The 1st European Conference LINQ 2012 on "Learning Innovations and Quality" opens the discussion on the relationship of learning innovations and quality! All experts and interested individuals are invited to join in our dialogue on innovations and quality in learning, education and training, taking place in Brussels on Tuesday, 23rd of October 2012. Registration for the event is open until the 10th of October, however seats are limited and are available on a first come, first serve basis. Dozens of applicants from over 15 countries have submitted their scientific work in order to take part in the dialogue at LINQ 2012 concerning lifelong learning, technology-enhanced learning, quality standards and certification, human resources development, competences and skills, as well as learning, innovation and quality management systems. “We are greatly encouraged by the amount of high-quality submissions which we have received for LINQ,” says Christian M. Stracke, LINQ Conference Chair. “The academic and scientific interests and approaches we have seen in the submissions promise a good basis for further discussion at the conference this October.”

Keynote speakers at LINQ 2012 include leading policy officers from the European Commission. Godelieve van den Brande, policy officer for ICT and Innovations in Learning at the Directorate General of Education and Culture for the European Commission, will share her visions of future learning innovations and in doing so discuss the potential for common European progress. Sophie Weisswange, representing the Directorate General of Education and Culture’s efforts regarding quality assurance for vocational education and training, will discuss the implications of learning quality for current and future European development in the fields of lifelong learning and technology-enhanced learning. Further speeches will be held by Christian M. Stracke from the University of Duisburg-Essen, Sofoklis Sotiriou head of R&D for the Greek school Ellinogermaniki Agogi, and Sandra Feliciano of the Centre for Research and Innovation in Business Sciences and Information Systems of Porto Polytechnic. Mr Stracke, who also chairs the CEN Technical Committee 353 and is the elected ISO Convener for quality management in education and training, will discuss the possibility of contradictions that may arise between learning innovation and learning quality. Mr Sotiriou's presentation on the other hand will deal with the learning innovations involved in his work in schools and science education. Finally, Mrs Feliciano will elaborate on her experience with learning quality and certification as chair of the Portuguese national technical committee CTA 25. Their speeches will be followed with the related presentations of the papers submitted to LINQ and selected after double-blind reviews.

Attendance at the European conference "Learning Innovations and Quality" (LINQ 2012) is subject to a fee (70 €) and requires registration through email as places are limited. The conference fee includes all provisions including a warm 3-course lunch, two coffee breaks, the conference bag and the official conference proceedings.

All information can be found in detail online at: http://www.learning-innovations.eu

Direct enquiries and registrations can be sent to the LINQ Conference Manager Mrs Tatiana Shamarina-Heidenreich, University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE), Germany, via e-Mail to: tatiana.shamarina-heidenreich@icb.uni-due.de

This event is fully supported by the European Project Open Discovery Space : www.opendiscoveryspace.eu