Last week from 7-9 March 2011, the final conference on the Action Plan on Adult Learning, organised by the European Commission and the Hungarian Presidency was held in Budapest. During this conference, Research voor Beleid presented findings of a joint research project on ongoing reforms. This study included expert contributions from PASCAL Board member Professor Balazs Nemeth, associate Kate Sankey and PASCAL Co-Director Mike Osborne.

This report has two purposes. The first is to inform participants at the PASCAL Conference in Gaborone on 30 November - 2 December about PURE. The second is to provide regions taking part in the PURE project with a summary of common findings, issues and advice.

National government, and increasingly intergovernmental bodies like the European Union and Commission, influence what engagement can take place in local regions. This report is however addressed to two main parties, regional administrations and their communities, and higher education institutions.

The first keynote at the 9th PASCAL International Observatory conference in Gaborone, Botswana was presented by Professor Olusola Oyewole of African Union, Addis Ababa on the topic of Regional Engagement for African Universities: Challenges and Prospects. This presentation complemented a series of excellent welcome sessions from the Mayor of Gaborone City, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Botswana and the Chair of the PASCAL Advisory Board.

The supporting keynote presentation outline appears below: