PASCL Conference Reader

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find us on website:pascl.eu

PASCLPlacing students at the heart of learning

PASCL First Annual Conference and28th European Students Convenon28th-30th of September 2014 European University Instute, Florence, Italy

Conference Reader


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The PASCL project aims to assist in implemenng sound student centred learning (SCL) strategies and approaches at

instuonal level and to foster a culture of SCL in higher educaon instuons across Europe.

The project aims to:

develop a peer assessment framework (PASCL guidelines)for student centeredness of a higher educaon

instuon, which will lead to the award of a European recognion for student centred instuon. The award is

there to confirm that an instuon has successfully incorporated the elements of student centred learning in its

teaching and learning strategy and delivery of its educaon. The project is based on the consorums commonly

agreed framework defining student centred learning and will focus on both enhancement and rewarding

excellence in its provision.

exploit the knowledgegathered in the project during a training for experts, three conferences and research

study on SCL in Europe. The project will deploy an online repository with case studies, praccal advices forimplementaon of student centred learning, feedback from parcipang instuons and students.

give higher educaon instuons insight into their performance regarding implemenng student centred

learning and provide with the means for further improvements.

address the queson of students movaon to take an acve role in co-creang their learning experience.

give deserved visibility to the teaching missionof HE instuons, reward excellence in teaching, which is

beneficial for students, instuons themselves and society.

facilitate peer learning through the presentaon of exisng pracces, discussion and evaluaon of the

approaches in teaching and learning through the project website.

Peer Assessment of Student Centred Learning

pascl.eu


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Table of content

1. Welcome messages 2

2. UDU, ESU, EUI .. 6

3. 1ST

PASCL Conference...8

4. Detailed agenda . 9

5. Speaker Informaton ..12

6. Breakaway sessions...20

7. Background on SCL policy in HE in Europe .21

8. Venue and practcal informaton ....23

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1. Welcome messages

LETTER FROM ESUS CHAIRPERSON

Dear parcipants,

It is our great pleasure to welcome you to the 28th European

Students Convenon. We have been highly ancipang this event in

ESU and we are very excited that it is finally here. We look forward to

greeng old friends, meeng new ones and discussing one of our

favorite topics with our member organisaons. This topic is of course

Student Centered Learning (SCL), this concept has been a connued

success story for the European Student Union. It is a concept that weshaped and that has impacted and even become imbedded in

educaon policies within the European Higher Educaon Area and the

European Union.

It is also a concept that has deep grassroots support with local student

unions and councils within Europe and that is reflected in the work of the Naonal Unions of students. It is very

excing for us to see the concept of Student Centered Learning come into a new phase of impact. Just the week

before we meet in Florence, the final drafof the European Standards and Guidelines, which will be put forward to

the Ministerial conference in Armenia, was adopted. One of the biggest changes to the document was the inclusion

of Student Centered Learning as a standard. This will movate instuons all around Europe to address how they

approach learning and teaching.

The global discussion around open educaon resources has put teaching and learning in the center of the globaldiscussion regarding educaon. This is a golden opportunity to broaden the impact of Student Centered Learning, a

concept which could be the defining change in how educaon impacts society in the coming years. In addion to the

policy frameworks ESU is also commied to Student Centered Learning in a very praccal way. The PASCL project

funded by the European Union offers us renewed chances to impact learning and teaching across the con nent and

beyond. The 28th Student Convenon is one of the first milestones in this work. The success for Student Centered

Learning on the policy levels brings new quesons into focus and in Florence we will begin to address them anew.

I would like especially like to thank our gracious hosts UDU Unione degli Universitari and EUI- European University

Instute without whom this event which holds such promise would not be possible. We deeply thank you for you

hard work and generous contribuons to what will surely be a successful event. In addion I would like to thank our

very hardworking team in ESU, and in relaon to the ESC especially Erin Nordal, Fernando Miguel Galan Palomares

and Tijana Isoski for their hard work in organising the event. I am very proud of the hard work that everyone in the

ESU team has put in so far and the 28th ESC is proof and testament of this.

Again I welcome you all to the 28th European Students Convention and I look forward to meeng and discussing

with all of you!

Sincerely

Elisabeth Gehrke

Chairperson, The European Students Union

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LETTER FROM UDUS CHAIRPERSON

Dear board, dear friends,

On behalf of UDU Unione degli Universitari,

the Italian Students Union, it is my pleasure to

welcome you here in Florence for the 28th

European Students Conference and first PASCL

Conference.

I believe in the central importance of the main

themes of this Conference and I strongly feel the

urgency for us, as Italian and as Europeanstudents representaves to discuss these

parcular issues here in Italy.

I am really happy for having this important event here in Italy because I think it can also represents the possibilty to

discuss of higher educaon in a wider way of those that are used by our naonal stakeholders. Talking about

Student-Centred Learning for UdU means talking about the future of the higher educaon, building a different

approach not only to the teaching and learning process but mostly giving a different aim to the educaon. SCL is sll

something we need to understand deeper in all the analysis and in all the implicaons it has. However I think all the

society needs to have a SCL higher educaon. The importance of crical thinking in the learning process is something

that is underesmate. In the past years we didn't have any cric to the main economic theories but now we are

facing one the biggest economic crisis ever happened. Of course I am not saying that the educaon system is just the

main cause of the crisis; indeed huge cuts have been done in the educa on budget saying that "it's the crisis, we

don't have money". I am sure that we all have to queson the knowledge and be ready to think again a different

higher educaon system and therefore a different society, a really knowledge-based society.

In the last years many changes have been made in our naonal higher educaon system. I am really sorry to see that

no one has been speaking about Student - centred Learning involving the students representaves and the main

reforms that have been done. The evaluaon system of the university was designed and implemented without a real

involvement of the students and a real SCL approach. The reform of the university programmes have been done

almost always without a real SCL approach and also when discussing about other reforms - such as the student

support system reform or the reform of the access to the higher educaon - we do not see any kind of awareness of

the SCL challenge in the educaon policy. Therefore we want to call the Naonal Government, the Higher Educaon

Ministry and all the HE Instuons to face the challenge of seeing the students as part of the HE system, as peer

partners and begin to create a new path for the future.

