The GUIDE International Conference 2006, took place on the 13th and 14th of February at the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, and it was the first programmed appointment from the association which expects to promote,  at an international level, the development of one common cooperation platform.

On that occasion, the comparison between national systems and international models has revealed the need to underline the importance of the continuous exchange of current experiences, sharing the analysis of specific situations and transforming case studies into best practices, later to be disseminated.

Also, in order to favor the unity of programs and activities in the construction of a common platform, the values featured by the University mission, in particular higher education and research quality, can be globally shared, even in the digital age.

The event has been an important occasion for argument and comparison for universities and institutions from all over the world, that care about the possibility of introducing a new and more flexible model of higher education.

Particularly from the universities point of view, higher education and the quality of research and comparison between national and international models, it has emerged the necessity to value the continuity in the academic exchange and the convergence of programs and activities, in the creation of a commonly shared global platform.

The event has been carried out in an environment of deep technical and scientific concern, with several Universities, coming from 50 different countries.

In addition, the scientific program connected to e-learning methodologies, has provided an overview of different problems regarding the status of research on learning/teaching processes of distance learning.

Structured in two Plenary Sessions and nine thematic workshops, the Conference has distributed its forums by planning different themes, mainly by  reflecting upon the speakers papers.

On the first day, at the introductory Plenary session, the cores of the GUIDE network for cooperation and research have been defined, and the main issues of higher education have been revealed: diversification of Institutions, interactive technology as structural innovation basis and changing prospective.

The second day was dedicated to a general reflection upon the relationship between research and knowledge, through the analysis of case studies, highlighting the emerging problems in specific geographical areas.

Some of the main topics were the life-long education transformation, followed by the digital student, on-line professionalism, higher education perspectives in the Mediterranean area, best practices development, and regional networks advantages.