Accessibility Tools
Learning and teaching has undoubtedly attracted increased interest in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) in recent years. A great majority of higher education institutions (HEIs) are establishing systematic and strategic approaches through dedicated policies and support structures. More recently the pandemic has challenged and at the same time opened perspectives on the way people learn and teach at university. At European policy level the Bologna Process has confirmed interest in learning and teaching while the European Commission’s European Strategy for Universities probably includes more ambition for enhancing learning and teaching than any previous EU initiative. In between the practice level at HEIs and the policy makers at the European level the study National Developments in Learning and Teaching in Europe provides an overview of how the different EHEA countries and higher education systems are contributing to learning and teaching.
HEIs themselves are on the frontline to play the biggest role with learning and teaching centres being created or reinforced and more and more developmental measures and catalyst roles to support teachers. But the national system-level actors clearly also take part and have a responsibility in an ecosystem where learning and teaching relies not only on individual teachers but also on interactions between several stakeholders (HEIs ministries national organisations funding agencies student organisations national rectors’ conferences social partners etc.). In this context it is worth paying attention to how a change in learning and teaching policies in pedagogical paradigms or in the education offer can be led and by whom. The concept of “leadership in teaching” understood as both an individual agency and a collective capacity to address organisational development and gear it towards enhancement is still an emerging issue: it is not yet a priority in national systems although individual HEIs may already be addressing it through various initiatives to support leaders in teaching within institutions.
The drivers and enablers identified as common across several EHEA countries are significant. Issues such as the lack of recognition for teaching in academic careers the lack of national support or clear commitment for teaching and the need for more capacity building and expertise in learning and teaching need to be addressed at national level in partnership and dialogue with stakeholders. Likewise enablers such as collaboration on learning and teaching and the post-pandemic window of opportunity for reviewing good practices are also to be addressed at national level.
The study features a wealth of examples of good national practices in several areas but also demonstrates that there is no one-size-fits-all in national approaches. Several countries have recently adopted national strategies or plans to define priorities for learning and teaching and to provide incentives. In other countries more or new regulations have not been deemed necessary either because there is sufficient capacity for HEIs to develop and implement their own measures or because there are concerns about overregulation. In only a few countries such as Ireland and Norway is there a national structure serving as a central point for organising the enhancement of learning and teaching across the system. Elsewhere multiple actors in the system (university or teacher associations national rectors’ conferences quality assurance agencies and sometimes the ministry) may together and in a complementary way play the same role.
Finally the right interplay and complementarity between policy makers national structures and stakeholders active in learning and teaching need to be found with opportunities for all stakeholders involved to exchange and build up mutual understanding across the sector on what needs to be done. In a context where leadership in teaching is not one-directional and should be seen as shared or distributed such consensus building looks indispensable at national level.
Thérèse Zhang is the Deputy Director of EUA’s Higher Education Policy Unit. She currently works on topics related to higher education learning and teaching, including developments in the Bologna Process, lifelong learning, digitalisation and internationalisation. She also represents EUA in the European Qualifications Framework Advisory Group, organised by the European Commission. She currently coordinates the “Leadership and Organisation for Teaching and Learning at European Universities” (LOTUS) project.
