Bologna revisited:

1
Bologna revisited a personal view with focus on
quality evaluation   Paulo M S Tavares de
Castro Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do
Porto Rua Dr Roberto Frias 4200-465 Porto,
Portugal
2

• Structure of the talk
• 1 Generalities
• Introduction
• Key events and documents
• Bologna Action Lines
• Communiqué of the Conference of Ministers
  responsible for Higher Education in
  Berlin on 19 Sept 2003
• The European Network for Quality Assurance in
  Higher Education (ENQA)
• In Portugal Conselho Nacional de Avaliação do
  Ensino Superior (CNAVES)

3

• Accreditation by Ordem dos Engenheiros
• OECD
• 2 - Need for action in the european HE system
• Bologna from commitment to reality
• Competition
• Foreign students enrolled in HEIs
• Rankings of HEIs
• Academic Ranking of World Universities 2004
• Financial Times Global MBA rankings 2004

4

• Data from Trends III
• On the other side of North Atlantic?
• Change
• Final remarks

5

• Introduction
• In Europe large variety of higher education
  systems and degrees
• Knowledge of all that diversity may be the
  subject of full-time work of specialized
  organizations (EURYDICE for ex)
• Common people, without a specialized interest in
  comparative studies, are not aware of that
  diversity and of the value of individual
  qualifications
• In the European Union (EU) there seems to be
• faith in the virtues of diversity, but also
• the desire for some harmonization,
• so that the degrees awarded become widely legible
  and the international mobility of graduates is
  facilitated and promoted

6
Complexity and diversity of higher education (HE)
systems was not a problem when access to HE was a
privilege for a few. Widespread access,
globalization of economy, and the mobility
requested by newer generations, implies the need
for legibility or even harmonization of HE
system Quality and attractiveness how does
Europe compares with the US ? Relevant
initiatives include
7

• Key events and documents
• The Magna Charta Universitatum. Bologna. 1988
• The Lisbon Convention Convention on the
  Recognition of Qualifications Concerning Higher
  Education in the European Region. 1997
• The Sorbonne Joint Declaration Joint declaration
  on harmonization of the architecture of the
  European Higher Education System / France,
  Germany, Italy, UK. Paris. 1998
• The Bologna Declaration Joint declaration of the
  European Ministers of Education. Bologna. 1999
• The Salamanca Convention Message from the
  Salamanca Convention of European Higher Education
  Institutions - Shaping the European Higher
  Education Area. 2001

8

• Prague Communiqué Towards the European Higher
  Education Area - Communiqué of the meeting of
  European Ministers in charge of Higher Education.
  2001
• The Graz Convention - Convention of Higher
  Education Institutions. 2003
• Berlin Summit on Higher Education - Conference of
  European Ministers in Charge of Higher Education.
  18-19 September 2003   

9
target dates     Bologna and Prague target of
creating the European Higher Education Area
(EHEA) by 2010. Berlin ..........all
Ministers commit themselves to having started the
implementation of the two cycle system by 2005
........
10
European Councils Lisbon (March 2000), aimed at
making Europe ....the most competitive and
dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world,
capable of sustainable economic growth with more
and better jobs and greater social cohesion
.... launches creation of European Research
Area (ERA) Barcelona (March 2002) targets to
increase Europe's research effort to 3 of its
GDP by 2010 ..........European education and
training systems should become a world quality
reference...... in the European Commission
views, .....the emerging European Higher
Education Area will benefit from synergies with
the European Research Area, thus strengthening
the basis of the Europe of Knowledge.
11
Bologna Action Lines The Bologna declaration
contained six action lines and the Prague
communiqué has added three more   Bologna
Declaration 1. Adoption of a system of easily
readable and comparable degrees 2. Adoption of a
system essentially based on two cycles 3.
Establishment of a system of credits 4. Promotion
of mobility 5. Promotion of European cooperation
in quality assurance 6. Promotion of the European
dimension in higher education   Prague
Communiqué 7. Lifelong learning 8. Higher
education institutions and students 9. Promoting
the attractiveness of the European Higher
Education Area
12

• Communiqué of the Conference of Ministers
• responsible for Higher Education in Berlin on 19
  Sept 2003
• Main topics (in the sequence they are treated
  priorities?)
• Quality assurance
• Degree structure Adoption of a system
  essentially based on two main cycles
• Promotion of mobility
• Establishment of a system of credits
• Recognition of degrees Adoption of a system of
  easily readable and comparable degrees
• Higher education institutions and students
• Promotion of the European dimension in higher
  education
• Promoting the attractiveness of the Europ. Higher
  Education Area
• Lifelong learning

13

• Additional actions
• European Higher Education Area and European
  Research Area two pillars of the knowledge
  based society
• Stocktaking
• .....Ministers charge the Follow-up Group with
  organising a stocktaking process in time for
  their summit in 2005 (Bergen, Norway) and
  undertaking to prepare detailed reports on the
  progress and implementation of the intermediate
  priorities set for the next two years
• quality assurance
• two-cycle system
• recognition of degrees and periods of studies
• http//www.bologna-berlin2003.de/pdf/Communique1.p
  df
• or
• http//www.aic.lv/ace/ace_disk/Bologna/maindoc/Ber
  l_comm_fina.pdf

14
Communiqué of the Conference of
Ministers responsible for Higher Education in
Berlin on 19 Sept 2003 .................Quality
Assurance The quality of higher education has
proven to be at the heart of the setting up of a
European Higher Education Area. Ministers commit
themselves to supporting further development of
quality assurance at institutional, national and
European level. They stress the need to develop
mutually shared criteria and methodologies on
quality assurance.
15
They also stress that consistent with the
principle of institutional autonomy, the primary
responsibility for quality assurance in higher
education lies with each institution itself and
this provides the basis for real accountability
of the academic system within the national
quality framework. Therefore, they agree that by
2005 national quality assurance systems should
include
A definition of the responsibilities of the
bodies and institutions involved Evaluation of
programmes or institutions, including internal
assessment, external review, participation of
students and the publication of results A
system of accreditation, certification or
comparable procedures International
participation, co-operation and networking
16
At the European level, Ministers call upon ENQA
through its members, in co-operation with the
EUA, EURASHE and ESIB, to develop an agreed set
of standards, procedures and guidelines on
quality assurance, to explore ways of ensuring an
adequate peer review system for quality assurance
and/or accreditation agencies or bodies, and to
report back through the Follow-up Group to
Ministers in 2005. Due account will be taken of
the expertise of other quality assurance
associations and networks ......... Acroni
ms EUA European University Association -
http//www.eua.be/eua/ EURASHE - European
Association of Institutions in Higher Education -
http//www.eurashe.be/ ESIB - National Unions of
Students in Europe - http//www.esib.org/
17
The European Network for Quality Assurance in
Higher Education (ENQA) promotion of European
co-operation in the field of quality assessment
and quality assurance between all actors involved
in the quality assurance process The idea for
the Network originates from the European Pilot
Project for Evaluating Quality in Higher
Education which demonstrated the value of sharing
and developing experience in the area of quality
assurance. The idea was given momentum by the
Recommendation of the Council (98/561/EC of 24
Sept 1998) on European co-operation in quality
assurance in higher education and the Bologna
declaration.
18

• Membership of ENQA is open to Quality Assurance
  Agencies, public authorities responsible for
  Quality Assurance in Higher Education and
  associations of higher education institutions in
  the Member States of the EU
• Forty two Quality Assurance Agencies and
  Associations of Higher Education have so far
  (2004) joined the Network.
• Examples
• ANECA, Spain
• CNAVES, Portugal
• CNE, France
• QAA HE, UK
• ........
• http//www.enqa.net/

19
In Portugal Conselho Nacional de Avaliação do
Ensino Superior (CNAVES) http//www.cnaves.pt/
In 1998, the Decreto-Lei nr 205/98 created the
Conselho Nacional de Avaliação do Ensino Superior
(CNAVES) The evaluation system applies to the
higher education (HE) system, including
universities and politechnics, and the public,
private, cooperative, religious and military
sectors, and seeks to stimulate the improvement
of the quality of the activities, to provide
information, and to ensure a more rigourous
knowledge and a more transparent dialogue between
the HE institutions, and to contribute to the
organization of its network
20

