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German Responses to the Latest Developments in the Bologna Process |
On May 17, 2007 education ministers from 46 states convened in London to advance the ongoing project of a European higher-education area. Among the principle goals of the conferences was for member states to discuss the progress of the Bologna Process. One of the principal objectives of that the EU education ministers agreed upon in 1999, in Bologna,(the conference that gave birth to the Bologna Process) was to institute international structure of Bachelor's and Master's degrees throughout the European Union by the year 2010. Institutional autonomy, academic freedom, student-centered education, equal opportunities, international mobility and employability constituted the central themes of the London conference. Matters concerning international graduation requirements also ranked high on the London Conference Agenda.
While a number of the European states have already succeeded in making the widespread changes to the education system, which include the conversion to a three-tiered (Bachelor, Master and PhD) degree structure these changes have posed challenges to other countries. Nonetheless, significant progress has been registered on the Bologna Process overall. For instance, the Trends V study by the European University Association reports that now more than 80% (up from 50% that was registered in 2003) of EU universities are implementing the three-tier system. In addition more than 70% of universities are using the European Credit-Transfer System.
To read the Trends V: Report by the European University Association, go to http://www.eua.be/index.php?id=347
Despite numerous challenges and cultural resistance to the Bologna Process, Germany has registered significant progress in adopting the educational reforms. Presently, roughly half of the university programs of study correspond to the new system. According to the 2007Hochschulrektorenkonference (The Conference of University Presidents), 48% of the total of programs of study in Germany are under the new system. That number is expected to exceed 60% by the next academic year.
Yet, accompanying these trends is a vigorous ongoing debate in Germany that these reforms are worthy of criticism and not quite right for Germany. For instance, the "TU9," (the German acronym for the consortium of Germany's largest technical universities) is also critical of the Bologna reforms. At the London Conference, the president of the TU9, Horst Hippler argued that with the European reforms, the university programs in engineering would not be able to maintain their current level of excellence. Hippler opposes the ways in which the reforms seek to regulate graduation time. He maintained that "The completion of a doctoral degree should be seen as the first step toward independent research, not as the third-step in a university education." Critics of the reforms have also raised that the new graduation time-frames imposed by the new regulations make it difficult for bachelor students to study abroad. Whereas many critics raise that the Bologna Process entails adopting rules that are overly rigid, Federal Education and Research Minister Annette Schavan expressed that the Bologna Process is a great opportunity for bringing about European integration. Schavan also called for flexiblity in adopting the changes and that "the goal of the Bologna Process is to foster diversity, not harmonization."
To read the London Communique, visit http://www.dfes.gov.uk/bologna/
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