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Interest in the use of collaborative learning strategies in higher education is growing as educators seek better ways to prepare students for the workplace. In design education, teamwork and creativity are particularly valued; successful collaborative learning depends on knowledge sharing between students, and there is increasing recognition that the goals of individuals affect their perception of the costs and benefits of knowledge sharing. In a team that is functioning well, members commit to the collaborative achievement of the group's goals; however, students see knowledge as a personal resource that is often used to assess their performance and this may affect their goals. In this paper the authors describe a learning intervention, developed to support creative design by collaborative processes, which has been modelled on the knowledge-sharing practices of design experts. A design-based research methodology, which blends empirical data with the theory-driven design of learning, has been adopted; real-world evidence from experts has also been considered. In evaluating this intervention, iterative cycles have been applied and the motivations and goals of students have been considered. The patterns and principles that characterize this educational intervention are described.

The authors report the results of a European project, Lifelearn, and discuss how lifeplace learning (LPL) can be used to effect appropriate learning opportunities for all. The project tested the concept of valuing and accrediting learning from life experiences in higher education in Europe, and its conclusions suggest that LPL is valuable for both students and tutors. While the results indicate various successful elements, including high pass rates, increased student motivation, response to student needs and flexible assessment, issues such as national barriers, the understanding of LPL and academics' ingrained negative attitudes still need to be overcome. The authors also discuss the potential benefits of LPL in providing learning opportunities for future careers in industry or business or for personal and professional development. In this current environment of rapid change, competition and global economic downturn, industry and businesses require skilled workers, critical thinkers and innovative and entrepreneurial movers who can make a difference to an organization's development. The LPL concept can encourage such traits, the authors argue, by using past, current or future life experiences within discipline-based or stand-alone courses to enable independent learning and to encourage advanced life and business skills, which are then easily transferable as benefits to the business world.

Creativity can be described as the ability to generate new ideas and combine existing ideas in new ways to find novel solutions to problems. Creativity is enhanced by a free flow of knowledge and through social contact. On this basis, the authors argue that knowledge sharing is central to creativity in design and present preliminary evidence to support that view. Design education should therefore include learning and teaching approaches that encourage knowledge sharing. The authors suggest that these approaches should be based on the patterns of knowledge sharing of designers from the creative industries so that students are appropriately prepared for future employment. The paper presents an analysis of the practices of designers in the creative industries in Scotland. The data were gathered through a structured questionnaire distributed to a wide range of companies and from final-year students in design programmes, and the two data sets compared. In practice, employees in the creative industries consume and create knowledge by making use of a variety of distributed resources. Creativity is an important aspect of their practice and all the respondents believed that creativity was enhanced by knowledge sharing collaborative practices. Differences in the practices of students and employees are identified, and the findings are now being used to inform the development of innovative approaches to learning and teaching at Glasgow Caledonian University.

Engineering organizations are increasingly under pressure to perform more efficiently with fewer people. To manage this, organizations need to understand what skills, knowledge and behaviours they need from engineers who have to practise in a global information society. Engineering educators, in collaboration with employers, therefore now need to think of how to place competencies for engineers in this new context. A model for preparing the educators and employers to face this challenge is proposed. This takes into account the change in mindset required to address the development of competencies for engineers when often the approach has to be context-driven to address global working. The model is based on developing a methodology by which a set of learning outcomes supported by aims and objectives may best be achieved. These learning outcomes are informed by the consideration of international frameworks and agreements which specify engineering professional competencies together with the corresponding graduate attributes. The core concept of the model is discussed and related to specific outcomes for educator and employer to facilitate and students to achieve. While consideration is given to what competencies are needed for tomorrow's engineering education, it is concluded that more relevant is the need to reconsider existing competencies in the context of engineers in global practice. This will require educators to be more responsive and prepared to support the development and evolution of competencies that are sustainable and robust in global sociological, political and economic systems. Central to the success of the model is the need to establish a learning equilibrium between on-campus and work-based experiential studies using globally-based industries.

This paper examines trends in European higher education, particularly in the area of harmonizing quality and standards across Europe. It examines these trends in the context of their influence on the challenges facing the European higher education sector, as outlined in the Bologna Declaration, in developing a world-class higher education system. The response of the UK to this initiative is examined in detail as an exemplar of a national response to these European aspirations. The paper concludes that, although significant progress has been made at national and institutional level, a further overarching effort at European level is required to ensure that the objective of harmony within the context of quality and transparency is realized. It also concludes that significant recent developments in the UK should be observed by the sector in general to inform European-wide debate and further development.