Promoting online education and research across national borders
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Text
adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of
the Assembly, on 3 March 2023 (see Doc. 15714, report of the Committee on Culture, Science, Education
and Media, rapporteur: Lord Alexander Dundee).See
also Recommendation 2250
(2023).
1. The Parliamentary Assembly is conscious
that education and learning are at a technological and systemic
watershed, whereby the internet and mobile communication enable
new forms of distance learning and interactive education which are
yet to be utilised to their full potential.
2. Public–private partnerships have been established in member
States in order to advance online education and research across
national borders, ranging from the provision of mobile online access
tools and satellite internet to the creation of multilingual online
learning and teaching materials.
3. Recalling the decisions taken by the G7 under the presidency
of the United Kingdom in 2021 regarding digital technology and online
education as a means to overcome global inequalities, the Assembly
is aware of the negative impact on school education and higher education
in Ukraine caused by the military attack of the Russian Federation;
it also notes the good examples of online education established
by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and other member
States, such as the All-Ukrainian Online School, benefiting hundreds
of thousands of displaced Ukrainian students and teachers.
4. The European Qualifications Passport for Refugees of the Council
of Europe enables recognition of the educational and professional
qualifications of refugees, even when their documentation is incomplete,
in accordance with the Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications
concerning Higher Education in the European Region (ETS No. 165,
Lisbon Recognition Convention).
6. It is aware of the great potential of online learning for
the inclusion of disadvantaged students and students with special
needs, in particular students with reduced mobility or visual or
hearing impairments.
7. The Assembly also refers to the Council of Europe’s Digital
Agenda 2022-2025, its Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic
Culture and its Digital Citizenship Education programme, as well as
the Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027) of the European Union;
it recalls Recommendation CM/Rec(2019)10 of the Committee of Ministers
of the Council of Europe to member States on developing and promoting
digital citizenship education and Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)18
of the Committee of Ministers to member States on countering education
fraud.
8. The Assembly emphasises the importance for member States of
strengthening online education and calls on them to commit to:
8.1 analysing inequalities and access
barriers regarding online education in order to counteract them through
targeted strategies and actions at local, national and European
levels;
8.2 supporting effectively schools, institutions of higher
education, research institutions and libraries in order to achieve
a proper transition from blackboards and books to interactive and,
where relevant, individualised online education;
8.3 encouraging the development of quality standards and norms
for online education, including the use of online verification systems
and databases, in order to better inform users of online education
and allow them to make informed choices;
8.4 advancing the recognition of online study periods and
qualifications in accordance with the Lisbon Recognition Convention;
8.5 supporting schools, institutions of technical and vocational
education and training, institutions of higher education, research
institutions and libraries to establish interinstitutional co-operation
in online education across national borders, for example under the
European Outline Convention on Transfrontier Co-operation between
Territorial Communities or Authorities (ETS No. 106);
8.6 making use of the financing possibilities of the Council
of Europe Development Bank in order to develop online education
in the framework of national and local social development policies;
8.7 joining and supporting the work of the European Centre
for Global Interdependence and Solidarity (North-South Centre) of
the Council of Europe in order to raise awareness and strengthen online
education across national borders with the global South.