We all understand that it won't be easy to change the view of all our educaon systems stakeholders, but we need to

understand that the learning process has to face many differences and different needs and this can be done onlywith a dinamic and complex approach.

We need to give answers to all the different learning styles, interest, needs and aims, the different experience and

backgrounds learning of the students. We have to create an environment that can create a coopera ng between

students and teachers, enabling all the potenal of the educaon process.

I want to remind a sentence of the great Galileo Galilei right today that we are all in Florence: "You cannot teach a

man anything. You can only help him discover it within himself". this is something that all the HE stakeholders have

to face with and I think this is also the reason for ESU has wrien this sentence on the first page of the specific toolkit

made on the SCL. Galileo Galilei understood the dynamism and complexity of the educaon process centuries ago.

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I hope all our Government and moreover all the Governments of the World can start discussing about HE as a priority

and not as a budget voice to cut. I hope they can start looking at all the HE with the perspecve of the SCL approach

and create a cooperave environment with all the students and all the students' unions.

SCL, though with its complexity, is certainly one of the main challenge of our me. We are here to face it and I hope

all the Governments will be standing by our side.

I feel very honored to be part of this important event because I believe in the importance of discussing Higher

Educaon at the European level. The work that we can do together is crucial and it gives us all the possibility but

also the responsibility to push every Naonal Government to get engaged in Higher Educaon and in all the

problems we focus on every day, even though they are ofen pung Educaon outside the naonal debate.

I think that we are all going to do a great job here together and we are going to have the chance to influence the

polical debate at different levels and this is going to give us stronger tools in our work for improving students rights

and the students life condion, which has always been the core theme of UdUs acon.

I want to thank you all for taking part in this conference and I also want to thank you all for the important work we

can do with ESU every day in all our Naons. I strongly believe that we cannot give any answer to the future debate

on the higher educaon, as for many other public issues, without being the leading actor of the internaonal debate.

Therefore I wish you all once again a wonderful and fruitul me here in Florence and I hope that all of you will bring

back a real good experience.

Gianluca Scuccimarra Chairperson UDU

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LETTER FROM EUI SECRETARY GENERAL

It is a pleasure for the European University Instute (EUI) to host the 28th

European Students Convenon. Being a disnctly internaonal

postgraduate teaching and research instute, the EUI is naturally

interested in the evoluon of the learning process, including

developments in the Bologna Process and opportunies offered by new

tools, such as eLearning. Moreover it is a fortunate occasion to hold the

event during the semester of Italian presidency of the EU Council.

For more than forty years, the EUI has successfully pursued its aim to

provide advanced academic training in the social sciences for doctoral and

post-doctoral researchers and to foster research in fields which are ofparcular interest for the development of Europe.

Today, the EUI today hosts a community of more than 1000 scholars from

over 60 countries. The Instutes doctoral programme excels with an integrated, mul-disciplinary approach to both

teaching and research across its four departments of Economics, History and Civilizaon, Law, and Polical and Social

Sciences.

The EUI is truly unique for its internaonal character, its range of intellectually smulang challenges and

opportunies, its mul-disciplinarity, and its facilies supporng advanced research in a singularly extraordinary

seng.

I hope that the parcipants at the 28th European Students Convenon will be able to experience first-hand the

uniqueness of the EUI during their stay in Florence.

Pasquale Ferrara

Secretary General

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2. UdU, ESU, EUI

UDU

Unione degli Universitari UdU is a confederaon of students associaons that are acve in the most important

universies of Italy. Every year around 10.000 students join UdU, becoming part of the students syndicate.

UdU was founded in 1994 by local student unions in Italy that wanted to have a common viewpoint on naonal

issues. The choice of the model of the Students Union was based on the idea of the centrality of the student,

recognized as an individual with its own specific identy and necessies, separated and autonomous from the family.

UdU is fighng for students rights and the social recognion of students; UdU is fighng every day to create a system

where Higher Educaon is accessible for everybody, against the numerous clauses and against economic

discrimination, with beer life condions for those who study and with a system of democracy and representaon .

UdU runs for local and naonal elecons for students representaves and counts a high number of elected in every

University at every level and has the majority and the presidency of the Na onal Council of Students.

But UdU is also culture and fun: concerts, magazines, fesvals and summer camp. From the bales in the official

representave bodies to the help in students everyday life, going through bureaucracy, health assistance, housing,

pares and cultural events, UdU is the Italian Students Union.

ESU

The European Students' Union (ESU) is the umbrella organizaon of 47 Naonal Unions of Students (NUS) from 39

countries (December 2012). The NUSes are open to all students in their respecve country regardless of polical

persuasion, religion, ethnic or cultural origin, sexual orientaon or social standing. Our members are also student-run, autonomous, representave and operate according to democrac principles.

Being the only European-wide student platorm ESU represents and promotes the educaonal, social, economic and

cultural interests of students at the European level towards all relevant bodies and in parcular the EU, BFUG (co-

chairing the work group on social dimension), Council of Europe and UNESCO. ESU builds capacity of its members on

policy developments in higher educaon (HE) at the European level and aims on influencing the HE agenda.

ESU has been acvely involved, in designing and promong the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality

Assurance (ESG), being one of the four founders (EUA, EURASHE, ESIB and ENQA) of the European Quality Assurance

Register for Higher Educaon (EQAR). Since 2012, ESU received a BFUG mandate to co-chair Social dimension

working group and one of the acon lines of the working group is to support widening access to educaon through

innovave pedagogical approaches.

ESU works to bring together, resource, train and inform naonal student representaves on policy developments in

higher educaon at the European level. Since decisions concerning higher educaon are increasingly taken at the

European level, ESU's role as the only European-wide student platorm is similarly growing. ESU's work centers

around supporng its members through organizing seminars, training, campaigns and conferences relevant to

students, conducng European-wide research, partnership projects and campaigns, providing informaon services

and producing a variety of publicaons. for both students, policy-makers and higher educaon professionals.

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EUI

The European University Instute (EUI) is a unique internaonal center for doctorate and post-doctorate studies and

research, situated in the Tuscan hills overlooking Florence.

