The impact of decentralization policies on the Polish school system and the emergence of educational alternatives to the state system are examined. The discussion focuses on community schools as a particular case of decentralized educational reform that has roots in the social activist and communitarian traditions of Solidarity, but has also found…

The creation of a Europe of knowledge has been a prime objective for the European Union since the Lisbon European Council of March 2000. Subsequent European Councils, particularly Stockholm in March 2001 and Barcelona in March 2002, have taken the Lisbon objective further forward. The Lisbon agenda calls for efforts from a wide range of players.…

Accelerating threats to a sustainable relationship between economic growth and the capacity of the global social-ecological system to support it require that the implications of competitiveness be reassessed. Today, the capacities that underlie economic competitiveness must also be brought to bear on policy and pedagogy to prepare the coming…

This article presents an argued case for making sustainable development a policy obligation for the European Training Foundation (ETF) and for vocational education and training (VET) reform in the partner countries that are served by ETF. In relation to ETF it points out that no major emphasis has been put to date on combining economic, social and…

Since 1986 when the National People's Congress ratified the Compulsory Education Law, China's achievement of nine-year compulsory basic education for its huge school-age population has been rapid and successful. However, the rate of achievement has grown unevenly across the country, reflecting the different economic development patterns of the…

The purpose of this article is to present the latest Education Lending Policy (ELP) of the European Investment Bank (EIB), adopted by the Board of Governors in 2008. It is structured in two parts. The first briefly presents the EIB in general and the evolution of its education lending portfolio in particular. This sets the stage for the second…

Beginning in the year 2000, higher education policies all over Europe were transformed by the launching and evolution of the Bologna Process, otherwise known as the process of creating a European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Initially, this process was flexible and informal, which makes the rapidity and scope of the changes it brought about…

Describes the European Community's efforts to unify Europe and enhance competitiveness in world markets by improving use of available intellectual potential. Discusses ERASMUS, the European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students. Explains the role of Inter-University Cooperation Programs (ICPs), a course credit transfer…

Describes European Community attempts to foster awareness of cultural unity. Explains that efforts include curricula and classroom instruction, educational materials, teacher training, and international contacts between teachers and students. Lists three objectives: (1) determining how the educational system contributes to the creation of the…

Discusses the European Community's languages program, LINGUA. Describes hopes of dismantling foreign language barriers and facilitating the free movement of persons and ideas and the growth of firms and trade. Notes that the program includes continuing education of language teachers, student exchange, innovation in teaching methods, and…

Discusses effects of integration of the European Community and internal market on qualifications for occupational activity. Describes German objections to the community's attempts to set educational policy. Urges common community definitions of professions and recognition of vocational qualifications to facilitate freedom of movement of the work…

Describes Greek participation in European Community programs for education. Discusses Greek programs for the education of migrant workers' children, student and teacher mobility grants, visas, and financial support. Examines Greek involvement in the Community Action Program for Education and Training for Technology (COMETT). Finds that Greek…

Discusses the problems of intercultural education in the European Community. Specifies that, for education not to discriminate, both majority and minorities must experience common learning processes and have opportunities to acquire relatively unbiased information about each other. Examines educational policy, school structure, and language…

Discusses European attempts to standardize academic and vocational qualifications. Expresses concern that the internal market threatens the cultural sovereignty of states. Describes the consequences of teacher mobility for the German education system. Concludes that more openness is necessary for the European Community's educational policymaking…

Discusses problems that European higher education will face as a result of European Community programs. Warns that resistance to change could marginalize higher education and reduce European integration to a purely economic, technological, and political phenomenon. Addresses diversity versus uniformity, the nature of expected change, and general…