Project partners will develop a PAGs toolkit to support national authorities and higher education institutions to check their current policies and practices on the social dimension and receive advice with action points for improvement.

Why develop a PAGs toolkit?

At the Rome 2020 Ministerial Conference, education ministers across the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) endorsed the “Principles and Guidelines to Strengthen the Social Dimension of Higher Education in the EHEA”. As the PAGs have recently been adopted, national authorities and higher education institutions are in the process of considering and planning how to implement them in their systems.

The BFUG Working Group on Social Dimension is creating a system of indicators for monitoring the implementation of the PAGs at the national and European levels. The PAGs toolkit will be correlated with those indicators and will include information on the PAGs, frameworks and self-assssment tools. They will allow national authorities and higher education institutions to check their current practices against the indicators and to receive advice on action points for improvement.

Methodology

A mixed-methods approach will be used to map European policies and to examine the needs of national authorities, higher education institutions and students across the EHEA regarding the PAGs:

  • Desk research
  • Online survey research
  • Peer-learning activities
  • Focus groups
  • Pilot studies

Outcomes

Based on identified needs, project partners will develop for the PAGs:

  • A comprehensive action framework that proposes a comprehensive overview of objectives and action points which institutional stakeholders should consider –separately or in concert – to install the PAGs at the national or institutional level
  • Guidelines that offer practical tips and advice for national authorities and higher education institutions on how to implement the specific PAGs in a sustainable way
  • Self-assessment tools that support each stakeholder to check their current practices against the PAGs framework and receive advice on action points for improvement

In addition, a resource centre on the PAGs aims to inspire stakeholders across the EHEA with publications, tutorials and videos on good practice around implementation of the PAGs.

All the tools will be freely available on the inclusivehighereducation.eu platform.