• Evaluation takes place in two steps
• self-evaluation, and
• external evaluation.
• Meta evaluation may be carried out by a national
  ou foreign organization in articulation with
  CNAVES.
• CNAVES has the responsibility to ensure complete
  harmonization, cohesion and credibility of the
  complete process of evaluation and monitoring of
  the HE, looking for the maintenance of standards
  of excellence

21
CNAVES looks after the global coherence of the
evaluation system, through the indicators, the
standards of exigence, the relationship between
the degrees and the tendencies of the market, and
the European dimension of the courses. CNAVES
also produces prospective studies and
recommendations for rationalising and improving
the HE system

• CNAVES is involved in
• the evolution of the international cooperation,
  monitoring and evaluating existing capacities and
  reponsibilities in that matter
• the contribution of the HE system to the
  economic, cultural and social development
• the analysis of the performance of the
  institutions in the context of the information
  and knowledge society and
• the contribution of the HE system to citizenship
  

22
A list of aspects to be taken systematically into
account is clearly referred to. It is felt that
indicators should be increasingly defined in
cooperation with government and the Council is
now developing a proposal involving a set of
indicators, which will help to measure the
quality of institutions and their study
programs. This proposal is fundamental in order
to implement the newly published legislation
which states that an evaluation should be
included in the award of a quality grade and will
be used to grant or deny study program
accreditation (lei nr. 1/2003 Regime Jurídico do
Desenvolvimento e da Qualidade do Ensino
Superior)
23
To my knowledge, the first mention of indicators
in Portuguese HE legislation is in a 1997 law
concerning the funding of higher education
institutions (lei nr. 113/97 Bases do
Financiamento do Ensino Superior Público) a)
teacher / student ratio per study programme, b)
academic staff / non-academic staff ratio, c)
quality indicators concerned with academic
staff, d) quality indicators concerned with
non-academic staff, e) incentives for promotion
of qualification of academic and non-academic
staff, f) budget structure, particularly as
concerns ratio of staff costs and other costs, g)
capacity to cover the national part of the
funding coming from program or initiatives of the
EU.
24
That law also mentioned suplementary competitive
funding, based upon a) qualification of the
academic staff, b) students performance, c)
innovative pedagogical projects, d) capacity to
diversify sources of funding, e) the success of
the alumni (graduates) in the labour market
place, f) the scientific and artistic production.
25

• This trend is reinforced in the recent Lei de
  Bases do Financiamento do Ensino Superior, lei
  nr. 37/2003, mentioning the indicators
• academic staff / students ratio
• academic staff / non-academic staff ratio
• promotion of the qualification of academic and
  non-academic staff
• qualification of staff
• pedagogical efficiency of the study programmes
• scientific efficiency of the MSc and PhD
  programmes
• management efficiency
• the grading obtained in the study programmes
  evaluation and the institutional
  evaluation
• budget structure, particularly ratio salaries /
  total budget
• grading obtained by the research institutes and
  units.
• This law also states
• strict number of years to obtain the degree
  (prescrições)
• tuition fees function of the nature and qulity
  of the courses
• academic year 60 ECTS.

26
CNAVES does not evaluate research institutes,
units and programs. In universities, these are in
general funded by FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e
Tecnologia, a Portuguese government agency).
FCT organizes evaluations every three years.
These peer-reviews carried out by panels
essentially constituted by foreign
experts. A summary of features of the
Portuguese system, in English language, may be
found in F Tavenas, Quality Assurance A
Reference System for Indicators and Evaluation
Procedures, (a report published for ELU, an
informal group within the EUA consisting of
universities from the latin countries of Europe),
EUA-European University Association, April
2003 See http//www.eua.be/eua/jsp/en/upload/EL
U_EN.1082042243703.pdf
27
Accreditation by Ordem dos Engenheiros Concerning
evaluation and accreditaion in Portugal, it
should be also mentioned that certain degrees and
study programmes (Engineering, for example) are
the object of separate, independent assessments
by professional organizations (further to the
already mentioned CNAVES evaluation). In the
case of Engineering, licenciatura level courses
(so far, a 5 years degree) are evaluated and
accredited by Ordem dos Engenheiros, the
Portuguese professional association of
engineers. Accreditation by Ordem dos
Engenheiros involves a thorough program
evaluation some 20 of the submitted dossiers
are not approved talk by Bastonário in IV
Jornadas Sobre Acreditação de Cursos As
Reformas do Ensino Superior e as Competências
Profissionais, 7 July 2003) See
http//www.ordeng.pt/default2.html
28
OECD work on education indicators
OECD Handbook for Internationally Comparative
Education Statistics Concepts, Standards,
Definitions and Classifications, OECD, 274 pages,
May 2004
29

