Aims & Objectives


By developing, testing and promoting quality assurance and enhancement tools, this project network aims to increase confidence in and thus encourage innovative educational practices in lifelong learning in universities (Socrates II objective 4). More specifically, it aims to continue, enrich, and build added value on to the work of the earlier Socrates project, developing it into a package of quality tools in different media, exploiting the expertise of the team involved in the earlier project and adding new partners in additional countries. Thus it will promote the dissemination of concrete products and contribute to the dissemination of good practice in lifelong learning (aims of the Grundtvig Action).
It aims to improve the individualised learning pathway as experienced by adults in universities in Europe by enhancing the quality of the educational practices in relation to: access and entry issues (e.g. the learning contract, APEL, advice, guidance, orientation), the learning experience at university (e.g. courses, projects, ODL and E-learning, tutorial support, certification), and impact and progression (e.g. student satisfaction, personal and professional impact, social and community development).
The operational objectives are:

* To review existing models and approaches to quality assurance in terms of their relevance and appropriateness to adult learners and innovative practices developed to meet their needs; and to publish this review on the web;

* To develop the draft printed handbook from the previous project into a toolkit of different kinds of resources in a range of media, especially web-based, for staff development activities for those working with adult learners in universities;

* To deliver a range of staff development activities using the experts and the tools in face-to-face and web-based seminars, conferences, and workshops;

* To exploit the expertise of the original team, the new partners and the 2 European networks (EUCEN and EDEN) as consultants, experts and trainers in order to build capacity in European universities in relation to quality, university adult learning and the new publics for higher level study.