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http://www.esib.org/prague | prague2001.committee@esib.org |
Introduction to the Bologna Process
Why a Bologna Process?
2.2. The emergence of a real European labour market
The first cause seems to be clear. The European labour market has been
promoted very actively over the last decades. This development is shaping
the universities' offering and functioning. Unemployment of graduates
combined with a shortage of highly educated young people is putting the
European governments under pressure to act.
2.3. The end of the strong numerical expansion at univesities
This development has already happened or is happening in the European
countries. This brings along a lot of consequences. Universities will have
to focus on things they are not at all accustomed to. The European
universities will for instance have to compete for students, especially
since public funding in most countries is in one way or another dependent
on student enrolment.
2.4. The consideral growth of new providers
Many of these new providers are coming from abroad. They add to the
choice available to students. The students can choose from a larger
spectrum of different types of education from inland and abroad. This of
course raises fundamental questions: why would students choose a foreign
provider, who may be rather expensive, rather than staying within their own
national system? As long as there was no choice, there was no question. So
there was no need to question the national system or the quality of the
education it provided.
2.5. The emergence of more accountability of univesities for
the use of public funds
The level of accountability is likely to increase in the future. The
emergence of more market-driven, market-orientated thinking already caused
several governments to question the amount of public funding the higher
education institutions are getting. This brings along the danger of seeing
higher education institutions as producers and the students as clients who
have to pay the whole price for the product they require.
2.6. Lack of competitiveness of the European Higher Education
institutions
Last but not least is the so-called lack of competitiveness of
European Higher European institutions. Europe notices that foreign/overseas
universities increasingly recruit paying students in Europe. Apparently the
fact that in the early 1990s for the first time ever more European students
were studying in the USA than there were Americans studying in Europe
caused great concern in Europe. At the same time the American universities
even started to increase their marketing efforts in Europe in response to
the Asian and Latin American crises. The Bologna Declaration explicitly
mentions the lack of competitiveness of European Higher Education
institutions. The signatory countries actually explicitly express their
goal to "ensure that the European higher education system acquires a world-
wide degree of attractiveness equal to [Europe's] extraordinary cultural
and scientific traditions".
The Bologna Students Declaration already stressed the doubt the
European students had concerning this cause. The quality of European Higher
Education is still perceived as being very high.
3. The Bologna Declaration
3.1. Introduction
The content of the Bologna Declaration remains rather vague. The goal
is set but the means to reach this goal are not clearly defined. The
suggestions are therefore interpreted very broadly. In this sense the
approach to reach the goal seems even more important than the declaration
itself. Clearly all the major decisions will already be made before the
meeting in Prague in June 2001.
3.2. Goal
The Bologna Declaration has the gradual setting up of a European space
for Higher education as a goal.
3.3. The means to achieve this goal as put forward by the
Bologna Declaration
. Easily readable and comparable degrees, also through the
implementation of the Diploma Supplement;
. Adoption of a system essentially based on two main cycles:
undergraduate and graduate levels in all countries;
. The Declaration does not mention the 3-5-8 years pattern of degrees
a lot of critics seem to focus on. What it actually says is the following:
. The first degree should be no shorter than 3 years and clearly
relevant to the labour market. Access to the second cycle requires the
successful completion of the first cycle. This second cycle should lead to
the master and/or doctorate.
. Establishment of a system of credits - such as in the ECTS system -
as a proper means of promoting the most widespread student mobility;
. A European dimension in quality assurance (by developing comparable
criteria and methodologies); and
. Improvement of the free movement of students and teachers through
structural reforms (basically, by taking away the remaining obstacles)

3.4. What the Declaration does not say
The Bologna Declaration focuses on "qualifications" and not on content
or academic degrees. The Bologna process aims at creating convergence and,
thus, is not a path towards the "standardisation" or "harmonisation" of
European higher education. This also means we are not talking about the
creation of a new category of "European" degrees/qualifications but of the
setting up of a common reference for existing degrees/qualifications. We
would like to call it 'making the structures somewhat alike'.
Although the discussion focuses mainly on the Bachelor - Master system
these names are not even mentioned in the Bologna Declaration. Not even the
pattern of undergraduate programmes of 3 years, a Master degree after five
year of studies and a Doctorate degree after 8 years of studies is
included.
There are fears that the Bologna Declaration will influence the manner
in which higher education institutions in Europe function. This fear comes
probably from the far-reaching consequences the implementation will have on
the decision-making involved on the institutional level. The fundamental
principles of autonomy and diversity should in all manners, according to
the Bologna Declaration, be respected.
3.5. Conclusion
The Bologna Declaration remains open for interpretation. It is however
necessary that discussions focus on what is actually proposed and not on
topics people fear are part of the Declaration.