Following its establishment in 1972 by the six founding members of the then European Communies, The EUI opened

its doors to the first researchers in November 1976 and has since then earned a reputaon as a leading internaonal

academic instuon with a European focus.

The four departments Economics, History and Civilizaon, Law, and Polical and Social Sciences host a community

of more than 1000 scholars from more than 60 countries, studying for the Instuons doctorate or the one-year

master in law.

The doctoral programmes are well-structured and departments are commied to high levels of faculty-researcher

interacon. The EUI faculty is composed of internaonally recognised scholars from some of the finest universies in

Europe and beyond, and their experse covers a wide range of teaching and research topics.

The EUI offers excellent career prospects for its researchers and fellows. 71% of its graduates go on to careers in

academia or research (universies and research centres), 15% play a role in the internaonal arena by joining

European Instuons and internaonal organizaons (ECB, European Commission, European Parliament, IMF only to

cite those with the highest number of EUI graduates), while 14% develop their careers in the private sector and in

naonal public authories.

The EUIs disnctly internaonal environment offers unique academic training, enriches the intellectual experience

and provides exceponal opportunies for academics across disciplines and borders.

The EUI is home to The Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, which conducts inter-disciplinary,

comparave, and policy research on integraon, governance and democracy, regulang markets and governing

money, and 21st Century World Polics and Europe; and the Max Weber Programme for Post-doctoral Studies, the

largest internaonal postdoctoral programme in the Social Sciences and Humanies in Europe, which provides

advanced training to young academics from around the world.

The Historical Archives of the European Union, located on the EUI campus in Villa Salvia , is a valuable resource for

scholars interested in European integraon. It conserves documents produced by the European Instuons and

private archives deposited by individuals, associaons or organisaons involved in the process of European

integraon.

The EUI departments and centres are housed in 14 historic buildings scaered about the hillside which have

undergone extensive renovaon in recent years.

Heads of states, leading policians and professors are regular speakers at the EUI, as part of the Instutes long-

established programme of conferences, workshops and summer schools.

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3. 1ST

PASCL Conference

28th

European Students Convenon will also be the First Annual PASCL Conference, focusing on one of ESUs hot

topics for the year Student-centred learning (SCL). PASCL (Peer Assessment of Student-cented Learning) is a project,

led by ESU, focused on bringing more visibility to the implementaon of SCL and importance of the teaching and

learning mission of Higher Educaon instuons in general. One of the main objecves of the PASCL project is

undertaking intensive research on SCL policy and pracce in European Higher Educaon Area, on both university and

naonal level with integrated students perspecve, which will then result in crical analysis of the state of

implementaon of SCL since the Leuven Communiqu, when SCL concept was introduced. The first results of the

research conducted by this project cover instituonal implementaon of SCL, targeng European Universies, giving

their self-reflecon on implementaon of the concept and its further development. We would like to share with the

Board findings of the research and promote further discussion in order to receive much needed input from the

NUSes.

Consultaon with the Board is necessary in order to raise awareness about the paradigm shif, and ensure transfer of

understanding for the concept to the everyday student. Therefore aim of this convenon will be to provide our

member NUSes with substanal knowledge of the concept and advocacy guidelines for its promoon. Special

aenon will be given to topics such as student-centred learning as part of e-learning processes, inclusive pedagogy

of student-centred learning, correlaon of student-centred learning with both quality assurance and

commodificaon, and different definions applying to student-centred learning and its relevance to the curriculum,

assessment and learning outcomes. We hope that pints raised will promote discussion and result in beer

understanding of SCL concept and its value to different stakeholders

Further stages of research call for more acve student involvement in evaluang the process of implementaon of

SCL on instuonal level, but also commenng efforts on naonal level when creaon policy on SCL. This is where

our members will play a key role in providing input and creang a platorm for sharing best pracces.

Before we start discussing closely the concept, we would like to draw your aenon to the adopted definion of SCL

by ESU, and the one used in the project:

Student Centered Learning represents both a mindset and a culture within a given higher educaton insttuton and is

a learning approach which is broadly related to, and supported by, constructivist theories of learning. It is

characterized by innovatve methods of teaching which aim to promote learning in communicaton with teachers and

other learners and which take students seriously as actve partcipants in their own learning , fostering transferable

skills such as problem-solving , critcal thinking and reflectve thinking.

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4. Detailed agenda

SUNDAY, 28th SEPTEMBER

Villa La Fonte, European University Insttute

Via delle Fontanelle, 50014 Fiesole (Fl)

16:00 - 16:30 Official opening

16:30 - 17:15

17:15 - 17:45

- Elisabeth Gehrke,Chairperson of the European Students Union

- Gianluca Scuccimarra, Chairperson of Unione Degli Universitari (UDU)

- Elly Schein, MEP, Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality

17:45 - 18:15 The concept of student-centred learning

- Jussi Valimaa, Professor, University of Jyvskyl

18:15 - 18:45 Introducon to ESUs policy, current work with student-centred learning and the Peer

Assessment of Student-Centred Learning-project

- Tijana Isoskiand Blazhe Todorovski, ESU Execuve Commiee Members

MONDAY, 29th SEPTEMBER

Villa Salviat, European University Insttute

Via Bolognese 156, 50139 Firenze (FI)

09:30-10:00 SCL and Open Learning: How innovaons in teaching and learning can truly put students

in the centre

- Anthony F. Camilleri, Senior Partner, Knowledge Innovaon Centre

10:00-10:30 Presentaon of the High-Level Group on Modernisaon of Higher Educaons report on

new modes of teaching and learning in higher educaon

10:30-11:00

- Frank Petrikowski, DG EAC, European Commission

Questions and discussion

Moderator: Tijana Isoski, Execuve Commiee member, ESU

Agenda on Your Mobile

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Coffee Break

Learning to learn: new teaching methods for putting the students needs in the centre

- Lee Harvey,Emeritus Professor, Copenhagen Business School


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11:00-11:30 Coffee Break

11:30 - 13:00 The growingly diverse student populaon

- Melanie Frhlich, Equality Coordinator, ESU

13:30 - 14.30 Lunch

14:30 - 16:00 Group discussions on the current state of affairs with regards to the implementaon of

student-centred learning: from the naonal level down to the classroom itself

Facilitated by:

