3.7.2009
The struggle continues: The Bologna Process still divides the higher education community
This clearly show the strikes of school and university students in cities all over Germany during last month. Again in the focus of the displeased: The Bologna process. There is still a high level of uncertainty about the consequences of the Bologna higher education reforms and unhappiness reigns, where first experiences with the Bologna reforms seem disillusioning. The idea itself, of course, is not the core of the arguments here and there, it is rather the concrete implementation at different universities and in different countries which takes place at different degrees of speed. Additionally, there are still made exceptions when it comes to the acceptation of degrees. The saying “Exceptions prove the rule” does certainly not apply for the Bologna discussion.Even Great Britain whose higher education system is already close to the Bologna reform has its problems, states professor Barbara Kehm, Director of the International Consortium of Higher Education Researchers in Kassel, in the “scilog”. She outlines that the Island was full of hope of Europe adapting the British model and thought nothing had to be changed.But the developing European mainstream differs strongly from the British Bachelor and Master model with most of the Bachelor programmes spanning three years and Master programmes one year whereas in the Bologna model both cover five years. Furthermore, the doctorate is regarded as the third step (with corresponding high fees) and not as first step of a researcher's career (with a salary or scholarship as it is the case in most European countries on the continent and in Scandinavia).However, the most important reform – the division into Bachelor, Master and PhD brought about increasing importance of postgraduate study programmes like the MBA. It sometimes leads to an earlier entry of (under-)graduates in the labour market. In a company they gain important practical skills but after some years get qualified (or get pushed to do so by their employers) further, for example through attending an MBA programme. |
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