International Higher Education, Fall 2001
The Long and Winding Road to a European Higher Education Area
Hans de
Wit
Hans de Wit is vice-president for international affairs at the University of
Amsterdam and editor of the Journal of Studies in International Education. Address:
Universiteit van Amsterdam, Spui, Amsterdam, Netherlands. E-mail: <hansdw@bdu.uva.nl>.
The Bologna Declaration
of June 19, 1999 was the start of a process that will lead to the creation of
a European higher education area. The Bologna Declaration had six objectives:
comparable degrees, a two-cycle degree structure, establishment of a course
credit system, and promotion of mobility and common European patterns in higher
education. These objectives need to be accomplished by 2010, the final completion
date of the European higher education area.
The Declaration is supported by 32 European ministers of education. University
leaders and students have also welcomed—although with different emphases
and interpretations—the plans for a new European higher education area.
The Bologna Declaration was based on a 1998 initiative drawn up at the Sorbonne,
Paris, by the ministers of education of the four large countries: Germany, France,
Italy, and the United Kingdom. At the time there was immediate wide support
for this ambitious reform plan, but also skepticism about the prospects for
realization. (See the author’s article in the Winter 2001 issue of IHE.)
In May 2001, the ministers of education met in Prague to discuss the progress
to date; the group was joined by ministers from Croatia, Cyprus, and Turkey.
It was clear that while there remains a long road ahead most countries, although
at varying speeds, are working on the implementation of the objectives. According
to the report, Trends in Learning Structures in Higher Education II, prepared
by Guy Haug and Christian Taugh for the Prague meeting, there is general consensus
on the core objectives of the Bologna process and fears about the process seem
to be rapidly diminishing. The process confirms and reinforces national priorities
and is being used to accelerate, facilitate, and guide changes in the different
countries. The report states that "the Bologna process is both a consequence
of and a contribution to the process of integration of European higher education."
Much of the attention
after the Bologna meeting was focused on the implementation of a two-tier degree
system. Several countries are working on the system—for instance, Italy
and the Netherlands, where new enabling legislation has been put in place. At
the Prague meeting the emphasis appeared to have shifted to the importance of
quality assurance, recognition issues, and accreditation. In the communiqué
issued after the meeting, the ministers stressed the quality of education and
research as crucial issues in the realization of the European higher education
area. The ministers also agreed on the importance of enhancing the attractiveness
of European higher education to students from Europe and other parts of the
world. The readability and comparability of European higher education degrees
worldwide should be promoted by the development of a common framework of qualifications,
as well as by coherent quality assurance and accreditation or certification
mechanisms and increased information efforts. The follow-up work to the Prague
meeting, in preparation for the 2003 talks in Berlin, will focus particularly
on these types of issues. The challenge will be whether institutions of higher
education in Europe will be able to cross regional and national boundaries to
become players in the European and global higher education market. Helmut de
Rudder, in a spring 2000 contribution to this newsletter, described a provincial
and rather immobile European higher education sector, but one certainly on the
way to becoming more European. His optimism is quite broadly shared.
The Salamanca Convention of European higher education institutions, organized
by the European University Association (EUA) in March 2001, welcomed and supported
the emergence of the European higher education area and the challenges of operating
in a competitive environment. The EUA was created when two organizations in
European higher education merged in 2000: the Association of European Universities
and the Confederation of EU Rectors' Conferences. At the same time, the institutions
pointed to the importance of maintaining as guiding principles the autonomy
of higher education; higher education as a public, rather than a commercial,
good; and its diversity in terms of languages, systems, types, profiles, and
curricular orientation. Quality assurance, compatible qualifications, and attractiveness
are seen as crucial elements for the realization of the new European higher
education space.
"European higher education institutions recognise that their students need
and demand qualifications which they can effectively use for the purpose of
study and career all over Europe. The institutions and their networks and organisations
acknowledge their role and responsibility in this regard and confirm their willingness
to organise themselves accordingly within the framework of autonomy," reads
a passage from the Salamanca convention document.
Students themselves did make their voices heard directly. In March 2001, the
National Unions of Students in Europe (ESIB) organized an event in Götenborg,
Sweden, and were successful in presenting their views at the Prague meeting
in May. In the Student Götenborg Declaration, the students declare that
they see the Bologna process as a crucial step toward a European higher education
area. At the same time, the students demand guarantees that all citizens will
have equal access to this area, regardless of their social background. Expanded
mobility, higher quality, and increased attractiveness are seen as the important
assets that the Bologna process will yield for students, but these must coincide
with adequate funding for study grants and for higher education institutions.
The national unions of students have demanded via ESIB an active role as the
process unfolds.
Both the institutions
and the students seem to have been heard by the ministers at the Prague meeting,
given the emphasis placed on the students' issues in the communiqué.
The close cooperation between ministers, institutions, and students in the realization
of the European higher education area, is probably the most striking aspect
of the Bologna process and crucial for its success. At the same time, keeping
all parties involved and focused ensures that the process will be a long and
complex one; Berlin is the next stop on the way to 2010.
Note: Texts of the Bologna Declaration, the Prague communiqué, and the
Trends reports can be found on several European websites. The most complete
collection of documents on the Bologna process can be found at <http://www.salamanca2001.org.>