On cover: Education. - On title page: A secondary education for Europe

Field addresses the European Union's desire for a unified approach to education and its content, exploring the origin of this interest, the tensions that underlie the policies and its impact at national level.

Bridging the gap between higher education research and policy making was always a challenge, but the recent calls for more evidence-based policies have opened a window of unprecedented opportunity for researchers to bring more contributions to shaping the future of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Encouraged by the success of the 2011 first edition, Romania and Armenia have organised a 2nd edition of the Future of Higher Education – Bologna Process Researchers’ Conference (FOHE-BPRC) in November 2014, with the support of the Italian Presidency of the European Union and as part of the official EHEA agenda. Reuniting over 170 researchers from more than 30 countries, the event was a forum to debate the trends and challenges faced by higher education today and look at the future of European cooperation in higher education. The research volumes offer unique insights regarding the state of affairs of European higher education and research, as well as forward-looking policy proposals. More than 50 articles focus on essential themes in higher education: Internationalization of higher education; Financing and governance; Excellence and the diversification of missions; Teaching, learning and student engagement; Equity and the social dimension of higher education; Education, research and innovation; Quality assurance, The impacts of the Bologna Process on the EHEA and beyond and Evidence-based policies in higher education. "The Bologna process was launched at a time of great optimism about the future of the European project – to which, of course, the reform of higher education across the continent has made a major contribution. Today, for the present, that optimism has faded as economic troubles have accumulated in the Euro-zone, political tensions have been increased on issues such as immigration and armed conflict has broken out in Ukraine. There is clearly a risk that, against this troubled background, the Bologna process itself may falter. There are already signs that it has been downgraded in some countries with evidence of political withdrawal. All the more reason for the voice of higher education researchers to be heard. Since the first conference they have established themselves as powerful stakeholders in the development of the EHEA, who are helping to maintain the momentum of the Bologna process. Their pivotal role has been strengthened by the second Bucharest conference." Peter Scott, Institute of Education, London (General Rapporteur of the FOHE-BPRC first edition)

Originally published in 1985. ‘Europe‘ and the EEC seemed to be virtually synonymous for the majority of our population and the ambivalent feelings many people have about the Community, together with the consistently bad press it received in the UK, seemed to engender a hostility in educational circles towards teaching about Europe as a whole. However, if one of the aims of education is to increase children’s awareness, tolerance and understanding of the world about them; to widen their experience and horizons; then teaching about the wider world must have a place in the curriculum. This book argues for education about Europe, not necessarily in favour of Europe, breaking down the national insularity of the UK curriculum and using Europe as one convenient ‘window on the wider world’.

On cover: Education. - On title page: A secondary education for Europe

The scope of the book is an integrated discussion of several aspects of the internationalisation process in secondary education in Europe. The European and International Orientation (EIO) in education is dealt with from different national angles and theoretical visions, supported by recently conducted empirical studies in several countries. The book describes national policies concerning EIO, the way in which schools implement these policies and the success and difficulties of the activities that they undertake. A connection is made with ideas of citizenship in a European perspective and the question comes up for discussion if there can be spoken of common European values. Important issues are explored like the tension between national identity and European communality as well as the risk of EIO in increasing the gap between lower and higher educated students. The mission of the book is provide not only background information to all who are interested in or involved in internationalisation of education, social integration and European citizenship, but to provide recommendations for future practice as well. A central focus in these recommendations is the ‘Common Framework for Europe Competence’ (CFEC), the first model that offers the possibility to structurally shape the knowledge and skills concerning the European and international developments in the school. Directions for future elaboration of this framework and its implementation in the teaching and learning process in schools are discussed.