News
October 2011
MODERN Conference "Engaging in the Modernisation Agenda for European Higher Education", Brussels, 30 January 2012
MODERN is a European platform which promotes the modernisation of higher education management. It is a three-year EU-funded Structural Network (2009-2012) under the Lifelong Learning programme. Lead partner is ESMU, the European Centre for Strategic Management of Universities, ICHEM is one of the key partners, responsible for organising one of the four major conferences of the project. The project responds to the Modernisation Agenda of the European Union and to the need to invest in people, to support future leaders and encourage the professionalisation of higher education management at all levels. The overall objective is to ensure higher education institutions’ competitiveness to meet challenges in their external environment and respond to the needs of society.
More information on the project's final conference “Engaging in the Modernisation Agenda for European Higher Education” is now available on the MODERN website. Registration is now open and all the practical information regarding the conference can be found on the website.
February 2011
Forthcoming MODERN conferences and workshops
This project is organising three events, as follows, in the first half of 2011. All information and the online registration for the events is available on The European Platform on Higher Education Modernisation website
Brussels, 13-14 April 2011, a Senior Leadership Workshop
"Effecting Change in Universities" (Number of places limited to 20 participants)
Milan, Italy, 12 May 2011, a Peer Learning Workshop
"Knowledge Exchange" (Number of places limited to 25 participants)
Milan Italy, 13 May 2011, a Conference
"Developing a strategic agenda for university knowledge exchange: Universities building dynamic interactions with their external environments"
November 2010
Conference "Facing the rankings - Using benchmarking tools for strategic positioning", Vienna, 20-21 January 2011
The European Benchmarking Initiative (EBI) is a two-year EU-funded project, follow-up to an exploratory project on benchmarking in higher education. The benchmark project focuses on four areas: lifelong learning, institutional governance, curriculum reform and university-enterprise cooperation. The final event of the project is the Conference “Facing the rankings” in Vienna.
The conference will look at transparency tools such as classifications, rankings and benchmarking exercises in an increasingly diverse higher education context. Drawing on the handbook produced in the framework of the project, the conference will offer practical peer learning sessions (on benchmarking tools) and specialised workshops (to assist both in the selection of appropriate indicators in the three areas of internationalization, university-enterprise cooperation and regional innovation and in discussing the strength of these indicators). The handbook offers a very detailed methodology on defining and selecting indicators with the use of balance scorecards as well as designing powerful action plans to implement changes as a result of benchmarking exercises.
Download the DRAFT PROGRAMME 
To attend the conference, register online. Please register quickly since the number of places will be limited. All registered participants will receive a free hardcopy of the EBI-II and EBI-I handbooks.
June 2010
Workshops on Benchmarking in European Higher Education, August & September 2010
The European Benchmarking Initiative (EBI) is a follow-up to an exploratory project on benchmarking in higher education. The current benchmark project (2008-2010) focuses on four areas: lifelong learning, institutional governance, curriculum reform and university-enterprise cooperation. Within each of these four areas, benchmarking tools were developed and experiences of good practice are disseminated.
After the successful conference in Brussels (June 11), there will be three further one-day events, disseminating the results produced to a wider audience, thereby ensuring that all interested HEIs are given the opportunity to benefit from the expertise developed in the course of the project. The agenda will include sessions on benchmarking methodologies and project outputs, benchmarking and the EU modernisation agenda as well as examples of good practice.
The events will take place at the Central European University (CEU, Budapest, 27 August 2010), as a joint EAIR-ESMU workshop linked to the EAIR Forum (Valencia, 1 September 2010) and as a joint EAIE-ESMU workshop in the context of the EAIE Annual Conference (Nantes, 14 September 2010) .
Download the DRAFT PROGRAMME for Budapest (NB: the format for Valencia and Nantes is identical).
For the online registration system and further practical information, please Click here.
March 2010
Conference Benchmarking in European Higher Education, 11 June 2010, Brussels
The European Benchmarking Initiative (EBI) is a follow-up to an exploratory project on benchmarking in higher education. The current benchmark project (2008-2010) focuses on four areas: lifelong learning, institutional governance, curriculum reform and university-enterprise cooperation. Within each of these four areas, benchmarking tools were developed and experiences of good practice are disseminated. ICHEM is the key partner in the institutional governance benchmarking exercise, in which fifteen European higher education institutions are involved.
The final event of the EBI project will be the “Benchmarking in European Higher Education” conference. It will disseminate the results produced by the four groups to a wider audience, thereby ensuring that all interested HEIs are given the opportunity to benefit from the expertise developed in the course of the project. The agenda will include sessions on benchmarking methodologies and project outputs, benchmarking and the EU modernisation agenda as well as examples of good practice.
Download the DRAFT PROGRAMME .
For more information on the EBI project and for registering for the conference.
March 2010
Higher Education Management and Development - Compendium for Managers
Publication from Project EHEMD is now available 03.03.2010
Focusing not only on theoretical points of view, but also on their practical applications as demonstrated in the accompanying case studies, the publication covers the key aspects of modern university management.
Today as never before, it is imperative that university managers possess the knowledge and the competencies necessary for leading modern higher education institutions. As higher education institutions grow larger and extend their reach into new areas and the functions demanded of them multiply, academic administration and management become increasingly complex; thus, the need for skilled management and administrative personnel becomes more acute.
This book emerged as the product of the European Higher Education Management and Development (EHEMD) project, a European multilateral curriculum development project under the coordination of the Danube University Krems and funded by the European Union in the framework of the Erasmus Lifelong Learning Programme. Focusing not only on theoretical points of view, but also on their practical applications as demonstrated in the accompanying case studies, the publication covers the key aspects of modern university management.
The booklet is structured so that each chapter presents a particular aspect and application of university management and the entire volume reflects the core contents of the EHEMD curriculum. The fundamentals of the programme are that it is interdisciplinary, that it is practice-oriented and that students learn from each other and also learn independently. With a strong emphasis on Central, Southern and Eastern Europe, this book addresses management challenges in higher education today and in the near future.
Jeroen Huisman, Attila Pausits (Eds.)
Higher Education Management and Development
Compendium for Managers
Waxmann 2010
230 pages, 24,90 €
ISBN 978-3-8309-2286-5
Further Information:
March 2010
Bologna Process Independent Assessment
The final reports of the Independent assessment of the Bologna process, carried out by a team of researchers from CHEPS (University of Twente, the Netherlands), INCHER (University of Kassel, Germany), ECOTEC and ICHEM is now available at the Bologna secretariat web site.
March 2010
MODERN conference “Assuring the Quality of Internationalisation”, 7 May 2010, Amsterdam
MODERN is a European platform which promotes the modernisation of higher education management. It is a three-year EU-funded Structural Network (2009-2012) under the Lifelong Learning programme. Lead partner is ESMU, the European Centre for Strategic Management of Universities, ICHEM is one of the key partners, responsible for organising one of the four major conferences of the project. The project responds to the Modernisation Agenda of the European Union and to the need to invest in people, to support future leaders and encourage the professionalisation of higher education management at all levels. The overall objective is to ensure higher education institutions’ competitiveness to meet challenges in their external environment and respond to the needs of society.
After successful conferences in Ghent and London (organised by ICHEM), the next events will take place in Amsterdam. On 6 May 2010, the Peer Learning Workshop “From strategy to quality: internationalisation as an element of QA systems in higher education institutions” will take place. Download the draft programme . On 7 May 2010, the MODERN conference “Assuring the Quality of Internationalisation” will follow. Download the draft programme . For more information.