Feature
The Bologna Process:
As Seen From the Outside
By Robert
Sedgwick
Editor, WENR
Across
the Atlantic, unbeknownst to many Americans, higher education in Europe
is undergoing a profound transformation. More and more countries are uprooting
their traditional systems of education, which feature long degrees, in
favor of a two-tiered model based on bachelor’s and master’s
degrees. A standard credit system is also being adopted, and efforts are
underway to promote regional quality assurance. The reforms, known collectively
as the Bologna Process, will no doubt impact Europe in many ways, but
they also hold significant implications for international educational
exchanges in the United States.
The Bologna
Declaration was issued following a meeting of the European Ministers
of Education held in Bologna in 1999, and set into motion a “process”
(thus the Bologna Process) aimed at creating a European Higher Education
Area (EHEA) by 2010. To achieve this goal, the Declaration called for
the following:
- Adoption
of a system of easily readable and comparable degrees
- Adoption
of a degree structure based on two main cycles (undergraduate and graduate)
- Adoption
of a system of credits (to enable students to transfer and accumulate
credits)
- Elimination
of obstacles that impede mobility of students and job seekers
- Promotion
of European cooperation in quality assurance
- Promotion
of necessary European dimension in higher education
Hence, the
long term objectives of the reforms outlined in the Bologna Process are
essentially threefold:
1)
To facilitate the speedy entrance of educated professionals into the job
market through shortened degrees.
2)
To enhance the cross-border mobility of students and job seekers.
3)
To increase the competitiveness of European higher education internationally.
How Big
is it?
The Bologna
Process is a massive undertaking that encompasses most of Europe, and
continues to expand geographically picking up new member states at each
ministerial meeting.
Originally,
there were 29 signatory countries to the Bologna Declaration, and shortly
thereafter Liechtenstein was retroactively added. Then in 2001 at the
Prague conference, Cyprus, Croatia and Turkey joined. At the most recent
meeting in Berlin last September, seven more countries (Albania, Andorra,
Bosnia & Herzegovina, Holy See, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro and
the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia) were admitted bringing the
number up to 40.
With Russia’s
membership, the Bologna Process now literally stretches from the Atlantic
to the Pacific. When it is completed in 2010, the EHEA will include over
12 million students and 4,000 universities across Europe. An educational
reform movement on such a grand scale has never before been attempted
in Europe, or elsewhere for that matter.
Bologna
Update
It has been
only four years since the historic signing at Bologna, and much of the
necessary groundwork for the EHEA has already been laid. The breakneck
speed at which the reforms are being implemented has taken many observers
and especially skeptics by complete surprise. Many of them are particularly
astounded at the way the Bologna Process is shaking up and reformulating
traditional structures of higher education that have remained unchanged
for centuries.
According
to Univers
Foreign Affairs, 80% of the signatory countries have already
introduced the two-tiered degree structure, clearly dividing undergraduate
from graduate studies. More than half of all participating institutions
of higher education (53 percent) are currently implementing the Bologna
reforms, while just over a third (36 percent) are still in the planning
phase. Only 11 percent of these institutions have indicated they are not
interested in adopting the two-tiered system.
At the present
time all the Scandinavian countries are in the process of introducing
bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Denmark, for example, will
soon adopt the two-tiered system in all disciplines, including medicine
and chemistry.
In a particularly
daring move, Italy has discarded its traditional laurea degree and adopted
the 3+2 structure (three-year bachelor’s and two-year master’s).
Likewise,
universities in the Netherlands are currently in the process of converting
their one-tier programs to bachelor's and master's programs.
In Austria,
legislation has been passed requiring all new academic programs to follow
the two-tiered system.
Germany has
introduced the two-tiered system on an experimental basis and currently
offers a three-year bachelor’s degree alongside the traditional
one-tiered system.
The United
Kingdom and Ireland are signatories to the Bologna Declaration, but because
these countries have always had education systems based on bachelor's
and master's degrees they will not have to implement significant changes.
The countries
of eastern and central Europe present an interesting case as far as the
Bologna Process is concerned. Until 1989, when the communist eastern bloc
collapsed, the educational systems in this region were largely influenced
by the Soviet model of higher education.
Following
independence, new laws were passed in east European countries that ended
the state monopoly on education, promoted the liberalization of curricula,
and adopted a two-tiered system of degrees based on the Anglo/American
model. Hence, eastern Europe has actually been well ahead of the curve
in terms of introducing the types of reforms called for in the 1999 Bologna
Declaration.
Institutions
in the Czech Republic, for instance, have offered degrees at the bachelor's,
master's and doctoral level--alongside the traditional one-tiered system--since
1990. In addition, many institutions have introduced tuition-based, short-term
and degree programs for international students.
Hungary similarly
adopted a two-tiered system of higher education shortly after it gained
independence. New MBA degrees have also been introduced and are offered
through specialized, postgraduate programs.
Challenges
Despite the
steady progress made in implementing many of the Bologna reforms, degree
structures among the signatory countries remain largely divergent. The
two-tiered system is still more clearly defined in some education systems
than in others (in some countries, the master’s and bachelor’s
degrees are viewed as separate qualifications, whereas in others, the
master’s is still seen as an extension of the bachelor’s).
