1. The Role of the Rectors’ Conferences in Europe Henriette Stöber Central European University & University of York Erasmus Mundus MAPP - Master of Public Policy - Student

2. Outline  Founding Years  Legal Form  Member Institutions  Mission and Tasks  Current Agenda  Cooperation with Student Organizations  Some Success Stories

3. Founding Years Switzerland 19041900 Austria 1911, UK 19181910 1920 1930 Germany 19491940 Norway 19581950 Italy 1963, Finland 19691960 France 1971, Ireland 1972, Belgium (Flemish) 19761970 Turkey 1982, Netherlands1985, Iceland 1987, Hungary 19881980 Belgium (French) 1990, Bulgaria 1992, Latvia 1992, Czech Republic 1993, Slovenia 1993, Slovak Republic 1993, Spain 1994, Lithuania 1995, Sweden 1995, Poland 1997 1990 Estonia 2000, Cyprus 20042000

4. Organizational Form Country Advocacy Organization & Registered CharityUnited Kingdom Corporation (Constitutional)Turkey Corporation (Public) /Non-Profit OrganizationHungary Coordinating BodyDenmark Non-profit Organization Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Spain Private AssociationSwitzerland Private OrganizationItaly Think TankBelgium (Flemish) Trade AssociationNetherlands Voluntary AssociationGermany

5. Number of Higher Education Institution Members

6. Type of Institutional Members Type of Member Institutions Country All Accredited Institutions Bulgaria, France, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, All Public Institutions Austria, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden Some of the Public Institutions Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Switzerland All Public and State plus some Private Institutions Czech Republic, Germany, Norway, Poland, Slovak Republic, Spain All Public and Private Universities and some University Colleges United Kingdom

7. Permanent Staff in the Secretariat compared to the Number of Member Institutions

8. Mission and Tasks issue joint statements and advise government on higher education policy and legislation, national and international representation, cooperation amongst national universities, research and document higher education trends, information point for universities, Bologna Process follow up, mobility promotion (students, researchers, staff), advise on the distribution of the public budget, Erasmus administration, employers association for higher education staff, strategic advice for higher education institutions, accreditation advice, safeguard academic values.

9. Current Issues on the Agenda public funding, research management, frameworks and strategy, student issues (student services, access, completion time, tuition fees), internationalization (strategy, cooperation and exchange), strategic HEI management (academic governance & excellence, modernization), university autonomy, quality assurance, bologna implementation assistance and follow up, graduate careers (degree structures, cooperation with businesses), staff issues (tenure, contracts), national higher education acts, lack of PhD graduates, decreasing the bureaucratic burden on institutions.

10. Cooperation with Student Unions Regular Cooperation Austria, Denmark, France, Hungary, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Sweden, United Kingdom. Some Cooperation on specific (student) issues Czech Republic, Germany, Italy. No Cooperation Belgium (French).

11. Some Success Stories

12. Köszönöm a figyelmet!

13. Sources CountryWebpage Austriahttp://www.uniko.ac.at/index.php?lang=EN Belgium FR http://www.cref.be/ Belgium NL http://www.vlir.be/content1.aspx?url=englis h Bulgaria http://erawatch.jrc.ec.europa.eu/erawatch/o pencms/information/country_pages/bg/orga nisation/organisation_mig_0006 Croatia www.unizg.hr/tempusprojects/Cro4Bologna /Bjelis-CRC-050114.ppt ‎ Cyprus http://www.ucy.ac.cy/goto/mainportal/en- US/AbouttheRectorsCouncil.aspx Czech Republic http://crc.muni.cz/about/index.en.html Denmarkhttp://dkuni.dk/english Estoniahttp://www.ern.ee/index.php?lang=en Finland http://www.rectors- council.helsinki.fi/english/index.html Francehttp://www.cpu.fr/ Germanyhttp://www.hrk.de/home/ Greece - Hungarywww.mrk.hu Icelandhttp://english.hi.is/ Irelandhttp://www.iua.ie/ Italyhttp://www.crui.it/english/ Latviahttp://www.aic.lv/rp/Eng/default.htm Lithuaniahttp://lurk.lt/en/about-us/structure/ Luxembourghttp://wwwen.uni.lu/ Maltahttp://www.um.edu.mt/ Netherlandshttp://www.vsnu.nl/Home-english.htm Norwayhttp://www.uhr.no/om_uhr/about_uhr_1 Polandhttp://www.krasp.org.pl/en Portugalhttp://www.crup.pt/en Romaniahttp://www.consiliulrectorilor.ro/ Serbia - Slovak Republic http://www.srk.sk/en Sloveniahttp://www.rkrs.si/en Spainhttp://www.crue.org/ Swedenhttp://www.suhf.se/inenglish Switzerland http://www.crus.ch/homenavigation/home.ht ml?L=2 Turkeyhttp://www.yok.gov.tr/ United Kingdom http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/Pages/Default.aspx