Pat Davies Is Executive Secretary of EUCEN and Senior Research Fellow in the School Of

PRESENTATION OF SPEAKERS

Giuseppe Ronsisvalle is Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Catania (I), member of the International Evaluation Team of PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences of the University of Modena (I), Director of Graduate Studies at the International School of Doctorate in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Catania, and coordinator of the Italian Network of University Doctorate Schools on Medicinal Chemistry.

He is also President of the Centre for Continuing Professional Development at the University of Catania, Coordinator of the National University Network for Continuing Education, member of the Ministerial Committee on LLL and e-L, member of the Internationalization of University System Panel at the Italian Ministry, Italian Academic Representative at the Directorate for Education of the Council of Europe (CD-ESR), Strasbourg (F), Italian representative at the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) – IMHE (Institutional Management in Higher Education) Division, Paris (F), Delegate of the Minister of Higher Education at the Education Committee of OECD, Paris (F), Italian representative in the GRUNDTWIG WP of European Union and member of the Italian Bologna Promoters Group.

Pat Davies is Executive Secretary of EUCEN and Senior Research Fellow in the School of Education at the University of Sheffield, UK

In her EUCEN role she has led two major projects on the theme of recognition and validation of non-formal and informal learning:

• Transfine – Transfer between Formal Informal and Non-formal Education was funded by the Joint Action Programme of the EC for the period 2003-4. The project included a survey of existing projects and initiatives in Europe, a feasibility study in 5 countries and recommendations for a European architecture for the recognition of non-formal and informal learning. Full details of the project are available at:
• Refine - Recognising Formal, Informal and Non-formal Education was funded by the Joint Action Programme of the EC for 2 years to December 2005. It had 17 partners and around 60 associate partners including 12 country teams comprising representatives from universities, vocational training, adult education, employers and social partners and voluntary sector organisations. Each team tested a range of tools and the final results of the testing formed the basis of a proposal to the EC for Validpass – a set of European tools for the validation of non-formal and informal learning.

In her academic role in UK, she has spent more than twenty years researching, teaching and writing about social inclusion and access to higher education for adults, including APL and APEL in all it forms in the UK and in other country contexts and has published widely on the topic.

Raymond Thomson is Deputy Director of Lifelong Learning for the University of Strathclyde where he has responsibility for access and accredited programmes, and for quality in teaching and learning. He also teaches courses in advanced music analysis for the Open University and is External Professor of Music for Fairfax University, Louisiana.

He has Doctoral degrees in both music and philosophy and has combined these interests into an analysis of the use of culture as an ethical and democratic tool. He has presented papers on this topic in Scotland, England, Spain, Finland, France, Sweden and Ireland. He was the author of the 2003

TRANSFINE Study on APEL in Scotland.

Classically trained on the French Horn, he is a freelance orchestral musician and has played professionally with many groups, including the Glasgow Chamber Orchestra.

Eight years ago the Cultural Commission of the European Union awarded him the title of European Expert on Twentieth Century Music.

Michel Feutrie, Maître de conférences at the Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille (France), Vice President of the University in charge of Continuing Education and President of EUCEN (European University Continuing Education Network).

• As Vice President for Continuing Education at Lille, he was involved in an experimental programme to transform the University into a Lifelong Learning Organisation that promoted a continuous flow between study and work. This involved setting up an entirely new teaching and learning organisation, administrative and financial structures as well as accompanying measures encouraging the access, participation and success of lifelong learners. He also contributed at national level to ensuring that continuing university education shifted from being a separate activity to become an integral part of university strategy.

• He has been active for many years in the recognition and validation of non formal and informal learning. His university has been a pioneer in this field and processes around 1500 individual dossiers each year. He has made a significant contribution at ministerial level in defining processes and tools and has published a number of articles and taken part in conferences in France and Europe. Since the mid 90s he has worked with other European Universities in Leonardo projects on the development of partnerships between universities and the business community. He has worked with Pat Davies in EUCEN on two European Joint Action Projects Transfine and Refine to harmonise recognition approaches in the different sectors of vocational education and training, non profit organisations etc. the outcome of which has been the proposal of a tool – Validpass - that could be integrated into Europass.

• Since 2002, he has been appointed by the French Prime Minister to run the National Commission on Professional Certification. The Commission has two principal missions: the first is to establish a register of all certifications offered by public and private bodies and these are available (around 15,000 of which 10,000 for Higher Education) on the web to a standard format of maximum 3 pages; the second is to assess whether to register all certifications that have not been created or recognised by the State.

Colin Tück is a student of Electrical Engineering at the Technical

University of Vienna since October 2006. He was a student at Aachen

University of Technology before and spent a year as ERASMUS student in

Slovenia. Since 2005, Colin is a member of ESIB's Bologna Process Committee (BPC). Before he has been the Chairperson of the Student Union of the Aachen University of Technology (Jul 2003 - Oct 2004) and member of the Executive Board of fzs, the National Union of Students in Germany (Oct 2004 - Sep 2005). Since January 2006 he is a member of the Advisory Board of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).