Rol hbo Europabreed onderzocht

Het project duurt 3 jaar. Doel van het project is het Europese hoger onderwijs te voorzien van een overzicht van trends, een SWOT-analyse en feedback van peers . Aangezien de inbedding van hoger beroepsonderwijs in Europese landen nogal verschilt, zal harmonisatie worden aangemoedigd. Stakeholders zullen uitgenodigd worden deel te nemen aan het project. Daarbij wordt gedacht aan Europese regio’s, vertegenwoordigers van het midden- en kleinbedrijf alsmede onderzoeksinstituten.

Projectbeschrijving

Over the last three decades we have witnessed a rapid change in professional practice throughout Europe under influence of the development of the knowledge society. The image of a highly educated professional with a standard repertoire of knowledge and skills is outdated. Society expects a professional who continuously produces new and interdisciplinary knowledge on the basis of his or her creativity and innovative talent, which can be directly applicable in practice. Moreover, this new professional should be enabled to move freely across borders to apply knowledge according to demand and in order to keep in close contact with European experts from his or her professional practice.

Educating professionals for professional practice in the initial phase and in the context of life long learning is the core task of Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS). It will be clear that the demand for the new European professional means an adaptation in the way they are educated. UAS are currently involved in accommodating these new demands: by embedding skills in relation to knowledge acquisition, application and applied research in the curriculum. This is done by keeping close contact with innovative demands from the world of work and by offering assistance in developing innovative solutions for professional practice. In this way education can be kept up-to-date to present and future demands, and further education needs from the life long learning professional can be met. Therefore applied research becomes an ever more important focus for the UAS. In future this will be more and more a core element of their professional education mission.

This project is aimed at mapping the various ways UAS in Europe take on the challenge of integrating the combination of education and applied research in the curricula of the New European professional. The project will provide European UAS with an overview of the general trends, a SWOT-analysis and peer learning opportunities. Further harmonisation in the European Higher Education Area will be encouraged. The project will take place in close consultation with a user-group from European regions, SMEs and research performing institutes. In this way all the relevant stakeholders will be united, in order to discuss improvement of the quality and alignment of education to the demands from new professional practice, and to develop joint initiatives. The project will deliver lasting European added value by mirroring the developments in the regions and countries to the European level, and by stimulating cooperation between (future) professionals.