Suchergebnisse

The Reform Treaty of 2007 established the values and objectives of the EU. Innovation is not specifically mentioned, nor are research and development, but they are clearly related to the values and objectives. The Innovation Union was launched in 2010 as one of the flagship initiatives of The Europe 2020 Strategy. The EU is to be a world class performer in innovation, remove the obstacles to innovation, and "revolutionize the way the public and the private sector work together". In the process, the EU will produce 3.7 million jobs by 2020, and more if combined with the digitalization process, which is separately run by the European Commission. Innovation would be achieved in cooperation with the private sector, local authorities, and individual citizens of EU member states. Citizens should be full participants, and the ultimate beneficiaries of the EU activities. Democracy at the EU level has not made much progress. Many EU reports and others by scholars have been looking in the so called "democratic deficit". We will look at two questions: Is the innovation with digitalization likely to raise the standard of living in a far advanced economic system? Can democracy grow or diminish in the new economic system called "the second industrial revolution (as it is called by K. Drum, although some call it the third or fourth industrial revolution)? Those who wrote the Lisbon Treaty believed in a high standard of living and democratic – liberal institutions in not that too distant future; a world of peace and further development. The EU and its citizens should be able to create a better future for all.

The European Union (EU) policy on languages is based on multilingualism, that is with respect to the equality and parity of all 24 official and working languages (of the 28 member states). The EU functions in all these languages thanks to translation and interpretation, with a few exceptions. Three so called "procedural languages" (English, French and German) are used in the Commission for its internal work. French is also given working preference in the Court of Justice of the EU. Multilingualism helps to maintain transparency in the work of the institutions, facilitates communication with European citizens and heightens efficiency. The 47‐ state Council of Europe, by comparison, while recognizing the equality of all its languages, has opted for two working languages in its institutions and five in its Parliamentary Assembly. There is no common language in Europe and monolingualism is not under consideration for the time being. Among Europeans, English is the first language of mutual communication, French being the second. Europe, however, has a long history of functioning monolingualism and single language use in diplomacy, international relations, and intellectual life. In real life, the equality and parity of languages cannot be maintained for an extended time as the international community tends to function in one or a few languages, mainly for practical purposes but also to diminish the advantages enjoyed by native speakers of working or official languages. Languages in general convey the cultures of their native speakers, as well as their concepts, qualities, relations and terms (called "universals" in philosophy). The United States, for instance, does not have an official language by law, yet de facto, English has grown into that role. This paper is dedicated to the search for an ideal solution for EU institutions, which would make not only states but also their citizens more equal. The EU and other European organizations and their institutions will eventually need a common language in addition to all ...

Johan Olsen, a well known expert on higher education, asked the following question: "Is Europeanization as disappointing a term as it is fashionable? Should it be abandoned or is it useful for understanding European transformations? It is our assessment that the concept of Europeanization is rather useful, despite being occasionally vague. In fact, its vagueness contributes to the flexibility which the EU member states want to maintain, while they try to achieve common goals through coordination and a process free from regulation and supranational decision-making. The freedom, autonomy and diversity of European higher education have helped the development of one of the most successful and the best-performing systems of higher education worldwide. In only three years, there will be a European Higher Education Area. Present day achievements in higher education are the building blocks of tomorrow's common EHEA. Europeanization is paving the way, we should maintain it and continue with it.

Since its creation in 2010, the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), as a part of the Bologna process, has achieved many successes on the way to the future integration of Europe as a whole in the field of higher education. Most of its 49 members have adopted and implemented reforms of higher education, having in mind sustainable development, a knowledge based society, higher employment, innovation and social cohesion. Our paper is divided into the following four parts. In the first part, we describe the future EHEA through its basic documents adopted by the Ministerial conferences of participating states, as envisioned in the Bologna declaration of 1999. The second part deals with higher education in the Republic of Macedonia – a participant of the Bologna process since 2003. The Macedonian Law on Higher Education of 2008 is consistent with the Bologna process, but deals insufficiently with higher education mobility –one of the main themes of the 2015 European Ministerial Conference in Yerevan. The third part deals with good practices in the implementation of the Bologna principles in various parts of Europe and beyond. Macedonia, like other nations needs a mobility strategy. Will Macedonia and other countries be able to have 20% of their student body spend a part of their study abroad by 2020? Only with difficulty. The question that remains is, what can be done about it? The fourth part contains some answers to the mobility conundrum by providing recommendations for the faster growth of inbound and outbound mobility. The recommendations apply to the EHEA and its member states. The methodology used includes: reviewing relevant documents; using UNESCO and EU statistics; and semi‐structured interviews with Macedonian graduate students, colleagues and state officials. These are, in part, a basis of the recommendations.