ABOUT

Main current challenges facing the EU include globalization, sustainability of public finances and labour market performance. There is widely accepted analysis suggesting that knowledge is a crucial factor for growth, structural adjustment and social inclusion.

Policy formulation has been centered primarily on labour supply aspects, but less so on the quality aspects of human capital. The challenge of rising productivity and its positive effect on innovation and sustainability of public finances puts the quality of education at the center stage. The regular EU assessment of progress on structural reform (the annual review of national reform programs) suggests that the area where countries need to make more progress is in human capital formation. This is demonstrated by the fact that this is the area where the number of country specific recommendations put forward by the EU Commission is the highest. Furthermore, the OECD (PISA 2006) indicates that improving student performance is an important issue for Europe; and other studies (Bruegel 2007) suggest that European universities lag in excellence by world standards. From the policy making and public finance point of view, this mitigates for careful prioritization of overall expenditures and pursuance of greater effectiveness and efficiency of spending on education. In the context of the Lisbon strategy, tertiary level education holds specific relevance. It is a tool not only for producing university graduates but also for driving the knowledge frontier and supporting innovation.

To strengthen efforts of Member States in the area of tertiary education the EU dimension can play an important role, in particular by enhancing mobility of professors and students and cooperation of universities. Some initiatives could be underpinned and strengthened by the Community level in parallel with the implementation of the Bologna process.

The objective of the Conference is to provide an opportunity for academics and policy makers to take stock of the relevance of human capital in the economic policy agenda, discuss and exchange initiatives to enhance the efficiency of public spending in the domains of tertiary education at national and EU level.

The Conference will be organized in three thematic sessions and a panel discussion focusing on:

assessment of factors enhancing the quality of tertiary education including the effectiveness and efficiency of public spending;

the EU dimension of enhancing national efforts and;

the macro-economic dimension of tertiary education.

The panel discussion will wrap up the discussion and draw conclusions.