So far, Austria, the Netherlands, Norway and Italy have made the most
headway in truncating their long degrees.
Other countries
are proceeding cautiously. Spain and Portugal, for instance, have endorsed
the Bologna Process in theory, but in practice have still not implemented
many reforms. Greece has rejected the two-tiered system outright, and
Switzerland has shown signs of resistance, although the Swiss legislature
recently passed a law preparing for the implementation of a new degree
structure that is compatible with the Bologna reforms.
There have
been other pockets of resistance as well among students and institutions
of higher education. Although the student organizations and universities
play an integral role in implementing the reforms, particularly at the
local level, some members of these groups continue to suspiciously regard
the Bologna Process as a possible manifestation of market-driven globalization.
The Bologna
Process has also engendered a certain amount of xenophobia among the old
guard, who decry the abandonment of their traditional university systems--emblems
of history and national pride--in favor of an imported system imposed
from the top down.
But Bologna
supporters deny that the reforms will lead to a homogenized system of
higher education based on the Anglo/American model. They argue that the
Bologna Process will foster compatibility among Europe's different higher
education systems, while maintaining respect for cultural and linguistic
diversity.
In the end
most educators, even the detractors, know the reforms are here to stay.
The gradual erosion of the Welfare State and the rapid globalization of
knowledge have brought about a fundamental reexamination of Europe's traditional
systems of higher education. The utilization of new technologies in distance
learning programs, the predominance of English as the world's lingua franca
and the international demand for short degrees all present formidable
challenges to European systems of higher education.
In the last
10 years, the market for international students (particularly students
from Asia) has heated up considerably, and Europeans fear that if they
don’t act decisively they could end up falling behind while the
United States and its competitors (Australia, Canada and the UK) corner
the market. Last year, for instance, 267,111 Asian students enrolled in
higher education programs in the United States compared to only 178,000
who studied in Europe.
If Europe
wants to attract more students from abroad it must offer degrees and programs
that are compatible with international structures. Newly reformed higher
education in the EHEA, along with relatively low tuition fees, will hopefully
make Europe a viable option for many international students who cannot
or will not pay the high cost of education in North America or Australia.
Looking Beyond Europe
By 2010 there
will be standard recognized European degrees at the bachelor's, master's
or doctoral level in much the same way as they exist in the U.S. Like
the introduction of the new currency, the Euro, the establishment of the
EHEA will ensure the convertibility of qualifications among the participating
countries. Degrees earned in, say, Germany will immediately be recognized
in France, and the holder of those qualifications will automatically be
eligible for work or study in any of the Bologna signatory countries.
For the
United States the effects of the Bologna Process are difficult to predict,
but a few things are clear. At the moment, the biggest challengers to
the U.S. in the international student market are Australia, Canada, and
the United Kingdom. In the future, with its transparent and flexible higher
education system, Europe will offer an attractive alternative. The EHEA
may end up challenging American dominance in international higher education,
in much the same way that the European Union has become a counterweight
in international trade vis-a-vis the U.S. and Japan.
There will
also be greater convergence between the U.S. and Europe as European higher
education adopts aspects of the American system. There is a long tradition
of academic exchange programs between European and American institutions
of higher education. A more transparent and flexible European higher education
system will undoubtedly enhance the number of student exchanges between
the two continents. This is important for both sides. There are currently
64,811 European students studying in the US--14 percent of the total international
enrollment. Germany, the U.K., France Spain and Greece are the top sending
countries, but the number of students from the former eastern bloc countries
like Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary is on the rise.
At the same
time, the majority of U.S. students who study abroad are in Europe mostly
attending special programs designed solely for them. According to Open
Doors 2002, of the five top study destinations for Americans,
four are in western Europe. The United Kingdom accounts for almost 20
percent of all U.S study abroad followed by Italy, Spain and France.
The implementation
of shorter degrees that are taught in English--together with relatively
lower tuition cost- will make it easier for American students to enroll
in regular degree programs at European universities and to transfer their
credits.
But Europe
and the United States are not the only actors here. While the reforms
are being implemented within the signatory countries, the planners of
the EHEA are beginning to look beyond Europe. At the last follow up meeting
held in Berlin (Sept. 2003), the Ministers of Education advocated the
need to encourage cooperation with other parts of the world, and to open
up future Bologna events to representatives of non-European countries.
In particular, they declared the necessity to actively promote the new
EHEA abroad to attract students and researchers from non-participating
countries.
LINKS
Articles
•
Chronicle
of Higher Education, Sept. 26, 2003. European Higher
Education Seeks a Common Currency
•
International
Higher Education, Summer 2003. Bologna is not the Only
City that Matters in European Higher Education Policy
•
WENR,
January/February 2000. Bologna Declaration Addresses Higher Education
in European Union
•
WENR,
March/April 2001. The Bologna Process: How It is Changing the Face of
Higher Education in Europe
Web Sites
•
ACE Admissions Officers
and Credential Evaluators: Bologna Process
•
Austrian
Bologna Web Site
•
Berlin-Bologna
Web Page
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