AAC&U Annual Meeting
January 25-28, 2012
Washington, DC / Grand Hyatt Hotel

SHARED FUTURES / DIFFICULT CHOICES
Reclaiming a Democratic Vision for College Learning,
Global Engagement, and Success

The following sessions are sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the Lumina Foundation, and the Erasmus Mundus Programme of the European Union

NEW FRONTIERS ON HIGHER EDUCATION QUALITY ASSURANCE:
Documenting Achievement and Learning Outcomes for Citizenship and Employability in Europe and the United States

This special track of sessions addresses how colleges and universities in the United States, Europe, and Australia are advancing and documenting the quality of learning in higher education.

In the United States, a robust national conversation is underway about how to increase the numbers of students with access to higher education—and especially about how we can ensure that more of those students graduate with quality degrees or credentials.  AAC&U and the Lumina Foundation have both foregrounded the importance of attending to issues of access, completion, and quality as we reform higher education institutions in challenging economic times.  At last year’s annual meeting, Lumina Foundation released their new Degree Qualifications Profile (DP).  The DP describes the knowledge, skills and applications that prepare graduates to succeed in the economy, civil society, and in their own lives.  It is now being used by many individual campuses and as part of several funded initiatives.  This track highlights several of those initiatives and sets this work on quality in the context of similar work happening in Europe and in Australia.

European policies and programmes in higher education are at the heart of Europe’s attempts to become a dynamic and sustainable competitive economy in the Knowledge Society. Over the past decade these policies have resulted in higher education undergoing major transformation with the well-known Bologna Process, the Modernisation Agenda, the more recent Transparency Agenda, as well as with the Lisbon Strategy now succeeded by the EU2020 Strategy. Such changes demonstrate the emergence of a dynamic European environment, building on the diversity of Europe’s many national systems.   Practical tools have been developed to support curriculum reforms, student-centered learning approaches and employability.  The Tuning initiative on curriculum and degree profiling and the European qualification frameworks are only some examples of the many initiatives undertaken.   

JANUARY 26, 2012

10:30-11:45 am
Defining and Assessing Degrees Based on Learning: Degree Qualifications Frameworks in the US and Europe

Welcome and Introductions:
Mei Zhao, Consulting Scholar, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

Frans van Vught, President European Centre for the Strategic Management of Universities, top level advisor to the European Commission and international higher education expert; Former Rector and President, Universiteit Twente

Moderator:  Holiday Hart McKiernan, Vice-President, Lumina Foundation

Speakers:
Terry Rhodes, Vice President for Quality, Curriculum, and Assessment, AAC&U

Robert Wagenaar, Coordinator, Tuning Educational Structures; Director, Undergraduate and Graduate Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Groningen

2:45-4:00 pm
A Transatlantic and TransEuropean Dialogue on Quality Assurance and Student Mobility

Moderator: Paul Gaston, Trustees Professor of English, Kent State University and consultant to the Lumina Foundation

Speakers:
Peter Ewell, Vice President, National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (invited)

Liviu Matei, Central European University Vice-President

4:15-5:30 pm
The Global Innovation Economy: Essential Outcomes and Practices for Student Employability and Success in the 21st Century Economy

Moderator: Debra Humphreys, Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs, AAC&U                          

Speaker:
Luis Vila Lladosa, Researcher in Labour Market, University of Valencia

Respondents:
Frans van Vught, President European Centre for the Strategic Management of Universities, top level advisor to the European Commission and international higher education expert; Former Rector and President Universiteit Twente

Lynn Meek, Director, LH Martin Institute, University of Melbourne

PowerPoint Presentation (PDF)