Europe and North America
	Approach The UNESCO Forum Regional Scientific Committee for Europe and North America aims to provide and encourage secondary research on issues already under study in other fora and orgnizations. The Committee seeks to promote the relevance of academic teaching and research for national development agendas. Although this committee’s focus is not primarily on the gap between poor and rich, it was noted that, in the industrialized countries, the concern is to advance knowledge production and to optimize its social impact. This would complement and interface with the reflection in countries and regions which needed to significantly strengthen and maintain their basic research capacity, as well as to access important areas of knolwege production generated in other regions. New ways of supporting research, including philanthropy, are being examined, as well as the links between research and public policy formulation. Main themes The management and evaluation of higher education systems Structures and diversification Changes in the knowledge systems The role of higher education in regional development ICTs and access to higher education from a socio-structural perspective Globalizing knowledge Promoting cross border exchanges in knowledge and education systems

Members of the Regional Scienfific Committee for Europe and North America Prof. Ulrich TEICHLER (Chair) - Germany Prof. Philippe LAREDO (Vice Chair) - France Prof. Ivar A. BLEIKLIE - Norway Prof. Helena SEBKOVA - Czech Republic Prof. Sarah GURI-ROSENBLIT - Israel Prof. Sverker SORLIN - Sweden Prof. Francisco MICHAVILA-PITARCH - Spain Prof. Baiba RIVZA - Latvia Prof. Elaine EL-KHAWAS - United States of America Prof. Ronald G. SULTANA - Malta Main Events: 3rd Regional Scientific Committee Meeting for Europe & North America 23-24 February 2006 UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France The primary objective of this meeting was to discuss the new theme chosen for debate by Committee: “Globalizing knowledge – Europe and North America region’s activities and policies addressing the relationship to other UNESCO regions”. The meeting also focused on the publication of papers. 2nd Regional Scientific Committee Meeting for Europe & North America 10-11 March 2004 UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France The main objective of this meeting was to present and discuss issues related to structures and diversification in higher education. The current meeting was to be seen as a sequel to the previous meeting, in which specific themes linked to the overall theme of the Forum had been identified and agreed upon as topics to be pursued by the committee. The first part of the meeting was dedicated to discussion of conceptual issues, and that the second part was devoted to operational concerns. 1st Regional Scientific Committee Meeting for Europe & North America 5-6 June 2006 IIEP, Paris, France The first meeting of the Committee was hosted by the International Institute for Educational Planning (Paris, France). The future areas of work of the Committee were discussed in light with the objectives of the project.