In the early 21st century, food security has become an urgent public concern, arguably more entangled with social, political and environmental problems at multiple scales now than in the past. This paper examines approaches to food system change emphasizing regionalization, rather than either localization or globalization, to consider framings of…

The importance of social capital as a resource for rural development, especially in the context of projects involving joint participation of state and civil society, is widely recognized today. This paper analyzes the obstacles confronted by local players--small farmers and government organizations--in the development of an irrigation area through…

Since its creation in 1958, the European Social Fund (ESF) has played a major role in supporting the development of vocational training in the Member States. However, compared to other, more recently launched, EU programmes and initiatives in the area of education and training, the ESF has not made a significant contribution to the debate about…

Bologna reform eulogies and protests tend to focus on the benefits and shortcomings of the new two-tier curricula, their implementation and orientation. In this article, an assessment of the Bologna reforms is made in terms of their larger and less widely discussed systemic and institutional effects--which go far beyond the original reformers'…

The increasing integration of national educational systems, in particular in Europe, is giving rise to conflict among traditional forms of instruction, curricula, pedagogical norms and values, and firmly established standards of education. The center of this conflict now, which was catalyzed by Russia's joining the Bologna process, consists of the…

Despite the growing popularity of interdistrict choice plans over the past decade, the policy assumptions underlying their adoption have been subjected to very little empirical research. This study situates school choice within one metropolitan region, Denver, and examines the ways in which choice patterns relate to existing patterns of…

Purpose: This paper aims to provide a critical analysis of the European Commissions and the member states attempts to introduce a European Qualifications Framework and national frameworks respectively. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on a review of policies and substantive desk research in countries that have applied a…

This article seeks to describe briefly various initiatives taken to ease recognition and comparison of formal qualifications across borders in the EU. It takes a political angle, from binding legal instruments such as directives and decisions to policy instruments such as recommendations and voluntary action and covers 27 Member States with very…

Since 29 European ministers of higher education announced the Bologna declaration in 1999, the Bologna reform has spread to all parts of Europe. The number of participating countries has grown to 46. In other words, most European countries have joined the Bologna process, which is to form a "European higher education area" (EHEA) by…

Changes in higher education in Hungary are strongly related to those in the economic and social environment. Since the change of the political system in the late 1980s, Hungarian economic development has been marked by periods of contraction and expansion. Notwithstanding this process, influenced in part by the state's imposition of restrictive…

The policy of "two exemptions and one subsidy" (TEOS), which is a "popular sentiment" project, has brought life to the western region's rural education and light to impoverished families. In addition to launching the battle for the "two basics" in the western region, the overall popularization of distance education…

The EU's lifelong learning policy has emerged as an overarching educational reform policy intended to address a wide range of issues, including education, employment and competitiveness. The question has been raised as to whether the resulting policy is merely a catch-all concept that can be applied to any needs or whether it is underpinned by a…

The article addresses the way in which EU policy-making operates, explains the relevance of "lifelong learning" for the European Commission and analyses the mechanisms by which the Commission has advanced policy-making in education and training since the Lisbon Summit. The article reviews in particular the alleged lack of effectiveness…

By 2007, more than 950 charter schools, some of them nearly 15 years old, were operating in 13 SREB states, with enrollments approaching 350,000 students. This report explores how the achievement of charter school students in certain SREB states compares with the achievement of traditional public school students, and it examines roles of statewide…

Across the OECD, countries, regions and higher education institutions (HEIs) are discovering each other. More and more partnerships are being established based on a growing appreciation of shared interests. This paper explores the drivers behind such engagement, from both HEI and regional development perspectives, the barriers to effective working…