For the eighth time, ACA and EAIE will organise a joint seminar during the EAIE annual conference, taking place this year in Basel from 13 to 16 September 2006.

The seminar, scheduled for 15 September 2006, will explore the relative standing of Europe’s universities and colleges in a global setting. It will assess the strengths and weaknesses of European higher education compared to its current competitors, such as the US and Australia, and emerging contenders, such as India and China. Within this context, the quality and attractiveness of education in Europe and the position of European higher education institutions as drivers of innovation and growth of the knowledge economy will be discussed. The format of this seminar will differ from earlier ones: while the ACA-EAIE seminar used to be a pre-conference seminar of limited size, this will be a major, on-invitation event within the conference programme.

Franziska Muche and Bernd Wächter (both ACA) will familiarise participants with the key findings of two recent ACA studies, namely on the perception of European higher education in other world regions, and on global student flows (EURODATA). Using the input from the studies as a point of departure, a high-level panel discussion will try to identify key needs for strengthening European higher education in the global market. Panellists will be Rolf Hoffmann (German-American Fulbright Commission), Gunn Mangerud (SIU), Jean-Marc Rapp (CRUS), Christian Bode (DAAD), Peter van der Hijden (European Commission), and Ramon Ollé (Epson Europe).