- Marzia Foroni, Bologna Follow-Up Group, Italian Minister of Educaon

- Maria Stcchi,coordinator of the Italian team of Bologna Experts

- Koen Geven, PhD student, European University Instute

16:00 - 16:30 Coffee Break

16:30 - 18:00 Policy discussions (only ESU full members)

TUESDAY, 30th SEPTEMBER

Villa La Fonte, European University Insttute

Via delle Fontanelle, 50014 Fiesole (FI)

9:30 - 11:00 Breakaway sessions

Group A: Aligning teaching and learning acvies, learning outcomes and assessment

methods

Group B: Commodificaon, internships and SCL: quality internships

Group C: Student-centred learning in the classroom: inclusive pedagogy

Group D: Defining learning outcomes in a student-centred approach

11:00 -11:30 Coffee Break

11:30 - 13:00

13:00 - 14:00 Lunch

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Breakaway sessions

Group A: Aligning teaching and learning acvies, learning outcomes and assessment

methods

Group B: Commodificaon, internships and SCL: quality internships

Group C: Student-centred learning in the classroom: inclusive pedagogy

Group D: Defining learning outcomes in a student-centred approach


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14.00 - 15.00 Group discussions based on the results of the breakaway sessions: policy

recommendaons for the classroom, instuons, educaonal systems and Europe as a

whole

15.00 - 16.15 Panel discussion with stakeholder organisaons about their perspecves on student-

centred learning

- Lva Vikmane, The Student Union of Latvia (LSA)

- Luke Shore, Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions (OBESSU)

- Guntars Catlaks, Research Coordinator, Educaon Internaonal (EI)

- Michael Gaebel, European University Associaon (EUA)

-Maria Kelo, European Associaon for Quality Assurance in Higher Educaon (ENQA)

16.15 - 16.45 Coffee break

16:45 - 18.00 SCL in a policy context: conference conclusions and panel discussion

General rapporteur:Viktor Kjeldgaard Grnne, European Students Union

- Erin Nordal, Vice-Chairperson, European Students' Union

- Daniele Livon, Director General for Higher Educaon, Italian Ministry of Educaon

- Karolina Kasperaviciute, Internaonal department of Congregaon for Catholic

Educaon, Holy See

- Silvia Costa, Chair of the Commiee for Culture and Educaon, European Parliament

18:00 - 18:30 Closing Remarks

-Dieter Schlenker, Director of the Historical Archives of the European Union

(HAEU), European University Instute

-

Elisabeth Gehrke, Chairperson, European Students Union

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5. Speaker Informaton

Lee Harvey

Professor Lee Harvey has been researching higher educaon issues since the

early 1990s. He has been on UQAIB since its incepon. Lee was Professor at

Copenhagen Business School unl 31st December 2010. Prior to that he

established and was Director of both the Centre for Research into Quality at

University of Central England in Birmingham and the Centre for Research and

Evaluaon at Sheffield Hallam University. He was also Director of Research at

the Higher Educaon Academy. Lee has wide experience of social research as

a research methodologist and social philosopher. He has a teaching

qualificaon alongside his masters in informaon technology and doctorate

in sociology. Lee taught sociology at the University of Central England inBirmingham for 20 years from 1971. His current and recent research areas

are: higher educaon policy; quality, quality assurance and quality culture;

employability; student feedback; learning and teaching, diversity and

funding. He is widely published with over 35 books and research

monographs and over 120 arcles in internaonal journals, books and

compendiums. He has been a quality advisor to instuons across the world.

He is regularly invited to major internaonal conferences and has given over 50 keynotes at such events. Current

work has also returned to a focus on research methodology, which he is developing on

qualityresearchinternaonal.com

Jussi Vlimaa

Dr. Jussi Vlimaa is a Professor in higher educaon studies at the University

of Jyvskyl, Finland. He is responsible for leading the research strength

area Educaon and Social Change at the Finnish Instute for Educaonal

Research. Being trained as a historian and a social scienst professor

Vlimaa has experse in social studies of higher educaon. His research

experse covers the topics from academic work and disciplinary cultures to

the relaonship between higher educaon and society. Currently his

comparave research interests focus on the relaonships between higher

educaon instuons and knowledge sociees in USA and Europe. Dr.

Vlimaa is joint editor-in-chief of Higher Educaon and acve in many

internaonal and naonal academic organizaons.

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Anthony Camilleri

Anthony F. Camilleri is a senior partner at the Knowledge Innovaon

Centre, a company specialising in educaonal research, knowledge

transfer and advocacy support founded by a group of KSU alumni. He is an

expert in open educaon, in parcular with respect to developments

linked to quality, assessment and recognion.

He has been invesgang the linkages between higher educaon,

innovaon, quality and open educaon for the last three years and has

recently coordinated a bevy of projects on OER, in parcular the Open

Educaonal Quality Iniave (hp://www.oer-quality.org), the OERTest

Iniave, and the VMPass Consorum (hp://www.vmpass.eu). He

recently authored a report for the European Commissions Instute on

Prospecve Technological Studies on OER Quality (hp://goo.gl/gvgOEk).

He is also an ESIB alumnus - having served as KSU representave on the board, member of the CoCo (Commiee on

the Commodificaon of Educaon and GATS) as well as ESIBs first project officer.

Marzia Foroni

Marzia Foroni works in the Italian Ministry of Educaon, Universies and

Research on internaonal cooperaon and European reforms. She

graduated from Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, in

Internaonal Relaons, with a final dissertaon on the implementaon of

Bologna reforms in degree structure in three European countries. She

further studied management in higher educaon and research instutes

at the Politecnico di Milano. She works as consultant in the Italian Ministry

of Educaon, Universies and Research on internaonal cooperaon and

European reforms. Her main areas of experse are the Bologna Process,

European Union policies, internaonalisaon and student mobility.

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Maria Stcchi

Maria Scchi Damiani (IT) is a former Professor of English who is now

acng as one of the two Italian representaves in the Bologna Follow-Up

Group (BFUG) and the coordinator of the Italian team of Bologna Experts.

She is also acve as an internaonal ECTS/DS counsellor.

