Lemmens The Virtual Challenge to International Cooperation in Higher Education Bernd Wächter (ed.) Aca papers on International Cooperation in Education The V irtual Challenge to International Cooperation in Higher Education

Virtual education and mobility:
A view of the European Commission
This presentation is composed of two parts. The first part introduces some
interesting and in many ways controversial analyses of and insights into how
virtual technology is shaping, or has already shaped, the world around us
and the people who live in it. The second part outlines the initiatives the
European Commission has launched to address the virtual challenge.
Among all the “e-movements”, e-learning or virtual education is one of the
fastest growing. Educational institutions, local and national governments as
well as commercial organisations are increasingly investing in e-learning.
There is a new generation of virtual learners, managers, shoppers and chat-
ters, who are able to take the full benefit of the expansion of virtual modes of
learning, services, communication, and information.
At a recent conference which explored the concept of virtual mobility, a parti-
cipant commented that virtual education would mark the beginning of the
third wave of internationalisation. The three waves can be illustrated as
follows:
l
the first wave: student mobility (people moving). “Students to Europe”.
l
the second wave: joint development of curricula, teaching staff mobility
(ideas moving) “Europe to all students.“
l
the third wave: virtual education. “Courses and curricula to Europe”.
One of the questions we ask today is whether virtual cooperation and mobili-
ty will replace physical mobility. In terms of the three waves, will the third
wave replace the first two? Or is it, rather, a question of modes of coopera-
tion that can – and must – exist side by side, in order for each one to facili-
tate, support and complement the others? The second wave has certainly
not replaced the first, quite the opposite: joint development of curricula and
better understanding of each other’s curricula as well as teaching staff mobi-
lity have rather had the effect of facilitating and promoting student mobility in
Europe – and vice versa. Virtual education can contribute to bringing Euro-
pean cooperation to a new level.
Mobility is at the heart of the European education and training programmes.
It is one of the most important building blocks in the construction of a com-
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mon Europe, in the construction of European citizenship. Many studies
1 
have
shown the numerous benefits that mobility brings to individuals: being in
contact with other Europeans, immersion in their cultures, languages,
customs and everyday life improves the individual’s language and communi-
cation skills, his/her intercultural and social skills as well as his/her “holistic
skills”, such as problem solving skills, analytical powers, adaptability etc.
The question is: what does virtual education / virtual mobility bring to this
picture? In analysing the forces at play in this regard, I will below comment
on the following themes: first, a new generation of learners, highly mobile on
the Internet; second, the potential of ICT to enhance learning and improve
teaching; third, the explosion of digital products for the education market and
the challenge of quality assurance; and fourth, the digital divide.