4. The Bologna Process
4.1. Introduction
The Bologna Process in itself will be presented here. This is not just
the mechanics of the process but the approach taken by the signatories and
the calendar the 'consultative group' put forward.
4.2. Approach
The approach is based on a joint effort between ministers and higher
education representatives. The Bologna Declaration is not an international
treaty. It is a pledge by 29 countries to reform their own system in such a
way that all systems converge. So it is a commitment freely taken by each
signatory country to reform its own higher education system or systems in
order to create overall convergence at the European level. The Bologna
Declaration is not a reform imposed upon national governments or higher
education institutions.
That is why the Declaration is actually very vague: it is a political
statement that actually sets out an action plan: there is a goal and there
is a calendar. According to the calendar the European space of Higher
Education should be completed within the first decade of the new
millennium.
There is of course a program of activities, already dubbed the Bologna
Process.
In Bologna the countries that signed the declaration announced there
would be a new meeting. This new meeting would be at least two years after
the Bologna meeting. In September 1999 an informal meeting of ministers
decided that 29 countries would form a working group, the consultative
group, that would do the follow-up of the Bologna declaration.
The follow-up structure is based on:
. an "extended group" consisting of representatives of all signatory
countries; the European Commission, the Confederation of EU Rectors'
Conferences and the Association of European Universities (CRE); ESIB -
The National Union of Students in Europe, Council of Europe and
EURASHE.
. a smaller "follow-up group", comprising the countries successively
holding the EU Presidency in the 2 years from Bologna to Prague
(Finland, Portugal, France, Sweden, Belgium), the Czech Republic, the
European Commission, the Confederation of EU Rectors' Conferences and
the Association of European Universities (CRE);
. the countries that signed the Bologna Declaration are stimulated to
have (a series of) conferences on the Bologna Declaration and the
implementation;
. in addition, since new political decisions may need to be taken in the
process, the follow-up to the Bologna Declaration will be on the
agenda of meetings of EU education ministers.
4.3. Calendar
The first follow-up meeting was in November 1999 in Helsinki. Here the
practical side of the follow-up was decided upon. Because the group was too
large a smaller group was formed, the 'follow-up group'. The chair of the
group will change in accordance with the chairing of the European Union.
Finland is doing secretariat. This group already met in January and will
meet again in June 2000 in Portugal and there will certainly be a meeting
in Sweden again six weeks before the Prague meeting in May 2001. In January
an explanatory note by the follow-up group, prepared by the Confederation
of EU Rectors' Conferences and the Association of European Universities was
made public. You can find this document on the Documents pages of this
website.
The whole calendar of events is constantly updated on the website:
http://www.esib.org/prague/calendar_of_events
4.4. Conclusion
The calendar seems very clear and the approach has the potential to be
visible. This is of course only on paper. The Bologna Process does not
really fit in a timeframe or a timetable. The follow-up of the Bologna
Declaration takes place in the countries themselves and not really on the
European level. The countries are informing and will inform each other on
their progress, their intentions and best practices. This is actually what
is happening by the means of the Bologna Process and is therefor not that
clear.

5. The implementation of the Bologna Declaration
5.1. Introduction
European Higher Education is very versatile. Some would say it's a
jungle, some would say it resembles chaos. This chapter will deal with the
reality of the implementation. Is there a degree of convergence in Europe,
what are the main problems and how is the implementation process evolving?
5.2. The degree of convergence between current reality and the
Bologna Declaration
Several reforms have recently been introduced in several European
countries. The Confederation of EU Rectors' Conferences and the Association
of European Universities (CRE) undertook a project to analyse the trends in
Higher Education structures in the member states of the European Union and
the European Economic Area. The report on the project, Trends in Learning
Structures in Higher Education, offers an overview of the degree of
convergence between current reality and the Bologna Declaration. (You can
find this report on: http://www.esib.org/prague/documents)
. There is a move towards shorter studies. This means a reduction of
actual length of studies to their theoretical duration (нам не
подходит!) and/or the introduction of first degrees in systems where
they were unknown.
. Two-tier structures are also being introduced. The long, tunnel-type
curricula which offer no real exit point before 5, 6 or 7 years of
study are being replaced by bachelor-type and masters degrees.
. The credit systems are widely spread.
. External evaluation is being introduced.
. More autonomy of Higher Education institutions seems to be coupled
with more accountability.
. Another trend is towards the blurring of boundaries between university
and non-university systems. In some countries non-university
institutions got a near-university status, while in other countries
more bridges between the two sectors are established.

5.3. The degree of polarisation between current reality and the
Bologna Declaration
There is no convergence towards a 3-5-8 pattern of degrees. This
pattern was presented in the Attali-report on the future of French Higher
Education, presented to the French Ministry of Education in 1998, as the
emerging European model. Because the Sorbonne Declaration was signed in the
same year the Attali-report it was often included in the discussions about
the Declaration.
The report Trends in Learning Structures in Higher Education did a
survey of the structures and the results make clear that this model is
actually not the European model. Many countries have sub-degree programmes
of 1 or 2 years while the first degrees (whether traditional or newly
introduced) take between 3 and 4 years. There is no 8 year standard
duration for a doctorate but there seems to be a convergence around a total
duration of about 5 years for a master degree.
5.4. Current currents in the implementation process
Higher Education institutions are introducing "meaningful" first
(undergraduate) degrees in systems where they didn't exist yet. The courses
of these first degrees are said to be shorter, more flexible, more relevant
to professional life, more multidisciplinary and more European.
Higher Education institutions are also creating new master's courses
where there were no short or separate programmes.

6. Conclusion
The Bologna Process is not a static process. It is moving in different
directions in different countries. The Committee on Prague 2001 has in this
document tried to give an overview of the reasons of the process, an
introduction to the Bologna Declaration, an explication of the Bologna
Process and an insight into the implementation. We hope that the different
National Unions of Students will be able to use this document to their own
advantage.

If you have questions or remarks concerning this document, please
contact pague2001.committee@esib.org.