• issues
• of course, any work on indicators should begin
  with a precise definition of all the therminology
  used
• types of OECD indicators
• straightforward data as collected (ex. of
  female graduates)
• indicators requiring conceptual and
  methodological explanations
• learning outcomes, graduation, completion
• access, participation, progress
• learning environment and school organisation
• finance

30
(No Transcript)
31
Need for action in the european HE
sytem based upon - P T de Castro,
Hora de Mudança, Boletim da Universidade do
Porto, nr.35, Mai 2002, pp.5-8
32
Bologna from commitment to reality
slide from S Reichert, C Tauch, in Europ Higher
Education Convention, Graz, May 2003

• It takes concerted action on all levels to make
  the European Higher Education Area a reality

national commitment
national legislation
instit. reality
national incentives/ support
institutional leadership/ policy
instit. communication deliberation decision
only half have provided some funding. 75 of
HEIs clear financial incentives needed
46 of HEIs nat.legisl. undermines auton.
decision-making
little more than a third have a Bol. coordinator
role of academics? students not included enough
at dep- level
33
System of actors and awareness
slide from S Reichert, C Tauch, in Europ Higher
Education Convention, Graz, May 2003

• national governments
• rectors conferences
• heads of institutions
• academics
• (less than half reasonably aware,
• 30 not very aware)
• students
• administrators

less aware
34
Which goals are the driving forces of Bologna?

• enhancement of academic quality reforms go
  beyond just a formally changed degree system
• preparing graduates for the European labour
  market 91 of heads of HEIs regard
  employability as important of very important when
  redesigning curricula (70 of HEIs track
  employment of some or all graduates)
• how to make sustainable employability and
  academic quality compatible values is the core
  challenge of curricular reform
• competitiveness/ attractiveness of national (not
  European) system of HE

academic quality
employability
attractiveness
slide from S Reichert, C Tauch, in Europ Higher
Education Convention, Graz, May 2003
35
Competition for students, for funds, for ....
36
From Third European Report on ST Indicators
Towards a knowledge-based economy, 2003 Update,
February 2004 Downsizing and Specializing The
University Model for the 21st Century? ftp//ftp.c
ordis.lu/pub/indicators/docs/3rd_report_snaps10.pd
f
37
From Third European Report on ST Indicators
Towards a knowledge-based economy, 2003 Update,
February 2004 Downsizing and Specializing The
University Model for the 21st Century? ftp//ftp.
cordis.lu/pub/indicators/docs/3rd_report_snaps10.p
df
38
Academic Ranking of World Universities
2004 by Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai
Jiao Tong Univ cited by the European
Commission 'Disappointing results for Europe in
list of world's top 500 universities, CORDIS
Focus 237,  26 Jan 04,  p.5 See
http//ed.sjtu.edu.cn/ranking.htm
39
Academic Ranking of World Univs 2004 Methodology
40
(No Transcript)
41
(No Transcript)
42
(No Transcript)
43
(No Transcript)
44
................. ............. ..... (500 Univs
considered)
45
Academic Ranking of World Universities
2004 Statistics Europe vs US ...
46
(No Transcript)
47
 
