The Bologna Reform: Beyond 3 2 3 Prof. Dr. Konrad Osterwalder Rector, ETH Z

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The Bologna ReformBeyond 323Prof. Dr.
Konrad OsterwalderRector, ETH Zürich
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Erasmus to Morus, 10.7.1517

• I have not decided yet, which place of residence
  I should choose. I do not like Spain, even if the
  Cardinal of Toledo has made me an offer for the
  second time. In Germany I could not live, because
  there is much shouting and no salary, there. In
  England I am afraid of all the unrest and I hate
  the subservience . With my own compatriots I
  have given up all the hope

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Questions asked

• Why did ETH decide for the Bologna Reform in the
  first place?
• How did it prepare and organize the reform? Who
  was responsible for what?
• Why did it decide for 32, how is the content of
  the programs structured?
• How is the international cooperation and
  cooperation with the economy embedded in the
  policy of ETH?
• Ect.

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Bologna Reform the main stages

• Setting the European stage Bologna, Salamanca
• The national stage
• the 12 Theses of the Rectors Conference
• The recommendations (academic)
• The guidelines (political)
• ETH
• Defining the general strategy
• The Bachelor Level
• The graduate School Master and PhD
• Admission rules, changing the tracks
• Exams and selection new approaches
• New teaching methods
• Quality
• Networking

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The Bologna Reform

• Setting the European Stage
• Sorbonne/Bologna (1998/1999),
• Salamanca (2001)

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Bologna (June 19, 1999)29 European Ministers of
Education

• .a growing awareness in large parts of the
  political and academic world and in public
  opinion of the need to establish a more complete
  and far-reaching Europe, in particular building
  upon and strengthening its intellectual,
  cultural, social and scientific and technological
  dimensions.
• .objective of increasing the European system of
  higher education international competitiveness

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Bologna Reform Action Lines (Bologna)

1. Adoptation of a system of easily readable and
   comparable degrees
2. Adoptation 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

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Bologna Reform Action Lines (Prag, 2001)

• 6.Support of lifelong learning
• 7.Participation of students in HE institutions
• 8.Promotion of the attractiveness of the European
  Higher Education Area to students of Europe and
  other parts of the world
• 9.Taking account of the social dimension

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The details

• Adoption of a system of easily readable and
  comparable degrees, also through the
  implementation of the Diploma Supplement, in
  order to promote European citizens employability
  and the international competitiveness of the
  European higher education system
•  

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The details

• Adoption of a system essentially based on two
  main cycles, undergraduate and graduate. Access
  to the second cycle shall require successful
  completion of first cycle studies, lasting a
  minimum of three years. The degree awarded after
  the first cycle shall also be relevant to the
  European labour market as an appropriate level of
  qualification. The second cycle should lead to
  the master and/or doctorate degree as in many
  European countries.

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The details

• Establishment of a system of credits - such as in
  the ECTS system - as a proper means of promoting
  the most widespread student mobility. Credits
  could also be acquired in non-higher education
  contexts, including lifelong learning, provided
  they are recognised by receiving Universities
  concerned.

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The details

• Promotion of mobility by overcoming obstacles to
  the effective exercise of free movement with
  particular attention to
• - for students, access to study and training
  opportunities and to related services
• - for teachers, researchers and administrative
  staff, recognition and valorisation of periods
  spent in a European context researching, teaching
  and training, without prejudicing their statutory
  rights.

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The details

• Promotion of European co-operation in quality
  assurance with a view to developing comparable
  criteria and methodologies
• Promotion of the necessary European dimensions in
  higher education, particularly with regards to
  curricular development, inter-institutional
  co-operation, mobility schemes and integrated
  programmes of study, training and research.

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Salamanca (March 30, 2001)

• More than 500 representatives of European
  Universities
• European universities .. want to shape their
  own future in the new European context. They
  clearly expressed their will, their intention and
  their determination to take up the challenge of
  the Sorbonne/Bologna declaration and to be
  proactive in the process of building the European
  Higher Education Area, by 2010

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Competition

• Higher education institutions are willing to take
  the responsibility of operating in a competitive
  education arena, but this requires more real
  managerial autonomy (going beyond classical
  academic freedom), a flexible regulatory
  framework and fair financing.
•  

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Freedom with responsibility

• Universities as legal entities need autonomy in,
  and want to be held accountable for
• strategic planning, setting goals and priorities
  funds allocation
• selection of partners, locally, nationally and
  internationally, in research and in teaching
• selection of research areas
• definition of curricula
• management of human capital, in particular the
  hiring the professors
• setting of admission rules for students.

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Quality

• Quality as underlying condition for
• trust
• relevance
• mobility
• compatibility
• attractiveness
• in the European Higher Education Area

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Bs Ms System

• Higher education needs to be structured in such a
  way that after 3 - 4 years (or rather 180 - 240
  ECTS credits) a student should be eligible for a
  Bachelor-type degree. This degree should either
  lead to immediate employment or provide
  preparation for further studies leading to a
  Master degree. Under certain circumstances a
  university may decide to structure a curriculum
  as a 5-year integrated (i.e. unbroken) programme
  leading directly to a Master-level degree

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Employability

• Employability in a university context means
• A well developed imagination
• The ability to approach and to solve a problem
  systematically and methodically applying
  substantial knowledge
• The capacity to lead social process
• The overall structure of university programs and
  each element thereof must be targeted towards the
  development of the above mentioned personal
  skills, while allowing for a great variety of
  curricular approaches and for competing course
  designs

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The Bologna Reform

• II. The national stage

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Vision / Goals

• Offering a future oriented top quality education
• Rethinking curricula, teaching and learning
• Flexibility and transparency
• Quality assurance
• Mobility of students and staff
• Competition for the best students
• Undergraduate level mainly national
• Graduate level international
• Cooperation in networks, Alliances, (Fusions?)
• Arc Lémanique, Zürich,
• TIME
• CLUSTER
• IDEA League
• Institutional autonomy and responsibility

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Principle

• The academic side
• takes the initiative
• is the process owner

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II.1 The 12 Theses of the Rectors
Conference (2000)

1. General approval of Bologna program
2. Revision of the curricula, coordination at
   national level
3. Definition of cycles, duration
4. Avoid parallelism (Diploma versus Master)
5. Minimize prolongation of study times
6. Determine additional costs

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The 12 Theses of theRectors Conference (cont.)

1. Standard university qualification is Master
2. Bachelor as intermediate degree (hinge)
3. Ability to work in a profession versus
   qualification for a profession
4. Every institution defines its own admission rules
   for the master programs
5. Maintaining the two track system professional
   and academic
6. Transfer from Universities of Applied Sciences
   (HES) sur dossier

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II.2. The Guidelines
(political, binding)

• Organization in three levels
• Introduction of ECTS
• Admission to the Master Level
• Coordination of the titels

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II.3 The Recommendations of Rectors
conference the 10 basic topics

1. Organization of studies
2. Performance based credit system
3. Admission procedures
4. Titles, Diploma Supplement
5. Terminology
6. Continuing Education
7. Promoting mobility (study plans, financial and
   legal aspects)
8. Quality assurance and accreditation
9. Promoting the European Dimension
10. Social aspects (stipends, part time students,
    equal opportunities)

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1. Organization of studies

• Three cycle system
• Integrated Bachelor-Master Programs
• Integrated Master-Doctoral Programs (graduate
  school)
• Definition of profiles for Bs and Ms
• Joint Master Programs (with HES?)
• New learning and teaching habits (self-study,
  coaching, reading courses, etc.)
• Whole programs in English

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2. Performance based credit system

• Credit points depend on
• learning effort (30 hours/point on the average)
• learning outcome points are given for sufficient
  performance only
• Reform of the examination system (avoid killer
  topics)

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3. Admission Procedures

• Bachelor level same as now.
• Master Level Minimal requirement defined in
  Directives CUS. For the rest Universities are
  free.
• Problems
• Admission of Bachelors from other Swiss
  Universities
• Admission of Bachelors from HES

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4. Titles, Diploma Supplement

• Harmonization of Titles
• Protection of Titles
• No further awarding of old titles
• No conversion of old titles
• Name of awarding Institution as part of the title

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5. Terminology
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6. Continuing Education

• New structuring
• Admission rules
• Titles and terminology
• besides that
• financial aspects

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7. Promoting Mobility

• Admission procedures to Master programs should
  promote mobility, not obstruct it it should help
  to choose the appropriate program
• Elimination of political obstacles (immigration)
• Portability of grants
• Scholarship programs

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8. Quality assurance and Accreditation

• Quality assurance is in the first place an
  obligation of every university
• Accreditation still has to be established
• Berlin Ministers advocate the introduction of a
  European Register for Quality Assurance
• and the cooperation between national
  accreditation agencies

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9. Promoting the European Dimension

• Curricular cooperation at European level
• Erasmus World, joint Master and other graduate
  programs

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10. Social aspects

• Grants and loans
• Part time students
• Equal opportunities
• Include the students and the staff in the reform

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III. ETH

• III.1 Defining the general strategy
• (Decisions by the bord of Management)
• Introducing the new model in stages
  students already present finish according to
  old system, with Diploma
• Beginn of new system distributed over several
  years (completed BS in 2005, Ms in 2008)
• Limitation of study time Bs lt 5 years, Ms lt 3
  years

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III.1 Defining the general strategy

• No credit point without proof of achievment
  (exam, paper, report on experiment, etc.)
• Part of teaching in English, at Ms level some
  curricula everything in English
• Diploma Supplement, including detailed
  Qualification Profiles
• Curricula determined by qualification profiles

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Begin of Bachelor courses
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III.2 The Bachelor Level

• Duration 3 years
• Admission according to the legal rules
• First year now credit points for individual
  courses
• Aptitude test at the end of the first year.

