At the recent European Council in Stockholm (23-24 March, 2001), Heads of State and of Governments of the European Union reaffirmed their determination to seize all opportunities offered by the digital revolution. At the initiative of Mrs Viviane Reding, Commissioner in charge of Education and Culture, the European Commission has adopted a comprehensive eLearning Action Plan to mobilise its programmes and instruments in co-operation with Member States, the European Investment Bank and all parties concerned with accelerating the implementation of eLearning in Europe.
In this context, a group of more than 25 leading eLearning companies led by Cisco Systems, IBM, Nokia, SanomaWSOY and SmartForce are joining forces to make eLearning available across Europe. Working with the European Commission, Parlamentarians, Member States and academic communities the group’s rationale is founded on a belief that eLearning is critical to Europe’s future success in the knowledge-driven global economy.
The challenge facing the group is to help deliver eLearning within a reasonable timeframe to meet the needs of e-Economies in today’s Information Age. Several key issues identified in the European Commission's eLearning Action Plan are considered vital to bringing eLearning to Europe:
Promotion of universal digital literacy ;
Creation of a culture of lifelong learning ;
Developing high quality European educational content ;
Integrating information and communication technologies into education and training more comprehensively and efficiently ;
Creation of flexible infrastructures that will make eLearning available to all.
The European Commission sees Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) as a key success factor to achieving the objectives of eLearning, and has invited a wide range of industry partners to explore their potential at Europe’s first eLearning Summit. This major event will be held at IBM’s International Education Centre at La Hulpe in Brussels on May 10-11, 2001.
Mrs Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Education and Culture, commented: “If Europe is to be a dominant economic and social force on the global stage it must act as a cohesive unit wherever possible. The Internet is THE unifying technology and we must seek to maximise its potential. The eLearning Summit is a great chance for Europe to utilise the power of technology for real social and educative change, bringing benefits to academia and to business. We aim to put in place realistic goals and have called upon the expertise of the world’s best eLearning companies to ensure these are set. It is mainly through successful Public Private Partnerships such as this that the true vision and power of eLearning will be realised in Europe.”
eLearning Summit goals :
The eLearning Summit will unite leading practitioners and stakeholders from the public and private sectors in:
Developing a dialogue between the private and public sectors to accelerate the implementation of eLearning ;
Presenting and evaluating examples of best practices in eLearning, identifying those that can be implemented through PPPs ;
Defining clear guidelines and concrete proposals to support realisation of eLearning across the European Community.
The main outcome of the Summit will be to present a powerful message on the eLearning opportunities to the Education Council, supported by an outline of priority actions and concrete proposals for implementation, and examples of best practice in the following areas:
Models for delivering eLearning in Europe ;
Recommendations on viable funding models, supported by PPPs ;
Recommendations for strategic policy development on a European level ;
Concrete proposals for implementing eLearning.
In addition workshops will be held in preparation for the eLearning Summit.
For further press information on the eLearning Summit and the companies involved, please contact:
Grant Currie
Bite Communications
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8600 6712
Email: grantc@bitecomm.co.uk
Further information:
Imogen Bailey
Cisco Systems
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8756 8219
Email: imbailey@cisco.com
Philippe Borremans
IBM Global Services
Tel : +32-2-2252773
Email: borremap@be.ibm.com
Jyrki Rosenberg
Nokia
Tel: + 3587180 62865
Email: jyrki.rosenberg@nokia.com
Mikko Laine
SanomaWSOY
Email: mikko.laine@wsoy.fi
Laura Overton
SmartForce
Email: laura_overton@smartforce.com
Notes for Editors
The eLearning Summit will:
Create a climate of awareness of the potential of eLearning and PPPs
Raise awareness of the importance and potential of eLearning
Identify the obstacles and constraints that currently hinder the development of eLearning
Summit Participants
The 250 invited participants will include:
Senior political representatives and civil servants from the European Commission, European Parliament, and EU Member States and accession countries
Leading education and training practitioners and senior decision makers from the public and private sectors
Companies and other organisations delivering eLearning who have the potential to invest in programmes with government and education bodies
A ‘Steering Group’ of 30 leading companies in the IT, Telecommunications, audio-visual, training, broadcasting and publishing industries has been established to advise and support the Summit, ensuring very broad and high-level participation in the event by the Private Sector.
Planning workshops prior to the Summit will allow the core issues to be scoped, exemplar programmes selected and a set of proposed actions produced. The five workshop topics are each led by a major company:
Access and connectivity (Nokia)
Transforming the current learning model (IBM)
Content development (SanomaWSOY Group)
Digital literacy (Smartforce)
The ICT skills gap (Cisco)
The workshop sessions at the Summit will be co-chaired by a senior ministry representative and an electronic discussion forum will be set up to consolidate the key issues.
Leading companies work with the European Commission to address eLearning challenges in Europe
| Source: Nokia Oyj