Activities of Gianni VATTIMO related to 2011/2294(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on modernising Europe’s higher education systems PDF (235 KB) DOC (146 KB)
Amendments (22)
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas individuals must re-think their careers and widen as well as update their skills and knowledge at an ever faster rate, taking into account that there is a difference between vocational study programmes, where European harmonisation is feasible and desirable, and humanities courses, where there should continue to be substantial freedom and autonomy in study and research programmes with regard to the historical and cultural differences of European Union Member States and diversity of teaching in higher education institutions and their specific mission;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Calls on higher education institutions to integrate with the aid of economic assistance and different study programmes, lifelong learning into their curricula and adapt to a student base that includes adults, non-traditional learners and full-time students who have to work while studying;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2.Invites higher education institutions to take into account the needs of professionals who need to update their skills in a short space of time, also through the organisation and fine-tuning of update courses that are accessible to all social groups;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Calls on higher education institutions to uphold the spirit of autonomy in teaching and research while providing specific study programmes with the aim of meeting the needs of professionals who are requesting to update their skills;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3.Acknowledges the richness inherent in the wide variety of higher education institutions in Europe; calls on the Member States and these institutions to develop clear, integrated, pathways that allow learners to progress from other types of education into higher education and to change between different tracks and types of institutions;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4.Emphasises that academic staff and students, as well as their organisations and associations, need to be involved in the modernisation of higher education institutions; stresses that excellence in both research and teaching needs to be rewarded, without thereby penalising those higher education institutions – for example humanities faculties – that do not fall within the evaluation and performance criteria linked solely to the skills demanded by the market economy;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Endorses the Commission’s initiative to launch a multi-dimensional tool for ranking of higher education institutions based on characteristics such as the quality of teaching, regional engagement and knowledge transfer, without thereby establishing a classification of higher education institutions on the basis of non- homogeneous performance indicators between the various and specific training courses, in order to prevent public policy in the field of education favouring certain higher education institutions and to redistribute investment in a more equitable manner between all types of higher education teaching;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6.Demands that the attractiveness of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) for students and researchers from all over the world be promoted and that collaboration with non-EU countries in educational matters be strengthened, in particular with the countries that make up the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) or that directly border the EU, in order to turn the EHEA into a magnet for training and knowledge that is both macroregional and global;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8.Points out that public funding is of primary importance for the modernisation of the system of public higher education; emphasises that investment in higher education in Europe is crucial to overcoming the current economic crisis; calls on the Member States and higher education institutions to develop innovative funding mechanisms, with the aim of achieving a substantial increase in public investment, without which the quality of public higher education would be at risk;
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9.Reiterates that higher education has the potential to promote social inclusion and upward social mobility; calls on Member States and higher education institutions to widenincentivise and actively promote equitable access forto students from all social backgrounds andies for all, irrespective of sex, ethnicity, religion, social background or other form of discrimination, in order to recognise multiculturalism and multilingualism as a fundamental value of the EU that needs to be fostered;
Amendment 106 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10.Calls for the promotion of best practices that help higher education institutions react efficiently to changes in labour market demands and facilitate young people’s transition from higher education to the labour market and calls on Member States and higher education institutions to establish a general framework – rules, responsibilities, political and educational objectives, quality and priority of training and research – in which to promote best practices and to react to the challenges of the communication society;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11.Welcomes the quality framework for traineeships that the Commission intends to propose; emphasises the success of the ‘Erasmus placements’ that give students the opportunity to gain work experience abroad, and insists that this action be continued and reinforced by suitable funding also under the new programme;
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Emphasises that the importance of placements as a means of gaining practical and vocational experience must not underestimate the fact that students’ skills also include elements of knowledge and general culture that are not immediately applicable and transferable to the professional needs of the labour market;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12.Highlights the need to track graduates’ employment outcomes to measure how well higher education responds to labour market demands; welcomes therefore the Commission’s commitment to improving the availability of such data, with the principal aim of offering students information that is necessary and useful so they can orientate their study choices, and at the same time, giving higher education and research institutions the information to identify and subsequently develop programmes of study in terms of general knowledge as well as specific professional skills through lifelong learning, in a permanent dialogue with actors involved in the production of knowledge but also with society and the country;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13.Calls for the development of an international databasenk, similar to AlmaLaurea, which helps graduates to identify suitable job opportunities, thereby encouraging mobility, training, study and research opportunities, removing economic obstacles with bursaries and student loans to ensure real equality among students, and thereby encouraging mobility; reiterates the importance of correct communication in ensuring that this information can be easily accessed by students, recent graduates, the unemployed, jobseekers and employers;
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15.Welcomes the Commission’s support for ‘Knowledge Alliances’ and ‘Sector Skills Alliances’ in which higher education institutions and businesses jointly develop curricula to address skills shortages; calls upon businesses and entrepreneurs, including small and medium-sized enterprises, actively to develop partnerships with higher education institutions; reiterates however that higher education institutions produce cultural content that not only translates into vocational skills but also general knowledge, in terms of intellectual experience of reality and common values by which citizens live;
Amendment 134 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16.Emphasises the need tousefulness of developing mechanisms and management strategies that facilitate the transfer of innovative ideas and research results into business and allow business to provide input to higher education regarding needs for skills and innovations, taking into account best practices from all over the world; shows how such a connection is likely to favour financially only those research and higher education institutions that specialise in innovation and technology at the expense of education linked purely to the humanities;
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19.Emphasises the importance of language skills as a prerequisite for increased mobility within the EHEA and employability; supports the developreinforcement of language teaching within the EHEA as a precondition for the development of a true European citizenship based on multiculturalism and linguistic pluralism;
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19 a. Calls on Member States, the EU and European higher education systems, to evaluate the possibility of promoting within the study cycle, a compulsory training period at a university in a Member State other than the one to which the student is affiliated;
Amendment 158 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 b (new)
Paragraph 19 b (new)
19 b. Asks the Commission to propose the creation of Euro-Mediterranean Erasmus and Leonardi da Vinci programmes, aimed at promoting transnational mobility of students from both sides of the Mediterranean;
Amendment 159 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 c (new)
Paragraph 19 c (new)
19 c. Supports the proposal of the Commission to improve recognition of studies carried out abroad, reinforcing the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS); calls for an additional effort on the part of the EU and Member States towards more effective recognition and improved harmonisation also as regards academic qualifications;
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20.Points out that Member States’ higher education systems face a double challenge: some will have to cope with high numbers of incoming students while others will suffer from a ‘brain drain’, as many talented young people choose to study and then settle abroadEmphasises the importance, on the part of higher education systems of each Member State, to guarantee higher quality teaching so that the increase in mobility opportunities for students does not coincide with the worsening of the ‘brain drain’ phenomenon, where in some countries of the EU it now represents a genuine social problem;