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Undoubtedly, the modern democratic framework of higher education has to cultivate students' relevant skills such as democratic participation, cooperation, taking responsibility, strengthen trust in public institutions and constitutions, freedom of expression and decision-making, as prerequisites for future's active citizens. Exactly these goals are advancing in the student communities, the function of which has continuously served the principle of democratic representation. Therefore, through the understanding of learning as a social activity and a vehicle of innovation and productivity in society, we may conclude that higher education can be - and should be a multilevel way for social cohesion and promotion of democratic values by preparing students to be active citizens. The main aim of this paper is to assess the role of higher education in the current challenging circumstances, in the context of addressing new and old problems while fostering fairness, diversity and social inclusion, broadly, democracy and social cohesion. The paper will analyze the importance of higher education institutions in order to achieve that goals, by focusing on the usage of a combination of diverse and innovative methods and new technologies but without undermining academic and institutional integrity. A case study of an EU institution simulation will also be analyzed in order to show the importance of such actions and alternative ways of learning for achieving the enforcement of active citizens. The analysis will lead to policy proposals for integrating new methods to fundamental academic values in the current context in order to foster democracy and social cohesion.

Presents a methodology for developing economic literacy using popular education techniques, drawing on 1991/92 fieldwork conducted with a group of women in Peten, Guatemala. It is observed that the first step in any such program is a proper understanding of the economic, cultural, & political reality of women as it is experienced in their daily lives, which is translated into an educational program geared to respond to this reality. The next step is to provide a group experience that allows women to learn from one another & positively reinforces each individual's abilities & knowledges. Women are inspired to become independent learners who can construct concrete visions of their economic futures & act on those visions. Economic literacy must be attached to the availability of capital so that women can expand their enterprises in the context of their communities. It is suggested that this method encourages individual & community economic development & can be used as a stepping stone for women who live in poverty to become agents rather than objects of economic forces. 1 Figure. D. M. Smith

[The author tried] to review how the debate of the significance of community for political thinking and citizenship education has emerged out, of the liberalism versus communitarian debate and the revival of a civic republican conception of politics. This raises the issue of how do we develop through community involvement, especially on the local level, a more deliberative and democratic politics which can also provide a more political framework for citizenship education. Thus community involvement in the new citizenship curriculum based on the pedagogy of service learning must address the question of how the learning experience can be best structured to challenge students to become learning experience can be best structured to challenge students to become 'political' and aware of the political significance of civic engagement in local communities. (DIPF/orig.).

The reasons for introducing education for citizenship in England in 2002 were both political and educational. They were political because there was concern about the state of democracy, public order and the quality of community life, which led to a call for civil renewal. ... [The Crick Report] proposed that young people should develop their social and civic skills through active engagement in the life of their school and its wider communities. In other words citizenship education was explicitly intended to promote experiential and community-based learning. It further set out to foster young people's active and democratic involvement in the life of their schools. ... The consequence of the development was to bring together ... the English tradition of community volunteering with the pedagogical principles of reformist pedagogues. (DIPF/orig.).

Rapid climate change is exposing subsistence farmers to enormous challenges, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Several foreign aid programs have been set up to cope with these issues, many of which have focused on technical solutions. However, there seems to be a large gap between scientific research and the needs of local communities. Besides focusing on new ways to improve the resilience of local food production, there is also an urgent need to adapt available knowledge to the local context. Based on experiences from a project to co-create community networks in Togo in 2020, we aim to empower local stakeholders, including farmers and scientists, to adapt existing knowledge of sustainable crop farming to current practices. New modes of knowledge exchange can be established with the help of participatory design. These methods may help to foster a collective approach to learning that enables people to cope with global challenges on a local level, all while valuing the traditional practices of local farmers and enriching them with scientific knowledge.

Investigates ways in which the new information society might contribute to economic development at the regional level & help to lessen the gap between central & peripheral regions. Reports & policy statements by the Commission of the European Communities are optimistic that combining information-based goods & services with diffuse electronic networks can help offset the "tyranny of geography" that has relegated certain areas to the nether regions of social & economic participation. Here, the development of a telecommunications infrastructure in various European regions is outlined, exploring how the adoption of new information & communications technologies gives peripheral regions enhanced work mobility by (1) industrializing the service sector, (2) creating a spatial separation of production & consumption, & (3) allowing firms to manage at a distance. Barriers to such development are identified, & the concept of "learning region" is introduced to describe the prerequisites necessary to successful adoption of information & communication technologies at both the individual & organizational levels. 2 Tables, 1 Figure. K. Hyatt Stewart

An examination of the life, teachings, & legacy of Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, a Japanese educational reformer & founder of the Soka Gakkai Buddhist movement, who promoted more holistic approaches to the learning process. The meaning of "value-creating education" is discussed, along with Makiguchi's struggle against the dominant voices of the time, in an attempt to find more humane ways to teach young people. His philosophy was rooted in traditional wisdom & a sense of place, & centered on education as a means to nurture self-discovery, a sense of purpose, appreciation for work, & a love of life. Makiguchi's legacy for the 21st century highlights the need for community; the imperative that humans understand & care for the earth; & the value of character-nurturing education. Intimate ties with the earth, & feelings of responsibility toward it, were basic to Makiguchi's conceptions because he feared a global environmental crisis resulting from the disappearance of inhabitants rooted in communities & appreciative of their habitat. He believed education was meant to encourage students to become "joyful, self-directing, self-actualizing, socially conscious members of society.". J. Lindroth

"Interdependent activities may be coordinated in the absence of a central coordinator if each individual in a group adjusts himself to the state of affairs resulting from the actions of other individuals in that group. Such coordination by mutual adjustment can assume different forms: competitive adjustments, as in the market; persuasion, as in an adversary process; consultation, as in a collegium. This chapter focuses on the last two types of mutual adjustment. Persuasion is shown to be as important in achieving social consensus on policy as in resolving conflicts among experts over technical issues with public policy implications. Policy communities play an important role in resolving the conflict between the demand for greater participation in policy-making and the need for an increasingly narrow technical specialization. The collegium is discussed as a distinct principle of coordination based on consultation and persuasion, rather than on competitive adjustments or administrative rules. When cognitive complexity is high, outcomes ambiguous, and quality difficult to evaluate, the collegium has definite advantages over alternative modes of coordination and control. Hence, it is proposed that collegiality, rather than hierarchy, should be the main organizing principle for highly technical activities of public administration such as environmental and safety regulation. The chapter concludes by noting the role of persuasion in bridging the gap between policy formulation and implementation, and in creating a context in which social learning can take place." (author's abstract)