Maria Scchi Damiani used to teach at the Free Internaonal University of

Social Studies (LUISS) in Rome where she served as Head of the

Department of Modern Languages and Rectors delegate for Internaonal

Relaons. She was President of the European Associaon for Internaonal

Educaon (EAIE) in 1992 and Erasmus prize for Italy in 1994. She was the

Italian member of the Socrates/Erasmus Sub-Commiee and of the

Erasmus Mundus Commiee for many years. She was a member of the

Management Commiee of the European Project Tuning Educaonal

Structures in Europe.

She has published extensively both on language-related issues and on

internaonal educaon.

Koen Geven

Koen Geven is a PhD Student at the European University Instute (Florence).

His research focuses on the dynamics of inequality in higher educaon, witha parcular interest in public policy (fees, student support, structural

reform). He holds an MA in Public Administraon from the Central European

University (Budapest) and the University of York; and a BSc in Polical

Science from the University of Amsterdam. Previously, he was chairperson of

the European Students Union (2007/8), member of the execuve committee

of the Dutch Students Union LSVb (2004/5). He has also worked as a policy

advisor for the internaonal teachers union federaon Educaon

Internaonal (2008-2011).

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Lva Vikmane

Lva Vikmane has been in student movement for four years, currently she is

working as an Internaonal Affairs Officer at the Student Union of Latvia

(LSA), however she started at the local level of student representaon as a

Vice-chair on Internaonal students' integraon at Student Council of Riga

Stradi University. Previous experience in all levels of student

representaon allows her not to lose the very important aspect of our work

here - connecon with students and their interests.

While previously have studied Internaonal relaons, she is now doing

Bachelor's degree in Sociology.

Luke Shore

Luke Shore (17) is a Board member of the Organising Bureau of European

School Student Unions (OBESSU), the platorm which unites the naonalschool student unions acve in general secondary and vocaonal educaon

in Europe; founded in Dublin in 1975, it brings together Member and

Candidate organisaons from more than 20 European countries. He lives

and works in London.

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Guntars Catlaks

Guntars Catlaks is currently a senior research co-ordinator at Educaon

Internaonal World federaon of educaon unions in Brussels, Belgium.

His work includes monitoring on-going research as well as undertaking

original surveys worldwide in the fields of educaon quality, equal access

and teacher employment, development and work condions. His primary

focus is on current educaon policies in these areas. An important aspect of

Guntars work is the exchange of informaon among the EI Research

Network's affiliates. Guntars previously worked as an expert and co-

ordinator in educaon policy analysis. He has parcular experience in social

sciences and cizenship educaon, as well mulcultural/bilingual educaon

and reform policies in Central Eastern Europe. Guntars has workingexperience as a teacher, curriculum developer, textbook writer and

researcher both in nave Latvia and internaonally.

Born in 1963 in Riga, Guntars graduated from the University of Latvia as a

Historian in 1986, and received a Doctorate in History in 1995. He has been

affiliated with the Latvia Instute of History, Ministry of Educaon, Soros

Foundaon Latvia, Indiana University and the Centre for Civic Educaon

(USA). Between 2002 and 2004, Guntars was Director of Civitas Internaonal-

World associaon of civic educators based in Brussels.

Michael Gaebel

Michael Gaebel is the head of the Higher Educaon Policy Unit, which

focuses on issues related to higher educaon learning and teaching,

including the Bologna Process, lifelong learning, e-learning and MOOCs,

internaonalisaon and global dialogue. When he first joined the

organisation in 2006, he was in charge of developing EUAs international

strategy and global exchange and cooperation.

Before joining EUA, Michael worked for more than a decade in higher

educaon cooperaon and development in the Middle East, the former

Soviet Union and Asia. From 2002 to 2006, he was the European Co-Director

of the ASEAN-EU University Network Programme (AUNP) in Bangkok.

Michael graduated with a Masters in Middle Eastern Studies and German Literature and Linguiscs from the Freie

University Berlin, Germany.

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Maria Kelo

Maria Kelo is the Director of the European Associaon for Quality Assurance

in Higher Educaon (ENQA). Together with the Associaons President she

represents ENQA in the E4 group and in the Bologna Follow-Up Group. She is

also a Vice-President of the Execuve Board of the European Register for

Quality Assurance (EQAR).

Prior to joining ENQA in 2011, Maria worked for nine years in the field of

internaonal higher educaon, first as a trainee at the European Commission

DG for Educaon and Culture, and subsequently as a research assistant at

Eurydice (2003), Senior Officers at the Academic Cooperaon Associaon

(2003-2009), Programme manager at EUA (2010), and as independent

consultant (2010-2011). During these years Maria carried out a number ofproject and studies on internaonal higher educaon, in parcular in the

fields of transnaonal educaon, student mobility, student services,

promoon of European higher educaon, and human resource management

in higher educaon. Maria is a graduate of University College London (1996-

2000) and London School of Economics (2001-2002).

Daniele Livon

Livon Daniele works as Director General for Higher Educaon at Italian

Ministry of Educaon. He studied at the Faculty of Economics in Udine, Italy

and received masters degree in Public Management at Bocconi.

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Karolina Kasperaviciute

Karolina Kasperaviciute was born in Lithuania. In 2010 started working for the

Congregaon for the Catholic Educaon (Holy See) in the Internaonal relaons

department that deals with Bologna Process, Recognion Convenons of

UNESCO and recognion pracces.

She is a part of the Holy Sees delegaon assigned for the Bologna Process co-

presidency for the present semester.

In 2009 graduated Licence degree Instuonal Social Communicaon Sciences at

the Ponfical Holy Cross University and in 2012 has started her Doctoral research

at the same Faculty.

Silvia Costa

Silvia Costa was born in Florence and graduated in Modern Literature at the

University of Rome. As a professional journalist, she has worked in magazines,

newspapers and the realizaon of some television programs of Rai. From 1976 to

1985 he was a City Councilor in Rome for two terms, and has served on the

Boards and School Culture.

