As well as in the history of Learning Regions in each country there are great differences in their collaborative patterns. There are countries who have a very standardized way of cooperation (Germany) and others whose cooperative patterns are formalized but leave much more freedom for the partners to find their own way of coming together (e.g. Scotland or Sweden). The third way of cooperating is more or less informal. As can be seen from the country reports below history and collaborative patterns in the countries are associated together, but the patterns don’t depend on the historical development of a Learning Region completely.

Because of the history of Learning Regions in Germany there was a centralized structure, but the management of the Learning Region itself rested in the hands of the manager of the association especially founded for this reason (called Lernsee around the Lake of Constance). The manager was in charge only of the management and the controlling. This also concerned the finances of the Learning Region. The L-points experienced a great demand and acceptance, due to the fact that they were independent of the educational institutions. The free of charge number of the competence counseling led to a high frequency of people looking for a competent advice.

The Dundee Partnership has three formal bodies which interact in order to formulate, coordinate and develop policy and which act as the locus of control at the City level. The Dundee Partnership Forum meets twice a year, with meetings taking the form of participatory workshops on key strategic issues. The Dundee Partnership Management Group meets four times a year, and is chaired by the Chief Executive of Dundee City Council and the Dundee Partnership Co-ordinating Group which meets every two months, and is chaired by Dundee City Council’s Assistant Chief Executive (Community Planning). Its job is to co-ordinate the implementation of community planning. The Community Based Adult Learning (CBAL) Partnership is responsible for the delivery of educational opportunities which are based on the needs and wants of each Local Community Partnership and as such will vary dependent upon what has been identified in each Local Community Plan as key priorities. There are two formal bodies which provide the locus of control. The Management Group comprises senior representatives from the partner organisations. The purpose of the group is to oversee the strategic development of the partnership and to ensure that this is in line with the objectives of their organisation. The Operational Group comprises key staff from partner organisations who have a responsibility to work together to provide participative and progressive community based adult learning opportunities, which take into account the needs and aspirations of learners across the city.

In Sweden a typical micro-project accepted for financing according to the Leader model has a budget of 500 kSEK, a duration of 1-2 years, project participants from most of the key stakeholder groups and an objective that is in accordance with the strategic plan for Lundaland. All activities are managed and controlled by a steering committee, a small management team and the individual micro-project owners. A dedicated office has been set up in Kävlinge in the centre of the Lundaland area. A full-time employed managing director has been appointed to be the daily chief executive officer for what’s going on in Lundaland.

Interaction and collaboration amongst partners in Ireland takes place both within and across four thematic areas, or what is referred to as ‘pillars’ of Limerick City of Learning. (1) Initiatives to promote or stimulate demand for learning: referred to as ‘Creating a spark for learning’. (2) Efforts to improve and expand learning experiences and opportunities for children in the City: referred to as ‘Giving children and young people the best start in life’. (3) Actions to promote and improve progression: in terms both of labour market and access to employment opportunities; as well as in terms of promoting equality of access in the broader sense of progression. This is referred to in the Strategy as ‘Fostering a thriving and inclusive society’. (4) Initiatives designed to ‘promote quality learning environments’.

The network in Lithuania can be subdivided in two parts. Network A is a network of schools which consists of all schools of general education, 69 in total. The aim of this network is educating active citizens who are provided with quality general education under the conditions of limited resources allocated for education. The network consists of different sub-networks working on the improvement of education quality. So meanwhile students are rated as the best in the country. The municipality, business, education and culture agents belong to network B. It was developed to solve the problem of revitalizing the Centre and the Old Town of Kaunas. One part of the network was initiated by business people who attracted the initiatives of those in culture and education, representatives of not only formal institutions but also informal; the part of the network was supported by the Municipality. The other part of the network was initiated by theatres and universities. Business people joined them; the Municipality has granted their support.

The network of Bucharest-Ilfov (Romania) benefited widely from the implementation of the first structural funds program in Romania. Two sectoral programs are of key importance here: the Regional Development Sectoral Operational Program and the Human Resource Development Sectoral Operational Program. Both of them are rooted in the strategic areas stated in the National Development Plan 2007-2013. Another important strategic document is the National Strategic Reference Framework highlighting the importance of the development and efficient use of human capital.

In Hungary the members interact mainly via ICT-supported communication channels. The locus of control formally lies in the hand of the Presidency and the Secretariat of the Forum, however, the members of the Forum have a rather obvious informal control force through their actions.