Europe is, in many ways, of central importance to discussions about higher education. Various European initiatives, such as the Bologna Process and the Erasmus mobility programme, have had a direct and material impact on the shape and nature of higher education across the continent. They have also been linked to wider political objectives, such as…

The ECTS, European Credit Transfer System, is now widely used throughout higher education institutions as it facilitates student mobility within Europe and the comparison of study programs and courses. Most European institutions provide students with the number of ECTS each course and module is worth. A full-time student needs to complete 60 ECTS…

It is often assumed within much of the academic literature and by many of those working in higher education that universities across Europe are homogenising, converging around an Anglo-American model as a result of neo-liberal pressures and the aim of creating a single European Higher Education Area. However, drawing on an analysis of 92 policy…

The arrival of the Bolognia Process, that is, the last European bold adventure in order to build both a common and strong European Higher Education Area had to mean a new chance to reset our higher education structure. Bolognia meant a new opportunity to set up a wide array of reforms with the focus in raising the quality assurance. Bolognia…

Within the framework of the CaixaProinfancia programme, networks have been developed in 18 regions of Spain which promote intersectoral cooperation to combat the social and educational exclusion of children. Their emerging nature and simultaneous development have enabled a comparative study to be made of their organisation, the supporting and…

During the COVID-19 pandemic, most classes in higher education were offered online, and student and staff mobility came to a sudden halt. With its focus on online interaction and collaboration between students from different cultural backgrounds, Virtual Exchange (VE) has presented itself as an excellent opportunity to students and educators to…

This paper builds on two research projects on initial and in-service education of teachers, their professional experience, and the pathways they travelled to become teachers. The policy documents analysed and the teachers' professional histories, the micro-ethnographies and the discussion groups developed, allowed us to draw a broad picture of the…

University teacher training has become an important topic in recent years due to the curricular and methodological reforms introduced by the Bologna process. Despite its acknowledged importance, evaluations have been limited to measures of participants' satisfaction, and little is known about its impact on teaching practices. This study seeks to…

The nature of European education systems and their respective modes of governing education were principally determined by factors internal to individual countries until the early 1980s. After the extension of the European Union and the acceleration of globalization, European countries have adopted some features that exist in many countries around…

Spain's transition from dictatorship to pacific and stable democracy without producing major national convulsions is remarkable in a world where many such attempts have been made and most have failed. Within the context of government reform, this study identifies and examines strengths and weaknesses of the regionalization process in education 10…

In Spain, many aspects of educational reform began with the social movements arising in the 1960s. By the end of the 1970s, as the first democratic local elections were held, psychologists, educators, and social workers began to work toward schools that would compensate for the social and individual disadvantages of many students. These efforts…

This study describes characteristics of reflective practical teaching, interprets the value of intellectualizing teaching by teachers, and summarizes a successful teaching/learning research process in the context of a large urban school in Spain. Data were gathered through review of curriculum documents and observations, interviews, and written…