Member of the House for three Legislature, Silvia was an effecve member of the

Commission and therefore of the Interior Commiee on Culture, Science and

Educaon. State Secretary at the Ministry of University and Scienfic and

Technological Research, she has been President of the Commiee on Equal

Opportunies between men and women at the Presidency of the Council of

Ministers unl September 2000.

In 2003 she was awarded the tle of Grand Officer of the Republic by President

Ciampi. From 2005 to July 2009 he was Minister of Educaon, the Right to

Educaon and Training in the Lazio Region.

In June 2009 she was elected to the European Parliament. Silvia was elected Vice President of the Delegaon fo

relaons with Iraq of the European Parliament and is a member of the Commiee on Culture and Educaon and

deputy member of the Commission on Women's Rights and Gender Equality and the Commiee on Civil Liberes,

Jusce and Home Affairs Interior.

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Dieter Schlenker

Dieter Schlenker is the Director of the Historical Archives of the European

Union since January 2013. Before, he worked for UNESCO, first as archivist

at the Paris Headquarters, then as head of Informaton and Knowledge

Management in Bangkok, Thailand. He holds a PhD in Modern History

from the University of Heidelberg, Germany.

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6. Breakaway sessions

On the third day of the Conventon, partcipants will be asked to choose to aend and actvely partcipate in two of

four breakaway sessions, covering concept of student centred learning from different aspects. Topics are: Aligning

teaching and learning actvites, learning outcomes and assessment methods; Commodificaton, internships and SCL:

quality internships; Student-centred learning in the classroom: inclusive pedagogy; Defining learning outcomes in a

student-centred approach. Due to the fact that all topics are extensive and of remarkable importance, we decided to

approach each topic by working in smaller groups, ensuring greater involvement and efficiency.

Session A: Studentcentred learning when properly implemented benefits all. So what is most important when

adoptng this concept? The key is to build up mutual respect between student and teacher in inclusive and learning-

friendly insttutonal context. In order to achieve that, a constructvist alignment of teaching and learning actvites,

as well as learning outcomes and assessment methods needs to be created, which will lead to deep learning andunderstanding. Drifing away from the conventonal, modern ways of learning are crucial for the implementaton of

SCL, therefore leading a shif towards innovatve teaching (e.g. research-based teaching) and actve learning,

including peer learning, problem-based learning, inquiry-based learning and self-learning.

This session will encourage the partcipants to think, create and present. We will discover multple components of

above mentoned parameters of SCL and will together try to answer the queston how to apply theory in practce

from different perspectves.

Session B:Commodificaton refers to the changing percepton of higher educaton from a public good and public

responsibility to a private and limited commodity. One of the ways commodificaton impacts, both negatvely and

positvely, student centred learning is through partnerships between HEIs and businesses partcularly in work placed

learning programs including internships. In this session we will look at the different trends across Europe in

internship culture, examine high quality internships and explore how negatve practces impact the students

experience. Before joining us in Florence you can find out about the internship culture in your country by asking

some simple quest

ons: are students part

cipat

ng in internship programs provided with opt

ons, mentoring anddefined learning outcomes? Are businesses paying interns or using them as free workers, replacing full tme paid

employees? Is the learning students complete on internships recognized by their Higher Educaton Insttuton?

Session C:If society would be asked what the main aspect of the student life is, the majority would probably answer:

party and enjoying life. But we know, that this is not (entrely because lets face it, who hasnt encountered these

kind of arguments) true. For all of us the center of academia life happens in classrooms and concerns mainly the

quest to develop the masters plan who to get all the required knowledge as fast and efficient as possible in our heads

disregarding the teaching method and learning environment. And who of us did not wonder if that was really the

satsfying way to enroll in our studies? Who of us did not have the thought at some point: I would have done this

course/lecture/ seminar so entrely different and therefore in a much more interestng way!?

This workshop asks you to tell your very own stories and to queston the traditonal way of teaching and learning.

Therefore we are going to look into different learning approaches to learning such as inclusive pedagogy and the

theory pedagogy of excellence. These theories shall be discussed and questoned on the basis of your own

experience and the so far learned at the ESC.

Session D: This session slightly differs from the others, since the issue of defining precise meaning of Learning

outcomes has been raised by the Board, and this session will result in recommendatons to ESUs policy. Different

stakeholders use term Learning outcomes with slightly different meaning in mind, some of them have defined LO,

those definitons will be presented and discussed at this session, while we have not came to consensus on what LO

are and what we want them to be. In order to beer understand the meaning and engage in discussions defending

students positon, we are initatng constructon of ESUs definiton of Learning outcomes, as a part of the

conventon on SCL, as this approach should inspire us to define LO trough students needs and learning environment.

*Please divide and organize your delegaton in order to cover as many sessions as possible, with respect to NUS and individual interest and priorites

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7. Background on SCL policy in HE in Europe

Constant changes in societal and educatonal needs request that further emphasis is given on teaching excellence. It

is expected that this will enhance Europes compettveness in this knowledge-based economy, which requires

increased and multple higher skills and competences through a paradigm shif in the classroom towards student-

centered learning. Student-centered learning (SCL) gained politcal recogniton in Bologna process agreements only in

2009 through the Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve Ministerial Communiqu. ESU/ESIB has been a strong advocate for

interacton between teacher and student, which we consider crucial for quality and relevance of learning outcomes.

Also Student-centred learning has an immense impact on the process of acquiring those learning outcomes, responds

to the diversity of profiles and needs of learners and therefore improves the higher educaton retenton rates.

Despite Ministerial commitments and ESU efforts to gain more aenton to the concept and benefits of SCL, there

have been li

le progress on the nat

onal level to introduce strategies on rewarding excellence in teaching. Neitherhigher educaton insttutons themselves were pung much effort in developing and implementng teaching staff

development policies across the whole insttuton. ESU has been keeping a close track on the implementaton of the

SCL concept since Leuven/ Louvain-la-Neuve through its project Time for a New Paradigm-Student-Centred

Learning (T4SCL) 2009/10, publicatons Bologna at the Finish Line 2010, Bologna with Students Eyes 2012, also

numerous surveys to the member unions in 38 EHEA countries.

