EUROPE: EUA autumn conference

Hundreds of university leaders, together with politicians and business leaders, attended the European University Association autumn conference over the past three days at Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

Two key issues currently being debated by stakeholders in most countries across Europe were the focus of the conference: social equity and widening access to higher education. The conference addressed these different aspects in the context of the demographic challenges facing Europe, in particular the aging of many populations.

The European University Association represents more than 800 universities and during the conference it launched the first European Universities Charter on Lifelong Learning. The charter calls on universities and national governments to make a series of clear commitments to lifelong learning.

* University World News will report on the conference in next week's issue.