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New Qualification Profiles Undergraduate

• Core Competences
• Broad Education in Basic Sciences Math, Physics
  Chemistry, Computer Science, Biology
• Solid Basic Knowledge of the Discipline
• Methodological and Scientific Thinking
• Including Humanities and Social Sciences
• Scientific english (starting year 2)
• Experience in team work, practical work
• Optimal Preparation for Graduate Programmes at
  ETH and at other leading Universities worldwide
• Concentration and advanced placement in Master
  Courses possible
• No particular preparation for entering the job
  market
• Limited study time lt 5 years

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III.3 The graduate School Master and PhD
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New Qualification Profiles Master

• Scientific Specialization
• First Research experience through collaboration
  in a research group
• Master thesis (6 Months)
• fast tracks into the doctorate for the excellent
  students
• elite programs
• Fluent in (scientific) English
• joint master programs with other universities
• and
• introduction into management, finance, human
  resource

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Studying at ETH Zürichnumbers estimates
duration
1000 p.a.
Ph.D.
Doctorate
(Total 3000)
Graduate studies
Graduate level
500
1500 p.a.
External Masters
Master (standard degree)
Master level (Total 3000)
500 p.a.
400
External Bachelors
Bachelor intermediate degree, hinge
200 p.a.
Bachelor studies (Total 6000)
1600/ Jahr
Bachelor level
100
Changing the program
withdrawls
500 p.a.
2200 p.a.
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The Graduate School
Regular path to doctorate Fast track
Doctorat
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Doctorate / Master
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Doctoral thesis and doctoral studies
Doctoral thesis and doctoral studies
Admission to Doctorate
4
Research plan and additional conditions
Zeitachse (ca. Semester)
Ok of supervisor, admission
Titel of Master, acceptance of research plan
Master
3
Master Thesis ca. 30 KP
External masters
30 KP ECTS Research work (30 KP)
2
Assessment, admission to the fast track
Master studies 60 KP ECTS
1
? 30 KP good grades additional work
agreement with supervisor
Admission to the graduate school
0
27.6.2003 Ba/Pgr
Bachelors
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III.4 Admission rules, changing the
tracks

• Bachelor free admission with Swiss Maturität
  or with top grades from a Gymnasium abroad
• reduced admission exam with foreign final
  High school exam
• full admission exam without any prior exam
• Master free admission in the same subject and Bs
  from a Swiss university. Admission procedure for
  foreigners and for specialized Master programs
• Specific rules for entering from a university of
  applied sciences

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III.5 Exams and selection new approaches

• optimize selection at the entry point. Assessing
  and advising the entering students
• Goal
• Bachelor loss rate first year lt 15 (now 25)
• loss rate 2./3. year lt 4 (as now)
• Master less than 5
• Evaluation of examination and selection methods

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III.6 New teaching methods

• Teaching closer to actual research
• More individual learning
• Using the new technologies, usw.
• -gt program to support and to finance new
  approaches to teaching and experimenting
• Controlling the quality of teaching
• New modes of assessing performance, quality
  control
• Master Thesis Part of learning Process and proof
  of performance

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III.7 Quality Management

• Opinion Poll Students (end of term)
• Opinion Poll alumni 3,4,5 years after graduation
• Peer Review one week, every 5 years
• New project evaluation the assessment of
  performance (exams, etc.)
• Are the assessments fair, objective, do they show
  what is relevant, are they reliable, etc.

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III.8 Networking

• IDEA League Imperial College, TU Delft, ETH,
  RWTA Aachen, ParisTech (new member)
• UNITECH International 8 Technical Universities
  and 25 global Companies
• TIME network
• IARU Network

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ETH Zurich worldwide IARU network
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Conclusion a story of Mr. Keuner(Bertolt Brecht)

• An old friend he had not seen in a while, greeted
  Mr. Keuner with the words
• You havnt changed a bit.
• Oh, said Mr. Keuner and went pale.

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The Bologna Reform is about.

• more mobility,
• yes, but mainly about
• more competition, but no cannibalism (developing
  countries)
• more differentiation and more comparability
• more flexibility and transparency
• more autonomy and more responsibility
• more quality
• renovating the curricula, the selection process
• renovating teaching and learning
• The Bologna Reform is a major Change Process

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Erasmus to Morus

• In any case we intend to stick to our goal to
  further true learnedness as much as we can.