8. Calls for a commitment on the part of universities to new teaching and new professional and lifelong training strategies – making optimum use of new technologies and recognising the importance of complementary forms of learning such as non-formal education – that are focused on the pillars of a learning-centred, student-centred and research-centred university system able to provide critical thinking, creative skills, continuous professional development as well as theoretical and practical knowledge which students will need in their working lives; calls for Member States and the EU to financially support universities in their efforts ...[+++]to change and develop their education practices;

8. Calls for a commitment on the part of universities to new teaching and new professional and lifelong training strategies – making optimum use of new technologies and recognising the importance of complementary forms of learning such as non-formal education – that are focused on the pillars of a learning-centred, student-centred and research-centred university system able to provide critical thinking, creative skills, continuous professional development as well as theoretical and practical knowledge which students will need in their working lives; calls for Member States and the EU to financially support universities in their efforts ...[+++]to change and develop their education practices;

If public money is involved to generate knowledge, this knowledge should also be accessible to the public.

Research infrastructures play a key role in the acquisition of knowledge, in the diffusion of knowledge and its application and exploitation, thus fostering innovation.

schools and training centres, all linked to the Internet, should be developed into multi-purpose local learning centres accessible to all, using the most appropriate methods to address a wide range of target groups; learning partnerships should be established between schools, training centres, firms and research facilities for their mutual benefit;

Enhancing our capacity to create jobs hinges on building up a Europe of knowledge. We therefore need to adapt our system for accrediting skills and competences to the changes taking place in the world of work and the ever wider range of ways of acquiring knowledge.