Empatic

EMPATIC’s Policy Recommendations for the Higher Education sector

The following set of recommendations is addressed to different levels of government, from the European Union, through the National and the National Academic System level, to the single university level.

• European Research Area: Information Literacy should be inserted into the Bologna process as a new learning outcome, in order to fully legitimate Information Literacy within and at the level of European Research Area (European Commission policy level).
• Support a European Information Literacy Model: the diffusion of the revised 2011 SCONUL Information Literacy model for Higher Education should be supported as it is a European model widely accepted in Europe and translated into various European languages. Originally (1999) conceived for the Higher Education sector, its successful diffusion in European countries, led to the definition of a core model and a number of so-called “lenses”, each for a different group of learners. (European Commission - Supranational policy level).
• Advocate and implement Information Literacy as a curricular integration process in Higher Education courses of study, similar to the process already established for Computer Literacy (University policy level).
• Legitimise three types of curricular configuration for Information Literacy  (the most diffused in European universities (Academic system policy level)

Library delivered (2-4 credits)
Academic delivered (4 credits)
Embedded (credits included within the subject credit amount)

• Educational continuum: in the long term, Higher Education educational policies will take large benefit from the full integration of Information Literacy into school curricula (National policy level).
• Syllabus definition: identify at least two main categories of syllabi: one for scientists and engineers, and one for humanists, tailored according to the specific information habit of the two “cultures”. (University policy level).
• Institutionalisation of approach: a governance approach should be supportive of the overall process of Information Literacy institutionalisation in Higher Education, since it is an issue crossing the domains of information and education policies (Academic system policy level).