International Higher Education, Spring 2004

A Decade of Transatlantic Cooperation

Hans de Wit
Hans de Wit is senior adviser for international affairs at the University of Amsterdam. He is also editor of the Journal of Studies in International Education. E-mail: j.w.m.deWit@uva.nl.

In 1993, a pilot program was started to promote transatlantic cooperation between institutions of higher education in the countries of the European Union (EU) and the United States. This pilot became an actual program in 1995 and was soon followed by a similar EU-Canada program. Ten years later, it is time to look at the rationales behind these initiatives and to see if the objectives are still valid in the present context of ongoing European integration under the Bologna process.

Objectives
In the course of preparing the EU-U.S. pilot program, several experts, including the author, were invited by the European Commission to take part in a meeting to discuss the format of the program.

A number of other programs exist linking higher education in the EU to the rest of the world--such as the Alfa program for Latin America, the Medcampus program for the Mediterranean region, and the Asia Link program. One of the relevant factors pointed out at the meeting was the ongoing active cooperation in higher education between the United States and Europe, both in student and faculty mobility and in research. Thus, a new program would be able to build upon long existing ties and exchanges. The same would to a great extent be true for Canada.

Given the large numbers of students moving back and forth between the two continents, the main objective would not involve student mobility but rather developing new types of cooperation and enhancing existing relationships by overcoming bureaucratic obstacles. The recognition and portability of credits should be tried as a way of furthering cooperation.

Whereas most of the linkages in higher education between the two continents are bilateral, the new program should create multilateral linkages, building on the experience of the Erasmus program in the EU.

Another recommendation that was discussed at the meeting was increased cooperation at the graduate level and in areas and disciplines in which traditionally only research collaboration existed--such as the sciences, law, and engineering. Another area requiring enhancement would be cooperation between community colleges in the United States and the nonuniversity sector in the EU. All these ideas would be reflected in the EU-U.S. pilot program.

Rationales
The main push for cooperation and mobility in higher education between the United States and Europe started after World War II. Previously, the movement of students and faculty occurred mainly from the United States to Europe, but after 1945 most individual mobility was directed from Europe to the United States. Much of the movement from the United States to Europe continues to be at the undergraduate level and in organized junior-year- or semester-abroad programs.

The emergence of the United States as a superpower after World War II and the Cold War created a need for the United States to learn more about the world. Funding for exchange programs and international curriculum programs was established--such as Fulbright scholarships for student and faculty exchanges and Title VI for area studies and foreign-language programs. These programs received support mainly from the Defense Department and the State Department, for reasons of national security and foreign policy.

In Europe, less attention was paid to international exchanges and cooperation since in the first years after the war the focus was on reconstruction and regional economic cooperation and integration. Not until the late 1970s, once the European integration process was well under way, did interest in regional cooperation and mobility lead to the development of programs for research cooperation (the current Framework programs for research and development) and educational cooperation (in particular, the Erasmus program).

Fears of “Fortress Europe,” the impact of the end of the Cold War, and the globalization of world economies led to the 1990 Transatlantic Declaration on EU-US Relations, which included the stimulation of cooperation in higher education. This declaration, especially the inclusion of higher education, appears to have been initiated by the United States, which was concerned about the growing attention to cooperation within the European Union and the resulting U.S. isolation from that process. The declaration formed the basis for the EU-U.S. pilot program of 1993–1994 and the current program, which started in 1995.

Political and economic rationales thus formed the basis for this program. Canadians did not wish to be excluded and thus initiated a similar program between Canada and the EU.

Impact
The past 10 years have seen an increase, quantitatively and qualitatively, in cooperation and exchange in higher education. The linkages between institutions on both sides of the ocean have increased in number. The cooperative arrangements are more multilateral in scope than before; and larger numbers of students are moving in both directions across the Atlantic. American for-profit providers are entering the European market (e.g., Sylvan Group, Phoenix University). It has become easier to arrange for the recognition and transfer of credits. In general, countries now possess greater knowledge about each other’s systems, in particular about the nonuniversity sectors, and there is more cooperation in that sector than before.

One should not, however, overestimate the influence of the EU-U.S. and EU-Canada programs on these developments. The international education market itself, institutional strategies, and national bilateral programs have been more important drivers than these two programs. But the programs have played a role, particularly in the following areas: the increase of multilateral programs, the recognition and portability of credits, cooperation in vocational training, and cooperation in nontraditional fields.

The Future
The Bologna process, which is directed at the creation of a European higher education area, is creating new challenges for higher education cooperation between Europe and North America. These challenges will need to be addressed in the EU-U.S. and EU- Canada programs.

The emergence of a more transparent European higher education system should help to overcome obstacles to the mobility of students. However, this supposed transparency could result in a misunderstanding on the American side with regard to new two-tier system that is being implemented in continental Europe. For example, might a three-year undergraduate program in continental Europe lead American graduate schools to assume that a bachelor’s degree earned from such a program does not meet the standards for admission to an American master’s program? Or will U.S. graduate schools continue to look at the length and content of the whole educational career of European students and base their admissions policies for graduate schools on these more substantive criteria?

Will European undergraduate students still have the opportunity or the time to undertake a semester or year abroad during their three-year undergraduate degree programs or their one- to two-year master’s programs? In the long, single-degree programs under the old system, students had more time to take a semester or year off to do their elective work abroad. The fear is that the new, more tightly designed degree programs will allow for less elective space. Movement within the European higher education area might prove to be easier than going to another system.

Alternatively, will the introduction of a distinction in Europe between undergraduate and graduate programs open more opportunities for American institutions to integrate their junior semester or year abroad programs into European universities? U.S. students might be able to move on from the rather isolated and protected U.S. study abroad programs that are common in Europe. The introduction of master’s programs in Europe may allow for the development of joint degree programs between North American and European graduate schools, programs that until now have been rather difficult to put together.

The next phase of the EU-U.S. and EU-Canada programs could help to address some of these concerns and assist in finding ways of overcoming misunderstandings about the implications of the Bologna process. The EU and the two North American partners might also look into the option of merging the two programs and thereby truly promoting multilateral cooperation to a greater extent.

This article is based on a presentation at the Transatlantic Education and Training Conference, organized by the U.S. Department of Education, the Canadian government, and the European Commission, Lisbon, December 2003.