It was a pleasure to host Professor Michael Osborne, Director of CR&DALL and European Director of PASCAL, back to Hume as a keynote speaker at the February meeting of the Hume Jobs and Skills Task Force.

Professor Osborne has had a long association with the City of Hume since the days of the Hume Global Learning Village, and the work of the PASCAL Universities Regional Engagement (PURE) project, which was so influential in the development of Councils Hume Multiversity Program. This program brings together several tertiary, higher education and professional institutions to support learning for jobs in our community.

At the Task Force meeting, he gave an overview of European Union adult education policies, linking to this to work of the EU Centre at RMIT Melbourne with whom he works. He expressed his gratitude to his colleague, Professor Ellen Boeren, co-author of one of the reports that he cited (Achievements under the Renewed European Agenda for Adult Learning, see attached below), and stimulated debate on a number of issues pertinent to Hume. His presentation was well received along with the insights he provided into adult learning challenges and opportunities in the EU, in response to several questions from task Force members.

Professor Osborne's presentation is featured below...