Expanding Europe Jubilee Rectors Conference Pecs October 2010 European Competitiveness in higher education Bjørn Einar Aas Immediate Past President European Association for International Education (EAIE). 1

The topic(s)  What is internationalisation in higher education ?  Growth and sucess  Do universties really compete?  What makes universities competitive?  Values – Models - Inspiration  Policies and challenges 2

What is it, Internationalisation?  Internationalization at the national, sector, and institutional levels is defined as “the process of integrating an international, intercultural, or global dimension into the purpose, functions or delivery of postsecondary education. (Knight 2003) globaldimensionpostsecondary education. 3

Growth and sucess  The ERAMSUS programme  300 students in is first year (1987  in its second year  thousand in the academic year !  The growth in : 8,6%.  2 million students have benefited from the ERASMUS programme. 4

Eurostat and others  EUROSTAT: “with an average growth of 6% between 2000 and 2006 the EU 27 inbound mobility rate shows that higher education in the EU has not lost its attractiveness”  Bologna study : an increase of students in Europe from other parts of the world in the early years of the 21 st century” …the proportion of foreign students in Europe has increased from less that three per cent to more than seven percent. 5

TOTAL INTERNATINAL HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENT ENROLMENT IN LEADING DESTINATION COUNTRIES Notes: Data captures higher education students and differs from OECD tertiary student data. Data is not entirely congruent however. France data released for 2009 is not comparable to previous data. Sources: AEI, CampusFrance, CIC, DAAD/HIS, ENZ/MoE, HESA, IIE; ICG.

YoY GROWTH INTERNATINAL HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENT ENROLMENT IN LEADING DESTINATION COUNTRIES Notes: Data captures higher education students and differs from OECD tertiary student data. Data is not entirely congruent however. France data released for 2009 is not comparable to previous data. Sources: AEI, CampusFrance, CIC, DAAD/HIS, ENZ/MoE, HESA, IIE; ICG.

Do universities really compete ? Citius, Altius,Fortius: The Olympic Motto ”Swifter, Higher Stronger” What di we have : FP7, ERC and the Nobel Price? Universties do cutting edge research Winners have impact : grants, prestige, new research

What makes universites competitive? A different mission  ”The drive to seek the truth”  Bound together by ”the argumentative community”  A university true to its values does not follow the political method, not the ideological method, not the commercial method, but the scientific method. 9

Freedom and autonomy  Universities are important because they are free and autonomous  Successful universities cannot be created by instructions  Seeking the truth, creating new knowledge depends on freedom and autonomy  Freedom makes universities competetive 10

The inspiration from Europe 1860  In the U.S 150 years ago : need for a new independent institution relevant to an increasingly industrialised America  Inspired by the German model ; coupling teaching and research, attention on real- world problems  Today we know the institution as as MIT 11

Inspiration from Europe 2010 Vietnam  Creating new universities with foreign universities as partners and, crucially, promises of autonomy. The first : the Vietnamese German University (VGU), opened in A French-backed technology school in Hanoi will follow.  Its independent charter, a first for a Vietnamese university, allows it to hire professors and design its own courses. In theory this should boost academic freedom. 12

Challenges  Universities need resources and adequate funding as well as policies  Bologna ministers consider public investment in higher education of utmost priority.  Interntaionalisation will stay : … In 2020, at least 20% of those graduating in the European Higher Education Area should have had a study or training period abroad. 13

The European Uninion : Europe 2020  Ambitious goals  3% of the EU's GDP should be invested in R&D.  at least 40% of the younger generation should have a tertiary degree  European Policy for international education 14

Bologna Policy Forum : You have the results we seek  US Undersecretary: “We appreciate the relentless focus on students and learning outcomes”.  I am confident that higher education institutions in Europe are ready to prove that universities can be (highly) successful and competitive. We have the solutions! 15

Köszönöm a figyelmüket Thank you for your attention !