Based on T4SCL project, ESU together with Educaton Internatonal developed a comprehensive descripton of what

SCL means in the Bologna context, what are its direct and indirect benefits, what are the preconditons for its

implementaton. A survey, launched to teachers and students in 22 countries helped to map the SCL related policies

and practces, showed their percepton on the barriers for the implementaton of SCL; helped to identfy key players,

such as university leadership, quality assurance agencies. The project has had an element of involving those key

players in natonal debates on mainstreaming SCL, which took place in more than 10 countries. On the later stage an

indicatve SCL checklist to empower higher educaton insttutons, teachers or students to identfy the gaps in

implementng SCL and methodological recommendatons on improving the situaton have been published in a formof a T4SCL toolkit. The toolkit has been translated in more than 7 languages (French, German, Dutch, Lithuanian,

Albanian, other). Then ESU identfied a growing interest in SCL on the grassroots level, being confirmed through

numerous invitatons for ESU to speak about it at Bologna expert seminars, Directors General meetng in Cyprus in

2013, and natonal events.

In 2012 the importance of SCL and learning-outcomes based learning has been reiterated in the Bucharest Ministerial

Communiqu and Communicaton on Rethinking educaton. The same year, Bologna follow-up group has developed

its working agenda with a specific focus on improving social dimension in educaton through student-centeredness in

teaching. ESU wants also to point out that a shifis required not only in the minds of the teaching staff, but also in

the students, to be able to enhance their learning experience.

Current quality assurance mechanisms do emphasise the importance of teaching (interacton between teacher and

student, curricula design with respect to learning outcomes, assessment schemes), however current qualityassurance procedures have their limitatons. Program level evaluaton can give beer understanding on the

methodological set-up of the individual study programme. SCL is not limited to certain methodology; it is rather a

cultural shif in the insttuton. It also builds up on the successful implementaton of Bologna tools, such as

recogniton procedures, ECTS based on the learning outcomes. Insttutonal reviews, performed by the quality

assurance agencies, rarely signify the aspect of teaching and learning as a core one, which also give a false signal to

the insttutonal leadership about priorites in management. In reality it means that research actvity is rewarded

significantly more, than excellence in teaching, there are fewer incentves for the academic staff to invest in

development of their teaching skills, employ new methods like problem-based learning, project- based ac tvites. At

the same tme, there are only few good practces, which put emphasis on students and encourage them to take a

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more actve role in designing their learning path, take advantage of collaboratve learning methods and develop

critcal thinking through challenging the authority. PASCL project aims at bridging this gap by figuring out and pilotng

a robust assessment framework that can be used to enhance the student-centeredness of higher educaton

insttuton in Europe. Thanks to the planned assessment and procedures, in case of successfully carried out, this

acton can lead to the award of a Student-centred insttuton.

The other partners of consorta observed similar trends and challenges, especially UNICA, which also runs Bologna

experts project. ESU has had longstanding cooperaton with UNICA on promotng SCL mainly though its Bologna

seminars and bi-annual UNICA student conferences. The above mentoned T4SCL toolkit been developed in close

cooperaton with experts from University of Jyvaskyla, which expressed the interest to work on the next steps of

promotng the SCL concept. Together with Central European University, ESU has been engaged in promo tng

European Award for Excellence in Teaching in Social Sciences and Humanites (hp://20.ceu.hu/teaching-award) and

a number of Bologna process promot

on act

vit

es. ESU also has collaborated with KIC and Melius on previousprojects and showed an interest in SCL area.

Useful reading:

hp://www.esu-online.org/pageassets/projects/projectarchive/2010-T4SCL-Stakeholders-Forum-Leuven-An-

Insight-Into-Theory-And-Practce.pdf

http://www.esu-online.org/pageassets/projects/projectarchive/2010-T4SCL-Stakeholders-Forum-Leuven-

Survey-Analysis.pdf

http://www.esu-online.org/pageassets/projects/projectarchive/100814-SCL.pdf

22
http://www.esu-online.org//pageassets/projects/projectarchive/2010-T4SCL-Stakeholders-Forum-Leuven-An-Insight-Into-Theory-And-Practice.pdfhttp://www.esu-online.org//pageassets/projects/projectarchive/2010-T4SCL-Stakeholders-Forum-Leuven-An-Insight-Into-Theory-And-Practice.pdf


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8. Venue and practcal informaton

FLORENCE

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city

in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area.

Florence is famous for its history: a centre of Medieval european trade andfinance and one of the wealthiest cites of

the tme, it is considered the birthplace of the Renassaince, and has been called the Athens of the Middle Age. A

turbulent politcal history includes periods of rule by the powerful Medici family, and numerous religious and

republican revolutons. From 186571 the city was the capital of the recently established Kingdom of Italy.

The Historic Centre of Florence aracts millions of tourists each year, and Euromonitor Internatonal ranked the city

as the world's 89th most visited in 2012, with 1.8m visitors. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982.

The city is noted for its culture, Renassaince art and architecture and monuments. The city also contains numerous

museums and art galleries, such as the Uffizi Gallery and the Palazzo Pi, and stll exerts an influence in the fields of

art, culture and politcs. Due to Florence's artstc and architectural heritage, it has been ranked by Forbes as one of

the most beautful cites in the world.

Florence is an important city in Italian fashion, being ranked in the top 50 of fashion capitals of the world;

furthermore, it is a major natonal economic centre, as a tourist and industrial hub. In 2008, the city had the 17th

highest average income in Italy.

FIESOLE

Fiesole is a small village of the province of Florence, on a scenic height above Florence, 8 km northeast of that city. It

was probably founded in the 9th-8th century BC, as it was an important member of the Etruscan confederacy, as may

be seen from the remains of its ancient walls.

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HOW TO GET TO FLORENCE

AIRPORTS

FLORENCE AIRPORT - (Amerigo Vespucci)

Via del Termine, 11, 50127 Firenze

Many airlines, such as AirBerlin, AirFrance, Alitalia, AustrianAirline, BrusselsAirline, KLM, Lufhansa, MeridianaFly,

Volotea and Vueling, fly from and to the airport of Florence.

