What do languages mean for business?

A European Voice debate with Commissioner Leonard Orban

Thursday 6 December 2007
Polak Room, Résidence Palace Theatre (block C, ground floor)
Rue de la Loi 155, 1040 Brussels

11:00 – 13:00 followed by buffet lunch

How multilingual are Europeans?

Polyglots? Most EU-citizens are, but 44% have no foreign language skills (Eurobarometer)

Literate? On the whole yes, but still 10% of Europeans are in the low language skills category for their mother tongue (International Adult Literacy Survey, 1998)

Mobile? 93% of Europeans live and die in the country in which they were born (Eurofound)

The debate covered issues such as:

- Do employers and employees feel as much need to be multilingual and internationally mobile as policy makers?

- What native and foreign language skills do employers need?

- Is there a preference for recruiting people who already have required (language) skills rather than investing in training?

- Is English as a foreign language enough or just a starting point? Do employers seek additional foreign language skills in addition to English?

Moderator: Dana Spinant, editor of European Voice

The panel members included:

- Leonard Orban, European commissioner for multilingualism

- Helga Trüpel, MEP (Germany - Greens/EFA), vice-Chairwoman, culture and education committee, European parliament

- Gerben van Lent, executive director assessment solutions, ETS Europe - Education Testing Service

- Emmanuel Jahan, human resources & social affairs permanent representive, Air France – KLM

- Representative, Polish Confederation of Private Employers

The debate was sponsored by ETS Europe.

Educational Testing Service (ETS) is a world leader in developing industry standard assessments with an emphasis on quality, using the expertise of its distinguished statisticians and psychometricians. ETS has developed globally recognised and accepted language, academic and professional assessments such as the TOEIC®, TOEFL®, GRE® and TFI™ tests. ETS Europe offers valid, reliable assessments and Custom Assessment Solutions services to educational and business communities throughout Europe.

www.etseurope.org

“How comparable are higher education degrees and qualifications across Europe?”

20 September 2007
Résidence Palace
Rue de la Loi 155, 1040 Brussels
11H00 – 13h00 followed by lunch

The debate covered the following topics:

- Progress in implementing the Bologna Process: does Europe have a system of easily readable and comparable degrees?
- Quality assurance: what progress has been made towards comparable criteria and methodologies?
- Learning Outcomes: How to assess them?
- European Qualification Framework (EQF): a help or hindrance?
- Employability: the perspective of employers on qualifications

Tim King, deputy editor of European Voice, moderated the debate between members of the panel and audience.

The panel members included:

• - Peter Van der Hijden, European Commission's school education and higher education unit;
• - Gordon Marsden, a British MP with a long-standing involvement in education and employment issues;
• - Karin Riegler, senior programme manager, European University Association;
• - Freddy Coignoul, University de Liege, member of the Bologna process group and the agency for the evaluation of the quality of higher education of the Belgian francophone community;
• - Margarete Rudzki, policy advisor, education & training, employment & social affairs, EUROCHAMBRES, was unable to attend owing to illness.

The debate was sponsored by ETS Europe. 

ETS is the world leader in developing industry standard assessments with an emphasis on quality, using the expertise of its distinguished statisticians and psychometricians. ETS has developed globally recognised and accepted language and professional assessments such as the TOEIC®, TOEFL®, GRE® and TFI™ tests.

ETS Europe expertise extends beyond language learning products. Our Custom Assessment Solutions Department addresses specific needs, leveraging our expertise in the fields of educational measurement and research. Our Department has a strong record successfully bidding for and implementing national and international educational projects for governmental and non-governmental organisations involved in educational reform, as well as academic and professional development. 

ETS Europe offers valid, reliable assessments and related services to educational and business communities throughout Europe.
www.etseurope.org 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The Bologna Process

The Bologna Process is an inter-governmental initiative that aims to create a European Higher Education Area by 2010, in which students can choose from a wide and transparent range of high quality courses and benefit from smooth recognition procedures.
The Bologna Declaration of June 1999 put in motion a series of reforms to make European higher education more compatible and comparable, more competitive and more attractive for Europeans and for students and scholars from other continents.

The priorities of the Bologna process are:
-Introduction of a two cycle degree system, undergraduate and doctorate, with the graduate cycle leading to the Master and/or Doctorate degree;
-Promotion of European co-operation in quality assurance;
-Establishment of a system of credits.

46 countries and various international organizations participate in the Bologna Process.

European Qualifications Framework – EQF

The Commission adopted on 5 September 2006 a proposal for a recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the establishment of the European Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning (EQF). The EQF will provide a common language to describe qualifications which will help member states, employers and individuals compare qualifications across the EU’s diverse education and training systems.

The Commission’s education and culture directorate-general published on 25 May the second call for proposals to test and develop the EQF. The call aims to support projects in developing and testing the EQF, including national and sectoral qualifications frameworks. Deadline for applications is 31 August 2007.

Invitation to the IEA-ETS Research Institute (IERI) training

The IEA-ETS Research Institute (IERI) is a collaborative effort between the Research & Development Division at ETS and the IEA Data Processing and Research Center that focuses on improving the science of large-scale assessments. The IERI will organize and conduct training in specialized topics related to large-scale assessment.  These will involve inviting recognized experts in the field to conduct training seminars lasting one or more days. Aside from training activities in the form of seminars or lectures, IERI will also make available internships and fellowships through the funding institutions.  Information on training, internships and fellowships will be provided as it becomes available.

Scheduled Training Activities:
IERI Academy - Autumn 2007

Academy Invitation (pdf file)
Registration Form (pdf file or word doc) 

The IERI undertakes activities around three broad areas of work that include research studies related to the development and implementation of large-scale assessments (research area); professional development and training (training area); and dissemination of research findings and information gathered through large-scale assessments (dissemination area).
The label “virtual” is attached to the research area to emphasize that the research projects are hosted in the funding institutions, but are facilitated by Web-based collaboration as well as by the shared joint expertise of researchers involved in work on large-scale assessments.
The aim of this virtual research area is to contribute to the science of large-scale assessments so that the best available information is provided to policy makers and researchers from around the world.