project description & Structure

The HED Project will be developed in two main phases. We chose to perceive them as phases because of the gradual contribution they should bring to the change we want to see in European Higher Education in the following years.

Phase one consists of three main stages.

Stage One 1.1 - National Higher Education Systems

Stage Two 1.2 - Implementation of Bologna Process

Stage Three 1.3 - Recognition of Non-Formal Education


In Stage ONE (1.1 on national level), motivated students and young people who care about their future education will come together to discuss the problems that Higher Education is facing in their universities and countries. For this, the organizing team will gather as many students as possible to state their points of view on the discussed matter. Also during this stage, the organizing team will use as many means as possible in order to find out what students really think about their Education System: surveys, university round table, conferences etc.

In this process, participants could meet education experts and policy makers, politicians and Media representatives from their countries. The discussions will aim to identify the main problems of the National Higher Education Systems and, also, to try to find solutions for them. The outcomes will be included in a final document, a position paper representing the students' opinion. The position paper will be handed in to the National Education policy makers (if they are open for it!).

Stage TWO (1.2 on European level) expands one of the most important topics related to Higher Education in the European space: the level of implementation of the Bologna Process. However, this topic is very complex and it requires a lot of time for discussions in order to reach valid conclusions. That's why the topic will be tackled not only on short national events, but also during European events gathering students from different nations.

As students involved in a non-government, voluntary NGO, we put a big stress on this stage - Stage THREE (1.3 on European level) focuses on the recognition of Non-Formal Education as another very important part of our education nowadays. As in phase two, the subject will be tackled on local level, but also on European level. Information will be gathered from the national events, other European events organized in the frame of NGOs that will bring in the spotlight the topic of the recognition of Non-Formal Education.


The SECOND PHASE has the purpose of transferring and centralizing the knowledge acquired during stages 1.2 and 1.3. In this way, it shall serve as an evaluation of the first phase of the project and it shall be gathering representatives from all European countries where local events took place.

There will be one final and concluding conference concerning the recognition of NFE and another one about the implementation of Bologna Process. Each one coming with a policy paper concluding all the

Each country involved in the HED project will elaborate an official document stating the results and conclusions gathered during local HED events and send a national representative of the participating students. All representatives will contribute to the elaboration of a joint policy paper that shall gather all data acquired throughout the project. This final document shall be presented to EP & EACEA representatives as a formal conclusion of all the events held within the Higher Education Days project.

During the last day of these final events, a whole one day will be dedicated to a round table discussion with European Education policy makers, who shall be consulted on the possibilities to implement the solutions gathered within the entire HED project. That way, the solutions that will have been identified shall be discussed with European policy makers, in such a way that they could encourage the use and further development of the best practices, as agreed upon by all actors involved in the HED project.


Target Group

Our main target group consists of students, who will be discussing the problems they identified in the field of Higher Education, both on national and European level, and taking initiative to become actively involved in finding appropriate solutions to their problems. In this way, students will be the creators, as well as the ones who will directly benefit from the results of the HED project.

Next, this project also aims to reach the academic staff, who delivers education to young people. Being an important side in the debate on education, we expect them to be interested in getting involved.

Then, the Higher Education Days project is also addressing policy makers in the field of education, such as:
• Representatives of respective ministries in national governments;
• Heads of educational institutions, both public and private;
• European institutions, units responsible for education programmes;
• International organisations working for education;
• Platforms of NGOs with relevant thematic focus.

Members of this latter group will also be the target of the follow-up lobby.
All these main actors in the process of Higher Education are expected to get involved in the project, becoming partners for dialogue and cooperation, since without a doubt they all shall be interested in the topic and the results of the HED project.

Last but not least, indirectly, the project will reach mass-media, public audience and thus, civil society.


Expected outcomes

*** Better understanding of the real situation of the Higher Education system;

• disseminating the conclusions to competent European Institutions and all the universities and NGOs which took part in the HED project;
• composing an official document exposing the main conclusions of the Higher Education Days project;
• transferring experience-validated solutions between Higher Education systems in participating European countries;
• better working methods and new ideas in the field of Higher Education;
• creating an online platform for discussion, sharing of conclusions and information

*** Effective partnership and lasting cooperation between students and Policy makers;

• presenting final results to Representatives of European Institutions concerned with Education, so that they may be included in future recommendations made to educational policy makers across Europe, which would thus be redirected toward national levels;
• clarification of the means through which students and young people can better contribute to Higher Education matters, in cooperation with Policy makers;
• taking into account young people’s voices;
• raising interest of the people involved to further discuss the topics of the project;

*** Establishing cooperation between students associations in Europe activating in the field of Higher Education (such as AEGEE).