We are happy to announce the success of the 7th International Workshop "Lifelong Learning within European Frameworks" that took place in Mogilev (Belarus) on April 12-13 2016.

The event promoted scientific, cultural and educational practices of European collaboration, discovered and presented the latest findings in the field. Furthermore, we were able to share progressive concepts and inventive solutions, promote joint-thinking and add noticeably to the charismatic personalities of each other.

We thank Mr. Helmut Vogt for a comprehensive insight on the issue of university lifelong learning. The speech has been a logical continuation of the groundwork started by Andrea Waxenegger, Regina Egetenmeyer and Alfredo Soeiro. Those presentations were of good motivation to establish a national network of ULLL and accept the Charter. Sadly, we have to admit things haven’t moved forward much in this sector for us.

The reasons for this are multiple, but they meet in the root-point of centralization. Here we are talking about the long-established model of education management and the lag between the needs of society and state vision of development. This of course does not match the expectations of our European colleagues towards us meeting the Bologna Declaration principles.

The presentation of Mr. Vidmantas Tutlys and Ms. Genute Gedviliene was of particular importance to feel how reformation of the national system of Higher Education goes in the neighbor-country with the same centralized past. Thank you Vidmatas, sharing is a part of team-work, we do hope the best worthies of this state will realize we may well be a team.

Mrs. Elizabeth Wilson’s speech has been as close to the activities of the Continuing Education Institute in Mogilev as possible. With few people present Elizabeth’s key ideas of establishing partnerships with industry and companies, moving from monopolizing training to organizing accreditation, finally - giving rather than taking, where fully absorbed by the scholars.

Special credit goes to Mr. Stephan Rometsch, who gave the Belarusian-Russian University the second visit. Stephan brought new ideas on combinations of practice and theory in learning which focus on application of serious games in the classroom. The students of both the Faculty of Economics and Institute of Continuing Education were happy to have fun and serious debriefing, which got to the very crux of the matter. Those teachers present pass their best regards for the experience that Stephan shared.

To sum up, the workshop has left quite a serious impact on those with serious expectations, especially on their personalities (which may be considered an achievement with regard to the foci of LLEF15). The main problem was the turn-out, the cornerstone of which is tough centralization. We do believe the future has much in store for us, the organizers, and we will keep on advancing our skills to contribute to the development of education, one of the permanent values of the global society.

Thank you for all your support, interest and contributions. It is very important to be a part of the international team. We do hope we will find more ways to work together and learn from each other.  

Please, follow the link below to know more about the 2016 event:

http://www.ipk.mogilev.by/llef16/

Looking forward to joining our forces next time, here or there.

All the best,

Kiryl Samartsau
LLEF16 Steering Committee