WIREDGOV

EU Legislation, Initiatives, etc.

EU News:  Europe urgently needs to address the social dimension of higher education more forcefully and coherently, particularly in view of the economic downturn.  This is the conclusion of a new Commission report looking at national policies on access to higher education, funding & student support.

Press release & links

EU News:  In a policy Communication with the title ‘Towards an EU Criminal Policy’ published last week, the European Commission has set out the strategy & principles it intends to apply when using EU criminal law to strengthen the enforcement of European policies and protect the interests of the citizens.

Press release & links

EU News:  As part of Europe 's strategy for jobs & growth, the European Commission has presented a reform strategy to boost graduate numbers, improve teaching quality and maximise what higher education can do to help the EU economy emerge stronger from the crisis.  

EU-level initiatives will include a multi-dimensional university ranking which will better inform students about the courses which are best for them and an 'Erasmus for Masters' loan guarantee scheme for students taking a full degree course abroad.

Press release & links

EU News:  The European Commission has announced plans to further improve the recognition & promotion of volunteering in the EU. In the context of European Year of Volunteering 2011, the Commission's Communication on EU Policies and Volunteering outlines a range of measures that will help foster voluntary activities in the EU, including the creation of a European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps and the development of a 'European Skills Passport'.

Press release & links

EU News:  The European Commission has set out a 'roadmap' aimed at transforming Europe 's economy into a sustainable one by 2050.  The Roadmap to a resource-efficient Europe outlines how we can achieve the resource efficient growth which is essential for our future wellbeing & prosperity.  It identifies the economic sectors that consume the most resources, and suggests tools & indicators to help guide action in Europe and internationally.

Press release & links ~ CBI comment

EU News:  Every year, hundreds of thousands of new titles enter the European book market – but only a few turn into real bestsellers.  A good number of them eventually go out of commerce as publishers cannot maintain the costs of marketing & storing books in print if they do not continue to sell well.  While publishers are bringing more books back into commerce through e-books and print on demand, many titles still remain in the collections and archives of Europe 's libraries.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed in which libraries, publishers, authors, and their collecting societies have agreed to a set of Key Principles that will give European libraries & similar cultural institutions the possibility to digitise and make available on line out-of-commerce books and learned journals which are part of their collections.

Press release & links