Paper Titles & Abstracts

This paper examines whether the digital revolution sweeping the global economic, social and political landscapes has contributed to questioning the sectoral boundaries within the Europe of Knowledge. During the last decade, the digital revolution in higher education and research (such as rapid changes in learning and communication technologies) has ushered in a new debate in the US about education's 'digital future' (http://edf.stanford.edu). Some of the questions being raised include: 'What does education equity mean in a digital world? Who will profit in a greatly expanded market for digital educational products, and who will make the rules for this marketplace? How will quality standards for digital learning be determined and enforced?' To this one could also add: What does academic mobility mean in a digital world? To what extent has basic research been transformed as a result of the 'global clock' and improved ease of non-face-to-face interactions? Who will benefit from the insights and knowledge thus generated; the society at large or a more limited set of users (e.g. other researchers and students)? While there are no definitive answers to these questions, they are deeply political. This paper seeks to provide some preliminary responses to these questions by mapping the state of the digital debate in higher education and research in Europe from multiple perspectives: policymakers, researchers and students. The ongoing economic crisis is especially timely for this reflection as the various stakeholders attempt to accommodate its multifaceted effects.