The overall theme of the 2009 Conference, which is included in the list of events organised under the Czech Presidency of the European Union, will be “Higher education, Enterprises and Regions: Partnerships for Innovation and Development throughout Europe”. The theme very well reflects the concerns of European professional higher education, which in a globalised world, does not want to lose one of its particularities, which is its orientation to regional development, by creating or joining regional knowledge centres, and training specialists for profit and non‐profit sectors of employment. It also wants to lay a focus on creativity, and how to stimulate it in higher education, an attitude that is needed to meet the Lisbon challenges, in correlation with the European Union’s theme for 2009, which is about Creativity and Innovation.

From a more general perspective the Conference theme also reflects new trends in higher education, as they have emerged from the recent discussions in the Bologna Follow Up Group about the way European higher education has to move forward in the post Bologna era (as from 2010). There is a common realisation among all stakeholders that with the convergence of European higher education, we need to diversify our trainings, in direct response to the needs of both graduates and employers. Europe wants to present a transparent picture of the richness and variety of European HE, as appears from the current discussions on classifications and rankings in the latest Bologna seminars. It is our intention to brief our members and other stakeholders in HE, on these issues, revealing threats and opportunities.

At the same time, and in line with the broadening of the Bologna process through the creation of fora of discussions with other regions in the world, we want to share and exchange experience with these regions on our newly gained insights in a range of topics that have been put on the agenda of the post Bologna era. They are particularly in the field of lifelong learning, a topic that has been brought to the attention of a broader public since the publication of the European Universities’ Charter on Lifelong Learning, and to which professional higher education wants to respond, via EURASHE’s newest publication ‘Lifelong learning: impediments and examples of good practice’, which builds upon the results of our recent seminar on Lifelong Learning and on surveying some of our member associations.