COMPASS towards LLL in Higher Education
“COMPASS – towards a European University Life Long Learning Model in Moldova” is a new project I have started working on just recently.
COMPASS is a capacity building project for the field of higher education, funded by the European Union (Key Action 2 – cooperation for innovation an the exchange of good practices).
I am working with 15 partner institutions from Moldova, Brussels, Italy, France, Finnland, my colleagues from Danube University at the Center for Research in Educational Technologies and colleagues from the University of Graz.
Project Facts
- Project Start: November 2018
- Project End: November 2021
- Funding: Erasmus+, Capacity Building, KA2
- Project Coordination: Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova
- 16 project partners from Moldova, Brussels, Italy, France, Finnland and Austria
Project Aims
- Supporting partners in Moldova to develop an LLL culture and an LLL roadmap for Moldova
- Elaborating the national legislative framework for LLL (with a focus on digital transformation and eLearning)
- Supporting the development of LLL strategies of higher education institutions in Moldova
- Enhancing institutional capacities to implement these LLL strategies – especially through making use of educational technology
Why?
Moldova has done already fundamental steps towards LLL. The Moldavian Code of Education provides that LLL shall cover all formal educational levels, including non-formal and informal learning. This is especially important as there is an increasing proportion of adults over 25 years compared to young people under the age of 24 years. Especially digital tools and platforms can be a driver for LLL, as they allow flexible ways of learning. Still, in 2014 only 39% of all Moldavians used the Internet for educational purposes.
There is an regulation on distance education (May 2016) and an regulation for continuing education for adults (March 2017), but these regulations are still rather raw and need to be consolidated by practical actions. This basically is the idea of COMPASS – to elaborate existing regulations, to develop strategies and practical implementation.
Our Contribution
I am leading COMPASS workpackage 4 “Enhancement of institutional capacities for implementation of LLL reform” at Danube University. The workpackage aims to share good practice and train higher education staff from Moldova how to manage LLL services. There will be training visits at the following partner institutions:
- University of Barcelona
- Università degli Studi di Genova
- University of Graz
- European University Continuing Education Network (EUCEN)
Danube University will support higher education institutions from Moldova to develop their own LLL services in line with the LLL Roadmap for Moldova. The idea of the LLL services is to enhance the development of flexible educational programs and to establish wider access to these kind of programs. Educational technology can facilitate these aspects. There will be several training workshops in Moldova.
Furthermore, in May 2019, there will be a study visit at Danube University Krems about LLL policy development at system level. It is part of workpackage 2 “Development and advancement of national legislative framework on LLL”.
Project Kick-Off in Chisinau
In mid-March I will travel to Moldova for the kick-off meeting and national COMPASS launching conference. There I will meet all the project partners and I will present the LLL strategy of Danube University Krems, which is specialized on continuing education and LLL.
