Education International
Education
International (EI) is the voice of academics worldwide, representing 100
national organisations that, all together, give voice to more than 3 million
university and research personnel working in the higher education and research
sector. In Europe, EI is represented in 36 of the 46 countries participating in the Bologna Process.
EI aims at strongly defending the
exercise of academic freedom, the protection of intellectual property rights,
the advancement of terms and conditions of employment linked to the right of all
education personnel to collective bargaining. EI promotes the advancement of
higher education and research, in particular through the implementation of the
1997 UNESCO Recommendation Concerning the Status of Higher Education Teaching
Personnel
.
EI and the
Higher Education and Research staff unions of Europe welcome and support the
Bologna Process as a means both of protecting and enhancing higher education and
research across Europe and of increasing transparency and mobility. Although we
welcome the emphasis on quality, we assert that this will require greater public
investment in the system and its staff if quality is to be sustained and
enhanced.
In 2005 the EI Pan-European Structure was recognised as a consultative member of the Bologna Follow-up Group – through this official recognition, academics are now able to have a
direct input into the process. Before the Bergen ministerial summit EI produced
a study on
“The Role of Academics in the Bologna Process”.
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Running the Let’s Go!”-mobility Campaign in cooperation with the European Students’ Union. The Campaign aims at increasing student and staff mobility and is an important contribution from EI to the creation and enhancement of a European Higher Education Area;
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Promoting and advocating for the implementation of the UNESCO-Council of Europe Lisbon Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications;
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Working with the OECD and UNESCO for the implementation of the “Guidelines on Quality Provision in Cross Border Higher Education”, having great relevance for the EHEA and beyond;
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Involvement in the European Commission process of elaborating the “European Charter of researchers” and a “Code of conduct for the recruitment of researchers”, which together with the “Salzburg principles” make up an important framework for research and doctoral training in Europe;
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Producing every three years a report (10,39 MB) to the Expert Committee on the Application of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendations on the Status of Teachers and the 1997 UNESCO Recommendations on the Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel (CEART) outlining, in particular, the state of academic freedom around the world. This report connects to the statements in the Bologna Declaration regarding the importance of academic freedom.
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Membership of the BFUG Working Group “European Higher Education in a Global Setting”;
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Membership of the BFUG Working Group “Employability”;
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Membership of the BFUG Working Group “Data collection”;
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Membership of the BFUG Coordination Group “Mobility”.