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HUMANITARIAN UNIVERSITY FOCUSES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF A GLOBAL EDUCATION CONSORTIUM

By Stephen M. Apatow, President and Founder, Humanitarian Resource Institute

The objective is to strengthen humanitarian relief operations, development and international security.  The mechanism encompasses the development of a global education consortium with a mission objective consistent with the Council on International Educational Exchange: "to help people gain understanding, acquire knowledge, and develop skills for living in a globally interdependent and culturally diverse world." [1]  This need reflects a perspective of 92 percent of Nobel Laureates (Princeton Survey Research Associates) who see "Education is one of the biggest problems facing humankind along with poverty, health and environmental challenges." [2]

Humanitarian University has prioritized these needs into the development of a consortium that (1) expands learning opportunities through accredited college and university programs worldwide and (2) increases access to communication technology. The model program and reference point for current discussions is the European Union based CLUSTER (Consortium Linking Universities of Science and Technology for Education and Research) [3] network that is comprised of eleven leading European Universities of Technology; active in advanced research and higher education of engineers, scientists and architects.  The CLUSTER Consortium represents a total of 3'000 professors, 10'000 researchers and close to 100'000 students, CLUSTER may be considered as a multi-location European University.  The joint efforts and exchanges of students and researchers contribute to promoting excellence in education and research.

ESTABLISHING A GLOBAL CREDIT TRANSFER SYSTEM

Our reference point for the development of a Global Credit Transfer System (GCTS) is the found in the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) [4] that promotes study abroad as a means of improving the quality of academic cooperation bringing benefits to students and higher education institutions.

Today, the ECTS program helps higher education institutions to enhance their cooperation with other institutions by (1) improving access to information on foreign curricula, and (2) providing common procedures for academic recognition.

What does ECTS offer to the student ?

• ECTS guarantees academic recognition of studies abroad.
• ECTS enables access to regular courses alongside local students, with the benefit of full participation in the academic life of the host institution. This characteristic of ECTS distinguishes it from many other student mobility programmes.
• ECTS enables further studies abroad. A student may prefer not to go back to the home institution after the study period abroad, but rather to stay at the host institution -- possibly to gain a degree -- or to move to a third institution. The institutions themselves decide whether or not this is acceptable and what conditions the student must fulfill in order to get a diploma or transfer registration.

• ECTS creates curriculum transparency by providing detailed information on the curricula and their relevance towards a degree.
• ECTS helps academics to make academic recognition decisions thanks to prior agreement on the content of study programmes abroad between students and their home and host institutions.
• The use of ECTS can also be a catalyst for reflection on course curriculum structures, student workload and learning outcomes.
• With ECTS, higher education institutions preserve their autonomy and responsibility for all decisions concerning students' achievements, without amending existing course structures and assessment methods: all courses and assessments are those which are normally taken by regular students at the host institution.

Though in it's embryonic stages, the development an international education strategy will focus on (1) the integration traditional and distance education, (2) the challenges of illiteracy and inadequate educational opportunities, (3) the improvement of educational systems so that children and adults can acquire the best education regardless of their economic background or geographic location and (4) the expansion of communication technology to lower the cost of information and the provision of a global forum for open dialogue.
 

References:

1. Council on International Educational Exchange:  Url: http://www.ciee.org/
2. Princeton Survey Research Associates, 91% of Nobel Laureates Say Internet will play a Vital Role in Widening Educational Opportunities.  Url:  http://www.cisco.com/nobel/survey/
3. Consortium Linking Universities of Science and Technology for Education and Research (CLUSTER). Url: http://www.cluster.org/
4. European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). Url: http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/socrates/ects.html