Ei-iE

The EI Pan-European Higher Education and Research Standing Committee (HERSC) met in Brussels from 11-12 February to discuss the challenges confronting the sector in the European region.

The Committee members elected Jens Vraa-Jensen from Denmark as the Chairperson and Krunoslav Pisk from Croatia and Dominique Lassarre from France as the vice-Chairpersons.

Besides the ongoing matters like the upcoming Bologna Follow-Up Group (BFUG) meeting in Madrid later in February, the main issues on the agenda were the impact of the financial and economic crisis on higher education in Europe, preparations for the Ministerial Anniversary Conference in Budapest and Vienna in March, and stronger involvement of EI and academic staff in quality assurance in the provision of higher education.

Peter van der Hijden, policy officer from the Research Directorate-General of the European Commission was a special guest at the meeting where he presented the most recent developments in the European Research Area and future plans of the Commission in the field.

The next meeting of the committee will be held in Leuven from 14-15 October.