48
 
49
(No Transcript)
50
Financial Times Global MBA rankings
2004 http//rankings.ft.com/rankings/mba/rankings.
html
51
(No Transcript)
52
(No Transcript)
53
(No Transcript)
54
(No Transcript)
55
From Third European Report on ST Indicators
Towards a knowledge-based economy, 2003
56
Distribution of foreign students by host
country in 2001 1,65 million students were
enrolled outside their country of
origin OECD Education at a Glance 2003 http//ww
w.oecd.org/ dataoecd/ 52/27/14645571.xls
57
OECD Education at a Glance 2003 Excel
database http//www.oecd.org/ dataoecd/ 52/27/146
45571.xls see printed book, page 275
58
Expenditure on educational institutions as a
percentage of GDP, 2000
OECD Education at a Glance 2003 Excel
database http//www.oecd.org/ dataoecd/0/18/1448
3640.xls see printed book, page 208
59
Data from Trends III
Trends in Learning Structures in European Higher
Education III, a report prepared for the
European University Association by Sybille
Reichert and Christian Tauch, 1st draft, EUA Graz
Convention 29-31 May 2003 See for ex.
http//eua.uni-graz.at/Trends3-Graz-draft.pdf
60
Comparing the students flows
S Reichert, C Tauch, Trends in Learning
Structures in European Higher Education III, 1st
draft, EUA Graz Convention, 29-31 May 2003
61
of HEIs with more incoming students
S Reichert, C Tauch, Trends in Learning
Structures in European Higher Education III, 1st
draft, EUA Graz Convention, 29-31 May 2003
62
HEIs targetting Europe
S Reichert, C Tauch, Trends in Learning
Structures in European Higher Education III, 1st
draft, EUA Graz Convention, 29-31 May 2003
63
S Reichert, C Tauch, Trends in Learning
Structures in European Higher Education III, 1st
draft, EUA Graz Convention, 29-31 May 2003
64
of HEIs using targeted marketing to recruit
students
S Reichert, C Tauch, Trends in Learning
Structures in European Higher Education III, 1st
draft, EUA Graz Convention, 29-31 May 2003
65
HE systems with two main cycles ?
S Reichert, C Tauch, Trends in Learning
Structures in European Higher Education III, 1st
draft, EUA Graz Convention, 29-31 May 2003
66
of HEIs with a two-tier system
S Reichert, C Tauch, Trends in Learning
Structures in European Higher Education III, 1st
draft, EUA Graz Convention, 29-31 May 2003
67
use of credit transfer system
S Reichert, C Tauch, Trends in Learning
Structures in European Higher Education III, 1st
draft, EUA Graz Convention, 29-31 May 2003
68
of HEIs with a credit transfer system
S Reichert, C Tauch, Trends in Learning
Structures in European Higher Education III, 1st
draft, EUA Graz Convention, 29-31 May 2003
69
S Reichert, C Tauch, Trends in Learning
Structures in European Higher Education III, 1st
draft, EUA Graz Convention, 29-31 May 2003
70
External quality assurance
S Reichert, C Tauch, Trends in Learning
Structures in European Higher Education III, 1st
draft, EUA Graz Convention, 29-31 May 2003
71
S Reichert, C Tauch, Trends in Learning
Structures in European Higher Education III, 1st
draft, EUA Graz Convention, 29-31 May 2003
72
internal quality assurance
S Reichert, C Tauch, Trends in Learning
Structures in European Higher Education III, 1st
draft, EUA Graz Convention, 29-31 May 2003
73
S Reichert, C Tauch, Trends in Learning
Structures in European Higher Education III, 1st
draft, EUA Graz Convention, 29-31 May 2003
74
HEIs serving the world, promoting attactiveness
outside Europe, receiving more foreign students
...
S Reichert, C Tauch, Trends in Learning
Structures in European Higher Education III, 1st
draft, EUA Graz Convention, 29-31 May 2003
75
(No Transcript)
76
on the other side of North Atlantic ? And on the
other side of North Atlantic?   Notwithstanding
the huge diversity of the USA, and the reduced
role of the equivalent to a federal ministry of
education in Washington DC, the US HE system is -
or resulted - legible Interested candidates
and educated people worlwide know the format of a
degree of an american university, college, or
community college Those more interested even
know the relative quality of a range of
institutions, and know the relevant sources of
information on the comparative assessment of
institutions and programmes
77
the attractivenesss of US HE institutions,
and the huge numbers of highly qualified
candidates that decide to study in the US are a
source of preocupation for european countries,
incapable of the same level of attractiveness due
to insuficient competitiveness of their systems
78
With nuances, the same situation occurs in some
other English speaking countries Canada,
Austalia, and obviously the United Kingdom
all with great capacity of attraction of foreign
candidates Anybody doubts the value of the
contribution of foreign students to the host
countries ? Changes are required, in order
to make sure that Europe keeps, or is able to
gain, some leadership in HE
79
Change A simple change is the adoption of
English in some of the courses (see for ex the
experience of Nordic countries) Other changes
include the degree structure a problem
associated with the Bologna declaration. Example
of the difficulties   In Portugal, and in
Engineering - my own field the university-level
degree is the licenciatura a 5 years degree
after 12 years of primary and secundary school.
This degree correponds, in the UE HE jargon, to
an integrated master     In Portugal, after
obtaining the licenciatura, a mestrado may be
obtained after 2 further years of study and
research But in most european countries the
long engineering degrees (typically 5 years)
are called masters ...  
80
Could it be true that Portuguese students take 7
years to obtain a degree that others obtain in 5
? Or master in most european countries and
Portuguese mestrado are different ? Is there any
accepted characterization of degrees in Europe ?
81
Some countries adopted an engineering education
based upon a first 3 years degree, and a second 2
years degree (the so-called 32 solution) In
this scheme, an engineering education of 5 years
should consist of two separate and autonomous
steps a first engineering degree 3 years long,
and a second, specialised, 2 years long The
mathematics and physics required for many
engineering problems are ( or are not ? )
compatible with the time for maths and physics in
a 3 years degree ? and if the answer is no, can
the necessary maths and physics knowledge be
obtained just-in-time, during the second
specialised degree of 2 years? personal
contacts with some Italian colleagues ...... in
Engineering, a 32 solution may lower
considerably the standards of education......
82
Leadership of the US HE system is reflected in
its attractiveness and in the international
demand it generates
83
Another matter of serious concern for european HE
is the progressively larger role, worldwide, of
US accreditation systems   Example AACSB
International-The Association to Advance
Collegiate Schools of Business for MBA - Master
of Business Administration degrees The
increasing numbre of programs accredited by this
organization suggests that it may become the de
facto judge of the value of MBAs, with the
consequence that degrees not accredited by this
organization would have a parochial value...
84
In engineering, ABET-Accreditation Board for
Engineering and Technology also starts to have an
international role, in this case not for
accreditaion per se, but determining substantial
equivalence of degrees
85