From the Airport to the Main staton of Florence there is a bus, Vola in bus service

Taxi from Florence airport (Amerigo Vespucci) costs around 20.

hp://www.aeroporto.firenze.it/en/passengers/from-to-the-airport/bus.html

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PISA AIRPORT-Galileo Galilei

Piazzale D'Ascanio, 1, 56121 Pisa

The airport of Pisa-San Giusto, known by its commercial name Galileo Galilei, is the biggest and most important

airport in Tuscany.

From Pisa Airport it is possible to take a train to Pisa central Staton and then to Firenze central staton, or there is the

Terravision bus, with stop just outside the airport, that goes directly to the centre of Florence (Santa Maria Novella

Staton).

hp://www.terravision.eu/italiano/florence_pisa/pisa_aeroporto.html

ACCOMODATION

THE HOSTEL: EUROPA VILLA CAMERATA

The Ostello Europa Villa Camerata is in Viale Augusto Righi, 4, Florence

It is a nice hostel, housed in a villa built around the 1500 and surrounded by a large park.

N.B remember to put towels in your luggage because they are not provided by the hostel

HOW TO GET TO THE HOSTEL

The bus lines that stop close to the Villa Camerata Hostel are:

- line 11 from Santa Maria Novella Staton, the stop is the final one, Salviatino

- line 17 from Santa Maria Novella Staton in directon of Viale Verga; the stop is Santi Fiorentini .

The cost of a single tcket is 1.20 , but there are cards called Carta Agile, with 10 journeys for 10, 21 for 20 or

35 for 30

For routes and tmetables see the public bus service site at ATAF www.ataf.net

Florence does not have a very efficient public transport service so we are organizing a dedicated shuttle service.

You will receive more information about that service at your arrival.

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THE VENUE

EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE

Badia Fiesolana - Via dei Rocceni 9, I-50014 San Domenico di Fiesole (FI) Italy

N.B. The university is composed of several buildings, all immersed in the green hills of Fiesole but not all close each

other. The conference will take place at Villa La Fonte on the 28th and on the 30th of September and at Villa

Salviat on the 29th.

HOW TO GET TO THE VENUE

Villa Salviat , Via Bolognese 156: Take Line 25 from Via La pira (Near Piazza San Marco) toward Pratolino orPian di San Bartolo and get offat Il Cionfo 01 (ten stops) on via Bolognese. The entrance is 100 meters ahead.

Villa La Fonte, : take Line 7 from Via La Pira toward Fiesole and get offat San Domenico 01 (sixteen stop), then

take the first right afer the bus stop.

For routes and tmetables see the public bus service site at ATAF www.ataf.net

Emergency Numbers:

118 AMBULANCE 113POLICE 112CARABINERI

Italian organizers:

Jacopo+39 328 2343933

Chiara+39 328 6457606

-

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NOTES

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NOTES

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pascl.eu

9 PRINCIPLES of SCL

Principle I: SCLrequires an ongoing reflexive process.Part of the underlying philosophy of scl is that no one context

can have one scl style that can remain applicable through me. The philosophy of scl is such that teachers, students

and instuons need to connuously reflect of their teaching, learning and infrastructural systems in such a way that

would connuously improve the learning experience of students and ensure that the intended learning outcomes of

a given course or programme component are achieved in a way that smulates learners crical thinking and

transferable skills.

Principle II: SCLdoes not have a one-size-fits-all soluon.A key concept underlying scl is the realisaon that all

higher educaon instuons are different, all teachers are different and all students are different. These all operate in

very diverse contexts and deal with various subject-disciplines. Therefore, scl is a learning approach that requires

learning support structures, which are appropriate to each given context, and teaching and learning styles appropriate

to those undertaking them.

Principle III: students have different learning styles.Scl recognises that students have different pedagogical needs.

Some learn beer through trial and error, others learn through praccal experience. For some learners much is

learned by reading literature, others need to debate and discuss theory in order to understand it.

Principle IV: students have different needs and interests.All students have needs that extend beyond the classroom.

Some are interested in cultural acvies, others in sports or in representave organisaons. Students can have

children or can be faced with psychological condions, illness or disability.

Principle V: choice is central to effecve learning inSCL.Students like to learn different things and hence any offer

should involve a reasonable amount of choice. Learning can be organised in liberal formats, such as at colleges of

liberal arts or choice can be offered in a more tradional, disciplinary style.

Principle VI: have different experiences and background knowledge.Learning needs to be adapted to the life and

professional experience of the individual concerned. For instance, if students already have considerable experience in

using informaon and communicaons technology, there is no point in trying to teach them the same thing again; if

they already have considerable research skills, perhaps it would be beer to help them in theory. Personal experience

can also be used to movate students, for instance, by allowing students to share a personal story to illustrate a point.

Principle VII: students should have control over their earning. Students should be given the opportunity to be

involved in the design of courses, curricula and their evaluaon. Students should be seen as acve partners who have

a stake in the way that higher educaon funcons. The best way to ensure that learning focuses more on students is

by engaging students themselves in how their learning should be shaped.

Principle VIII: SCLis about enabling not telling.In simply imparng facts and knowledge to students (telling) the

iniave, preparaon and content comes mainly from the teacher. The scl approach aims to give the student greater

responsibility enabling the student to think, process, analyse, synthesise, cricise, apply, solve problems, etc. . . .

Principle IX: learning needs cooperaon between students and staff. It is important that students and staff co-

operate to develop a shared understanding both of the problems experienced in learning, as well as their problems as

stakeholders within their given instuon, jointly proposing soluons that might work for both groups. In the

classroom, such cooperaon will have a posive effect as the two groups increasingly come to consider each other as

partners. Such a partnership is central to the philosophy of scl, which sees learning as taking place in a construcve

interacon between the two groups.


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Student Centred Learning represents both a mindset and a culture within a given

higher educaon instuon and is a learning approach which is broadly related to,and supported by, construcvist theories of learning. It is characterised by innova-

ve methods of teaching which aim to promote learning in communicaon with

teachers and other learners and which take students seriously as acve parci-

pants in their own learning, fostering transferable skills such as problem-solving,

crical thinking and reflecve thinking.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.

This publicaon reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot

be held responsible for any use which may be made of the informaon contained

therein.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/PASCL-Project

Twier: @ESUtwt #PASCL

Google+: google.com/+PasclEu

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