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

European policies
Europe can reply to the challenges described by joining forces and working
together, by sharing and exchanging information and knowledge, by formu-
lating answers together. At European level we can identify concrete common
targets and set benchmarks and deadlines, so as to stress both the im-
portance of the action and our shared responsibility for making it happen.
At the Lisbon summit of March 2000, the Union set itself a strategic target for
the coming decade: to become 
the most competitive and dynamic
knowledge economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth
accompanied by quantitative and qualitative improvement of employment
and of greater social cohesion. The same meeting identified several common
educational objectives for achieving this strategic target, the most important
of them being the definition of the common future objectives of education
and training systems of the Union.
The report
5
, which has subsequently been adopted, outlines three main
objectives – increasing quality and effectiveness, facilitating access, opening
up education and training systems to the wider world – with due attention to
both the promotion of ICT skills (developing skills for the knowledge society,
ensuring access to ICT for everyone) and the promotion of mobility and co-
operation in Europe. An “action plan” will follow identifying specific targets
with indicators and benchmarks for the Members States and the Union to act
on.
The Commission’s eLearning initiative
6
, which builds on the eEurope initia-
tive adopted at the Lisbon summit of March 2000, sets four goals:
l
the availability of a quality ICT infrastructure at an affordable level;
l
the availability of training and assistance to enhance quality in ICT;
l
the development of a diversified European supply of contents and services
on the Internet;
l
European networking of all relevant ICT-related initiatives with a view to
coordinating them better.
86
5
Report from Education Council to the European Council on the Concrete Future Objectives of Education
and Training Systems (2001). 5980/01 EDUC 23. http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/obj_en.pdf
6
eLearning – Designing tomorrow’s education. Communication from the Commission. COM (2000) 318
final. http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/elearning/doc_en.html

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This is a joint initiative to encourage the Member States, social partners and
industry, and teachers and learners, to connect schools and training places
to the Internet and multimedia and, in doing so, to link European societies to
the information age. The eLearning Action Plan
7
identifies concrete
measures to achieve these goals. The measures for higher education are
outlined below.
The exploration and development of new models and ideas for virtual Euro-
pean universities and virtual campuses is encouraged. The idea is to map
out possibilities for different types of partnerships at European level, and to
be clear about their advantages and disadvantages. The aim is also to ex-
plore possible types of virtual products: European degrees combining
courses and materials from different universities or other structured combi-
nations of virtual and face-to-face learning with a European scope.
Virtual European campus structures should facilitate access by students and
teachers to virtual learning resources and to European cooperation networks
at all levels. This could mean, for example, European-wide access to univer-
sity libraries, research laboratories and seminars as well as to professional
and academic associations’ debates and information resources.
The Action Plan also foresees more research into, testing of, and forward
studies of new learning environments and the use of ICT in education, both
from a pedagogical and technological viewpoint, focusing on a critical-reflec-
tive use of new pedagogical methods and approaches, and assessing the
added value and benefits of e-learning environments for the learners and
communities involved. New educational visions of what can be achieved with
emerging technologies are an integral part of the development work.
A further intention is to create a virtual network for cooperation, “a European
laboratory for innovation in e-learning”. This is to be a European platform for
meetings and exchanges, a bridge between education and research, linking
pedagogical, technical, organisational and socio-economic research on 
e-learning, and providing communication channels between researchers and
practitioners in the field.
Promotion of virtual mobility is at the forefront. It can be seen either as a pre-
paration for or as a complement to physical mobility, as well as the provision
of enhanced opportunities for a European experience for those unable to
become physically mobile.
A virtual mobility scheme, “virtual Erasmus”, could, for example, be en-
visaged as a three-phase scheme in which a period of physical mobility is
preceded and followed by a period of online studies at the host university
87
7
The eLearning Action Plan – Designing tomorrow’s education. Communication from the Commission to
the Council and the European Parliament. COM (2001) 172 final.
http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/elearning/doc_en.html

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(virtual mobility). This would enable continued contact with host university
and teachers in the longer term, even in cases where the actual mobility
period is short. The virtual components would therefore improve the quality
of the study abroad period.
The virtual components should be open to non-mobile students as well.
These students would benefit enormously from a virtual component in their
studies, which could be arranged as cooperative learning projects of home
students, host students and/or mobile students working together.
Furthermore, inclusion of virtual components in the organisation and prepa-
ration of mobility could increase the quality and the impact of the Erasmus
student experience. Contact can be kept up throughout the exchange period
with the home university and teachers. Language preparation can be im-
proved with an online language preparation course before the actual on-site
course at the host university. This would increase the efficiency of language
preparation by allowing a greater number of Erasmus students to take an
intensive language course at the host university at intermediate rather than
beginner’s level. The online language preparation course could include a
system of tutoring, which would also provide Erasmus students with contact
persons at the host university.
Virtual mobility will be a powerful tool to promote physical mobility. A virtual
component in the study programme will act as a stimulus to participate in
physical mobility. Our 
Homo Zappiens will experience an irresistible urge to
go and see for himself, to speak face-to-face to his virtual friends – in their
language – and to study and learn in the real setting of a university abroad.
88

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Knut Olav Aslaksen
University of Bergen, Norway