The expert conference "The New Student: Flexible Learning Paths and Future Learning Environments", held on September 20 and 21, 2018, as part of the EU Council Presidency in Austria, addressed a topic that is relevant to society and higher education policy. Recommendations for measures at European, national, and institutional level to improve the situation of non-traditional students were discussed and developed. The extent to which flexible learning environments and flexible learning paths are suitable for responding to the needs of this group of students and the higher education sector was discussed. On the first day of the conference, Emeritus Prof. Ronald Barnett from University College London (UK) gave a keynote speech on the topic of "Remembering the Student – Flexible Learning and Being Educated for the Twenty-first Century".

The working group led by Associate Professor Erna Nairz-Wirth focused on possible measures at the national level. Ways of supporting non-traditional students in the context of lifelong learning were developed and questions about how to contribute to greater equality of opportunity for all students were discussed. The recommendations developed in the working groups will be presented to the European Commission in a next step and brought into the discussion there.

Further information on the conference