A Harmonised European Higher Education System - Fact or Fiction?

1
A Harmonised European Higher Education System -
Fact or Fiction?

• Dr. Malcolm Allan
• Glasgow Caledonian University
• Glasgow, Scotland

2
Global Need
Mobility
Harmonised Education System
Workforce
Worklocation
Mobility
3
Trends in Higher Education

• Market Opportunities
• under-developed HE infrastructure
• demands for a foreign degree (Masters)
• mature students
• Flexible Learning (ICT)
• distance-based provision
• credit and accumulation schemes

4
Trends in Higher Education

• Elite v Mass Participation
• funding implications
• challenges of widening access
• Competition and Autonomy
• diversification
• possible tension with defining/measuring
  equivalence

5
Promotion of European HE

• Bologna Declaration 1999 (29 countries)
• loss of market share (primarily to USA)
• growth in demand for transnational education
• improve employability and mobility of European
  Citizens
• Central Challenge
• realise objectives through a comparable European
  HE Quality Assurance System

6
Bologna - Key Objectives

• Mobility
• students
• teachers (proving more of a challenge)
• Employability
• degrees relevant to European labour market
• Competitiveness/attractiveness
• market focus (institutional/national level)
• attraction of European HE to both internal and
  external parties

7
Instruments of Convergence

• Readable/comparable degrees
• Diploma Supplement
• 2 Cycle Structure
• undergraduate (? 3 yrs)
• graduate - masters/doctorate

Subsidiarity !
Pre Bologna - jungle of degrees and comparability
problem, even within National context
Labour market
8
Instruments of Convergence

• Credit, Accumulation and Transfer
• Quality Assurance
• promote European Co-operation
• European dimensions in HE
• joint curricular development,
• integrated programmes
• training and research

9
Bologna Implementation
Diversity
Quality

• Broad Qualifications Framework
• Credit and Accumulation Scheme
• Employer/Professional input to specification of
  programmes

Transparency
10
UK Perspective

• Backcloth
• increase in participation
• 6 to 30 from 1963 to 2000
• public accountability (value for money)
• market focus
• unified sector 1992
• QA Initiatives
• Graduate Studies Programme (GSP)
• National Committee of Inquiry into Higher
  Education (NCIHE)
• Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education
  (QAAHE)

11
GSP and NCIHE Reports (1997)

• Three key issues raised
• lack of comparability of standards across UK
• lack of clarity in the way awards, outcomes and
  standards were expressed (greater explicitness
  required)
• current process of assessment (for awards) not
  completely reliable

Standards, comparability and transparency
UK parallels with Europe (Bologna)
12
Resulting Framework - QAA

• Standards
• National Subject Benchmarks
• expectations about standards for an award in a
  particular subject area
• National Qualifications Framework
• outcomes based structure
• qualification descriptors
• credit based model (specifies volume and level)
• National Codes of Practice
• system-wide expectations relating to the
  management of quality and standards
• e.g. Collaborative Provision (July 1999)

13
Resulting Framework - QAA

• Explicitness - Programme Specifications
• intended learning outcomes of programme
• teaching and learning methods to achieve outcomes
• assessment methods to demonstrate achievement
• relationship of the programme to reference points
• e.g. qualifications framework, subject benchmarks
• Stakeholders
• students, prospective students and employers
• framework for professional dialogue

14
Resulting Framework - QAA

• Academic Review
• Promote public confidence that quality and
  standards of HE provision is being safeguarded
  and enhanced
• Two Linked Reviews
• Institutional
• management of quality and standards
• Subject e.g. Engineering
• programme outcome standards and quality of
  learning opportunities

15
Post-Bologna Progress
accreditation
Mobility Employability Competitiveness/attractive
ness
degrees
credits
16
Degrees

• Comprehensive qualification framework (UK)
• Examples of streamlining elsewhere
• Integration of HE systems (Germany)
• Stimulation of bridges
• outwith/within HE system
• Bachelor to Masters link
• Mix of long degrees and 2 cycle framework

e.g. Germany - combined with ECTS and
accreditation
e.g. medicine, law
17
Degrees - Bachelors

• Trend towards 3 year Bachelors in recent reforms
• co-existence of 3/4 years (rationale ?)
• Diversity - co-existence of professional and
  academic first degrees
• both relevant to labour market
• as step towards Masters (broad-based ?)
• Evidence of professional involvement in
  development

18
Degrees - Masters

• Diversity of Masters
• purpose
• binary systems
• most are now 1/2 years duration
• The nomenclature for Masters still confusing
• Some regard the Masters qualification as the norm
• Long one tier Masters retained but are starting
  to become the exception
• Need for consistent definition of Masters
• e.g. in terms of level and volume

19
Credits

• Strong move towards ECTS-compatible credit
  systems e.g.
• compulsory in Denmark
• in Germany a condition of new framework
• Used for both internal (e.g. within binary
  systems) and external (e.g. mobility across
  Europe)
• More co-ordination required
• inconsistent definition of credits
• workload, level, outcome models
• Tuning educational structures in Europe - a 2
  year pilot project

20
Quality Assurance and Accreditation

• Trend towards more quality evaluation and quality
  assurance
• jungle of quality assurance and accreditation
  standards, procedures and agencies
• confusing terminology

authority to establish
accreditation
recurrent quality assurance
of prior learning
21
Quality Assurance and Accreditation

• German System
• meta-accreditation
• decentralised respecting autonomy of institution
• UK System
• external quality assurance
• standards, qualifications, codes of practice,
  quality of learning, subject/institutional
  dimension
• European Network for Quality Assurance (EQNA)
  established - March 2000

22
Conclusion

• not yet !
• But significant movement in the right direction

Harmony ?
What Next ?
23
Future Needs and Developments

• readability of Masters
• European Quality Labels (ENQA)
• relevance of degrees through diversity
• more co-ordination - ECTS and qualifications
  profiles - convergence !
• vocabulary and nomenclature for HE
• databases for study by subject in Europe
• European dimension within degrees

24
(No Transcript)