• Small countries cannot create this type of
  organizations
•  
• but they can be developped in the context of the
  European Union
•  
• European wide accreditation bodies are being
  created exs for management
• EFMD-European Foundation for Management
  Development based in Brussels, (system EQUIS
  started 1997)
• AMBA-The Association of MBAs
• However, if AACSB (created 1916) already
  acredited several european institutions (London
  Business School, ESADE/Barcelona, Cranfield,
  etc.), Harvard, Berkeley, MIT or equivalents were
  certainly not accredited by european
  organizations ...  

86
The idea of european-wide accreditation agencies
seems premature for the time being - the EU is
too fragmented for that ... A soft version,
easier to implement, could consist of mechanisms
of mutual recognition of local accreditation
agencies But that solution is already being
pursued under US leadership see for ex the
Washington Accord for Recognition of
equivalency of accredited engineering education
programs leading to the engineering degree which
brings together English speaking countries as the
USA, Canada, Australia, UK, etc 
87
(No Transcript)
88
Final remarks Procastrination in some countries
concerning changes in HE ... (ex. Portugal ....
) Dangers of a top-down approach to force
change - academics tend to be conservative
concerns their institution ( I am not speaking
about right- or left-wing political views ) -
they must be convinced of the need to change -
role of leadership - governments, institutions,
etc ... - academic staff ( and society in general
) show low awareness of the discussions of
Ministers and Rectors
89

• Length and function of the two cycles should be
  better clarified
• For ex.,
• - First cycle professional qualification ? or
  not ?
• - Bachelor / Master sequence - 32, 41, 05, 42
  ... ???? (the most common pattern appears to be
  Bachelor 180 ECTS credits Master 120)
• But difficulties in Engineering for ex. ( in
  the US, ASCE recommends that professional
  practice should be open to holders of a Master
  Eng 41 years only )
• Insuficient discussion of other forms of
  post-secondary education
• US experience of the Community Colleges
  (typically two year programmes) should be better
  known and discussed in Europe

90
Quality assurance fragmented situation in Europe
(many acronyms that people have trouble
understanding - EUA, ENQA, ............) advantage
s of clarity for ex. in the US, for engineering
ABET should be more coherent and reliable, less
time (and resources) consuming, international -
European wide