Globalization and competition in education

The Europe of Knowledge has become a standard expression in discourses. The European Union needs more highly qualified knowledge workers and traditional qualifications must be supplemented by specialised programmes adapted to a new lifelong learning demand. As this expansion in demand cannot be matched by a proportional rise in public expenditure, educational services are increasingly provided by (1) private and commercial organisations and by (2)‘borderless’ higher education providers often from outside the higher education sector. The regulation of these new providers and the various forms of transnational higher education, of international transferability and recognition of qualifications and credits and of quality assurance and accreditation are challenges to be dealt with. This book contains the proceedings of the European Cultural and Educational Forum which took place in 2002 in Bruges and was hosted jointly by the College of Europe, the European Association for Education Law and Policy, the Province of West Flanders and the City of Bruges. The aim of the Forum was to formulate recommendations on the European educational and cultural space. The educational session of the Forum 2002 was dedicated to the issues of globalisation and competition in education in the enlarged Europe