Speaking at the end of the Bologna Conference in London on Friday, Federal Education Minister Annette Schavan warned against excessive rigidness when reforming the European Higher Education Area: “The aim of the Bologna Process is to shape diversity, not harmonization”. Schavan said that the Bologna Process was a great opportunity for European integration. “The higher education institutions in the 46 partner countries are undergoing a strenuous and at the same time very promising process of development,” she said.
Ute Erdsiek-Rave, Vice-President of the Conference of Länder Ministers of Education(KMK), said: “We need a more intensive dialogue with all the associations and institutions involved. We want to lead the Bologna Process to success, both in Germany and at a European level, and to achieve a European Higher Education Area.”
The diversity of higher education and particularly of doctoral studies is to be maintained. Schavan and Erdsiek-Rave made it clear: “Doctoral studies are and will remain a matter for the universities.But there will be a competition between different doctoral models in Europe.”
The 46 ministers of the Bologna member states and the representatives of higher education institutions and students agreed in London on important measures to further implement the reform of the European Higher Education Area, which was initiated in Bologna in 1999. The central themes here were mobility, quality assurance and employability.
Concrete steps were agreed upon to improve the mobility of students, researchers and teachers in the Bologna states. These measures include more flexible curricula for bachelor courses and joint study courses in cooperation with foreign institutions of higher education, leading to joint degrees. Schavan stated that more mobility also meant that “some bachelor courses will take three and a half or four years, with a period of study abroad”. In order to improve mobility in Europe, the Bologna states intend to formulate concrete mobility objectives, as Germany is already doing. Federal Minister of Education and Research Schavan and KMK Vice-President Erdsiek-Rave concurred that Germany’s aim was to achieve a 50% student mobility rate, 20% of which should be for at least one semester. The two Ministers also announced that they would be studying the question of whether funding for gifted students and BAföG grants for studies abroad could be provided for an entire course of study abroad.
A Bologna-wide network of national experts will work in an advisory capacity to ensure the portability of student support in the form of grants and loans from one country to another. In addition, data on mobility is to be collated and analysed. “This means that we will be better able to monitor progress and correct possible obstacles to mobility,” Schavan said.
Erdsiek-Rave emphasized: “The mobility of students and staff members at institutions of higher education remains one of the main concerns of the Bologna Process. We have a societal as well as an economic interest in mobility and we will strengthen our efforts to achieve it.”
Schavan spoke out in favour of enhancing the attractiveness of German higher education institutions by improving the ratio of lecturers to students. “Successful studies are only possible if the bachelor phase is accompanied by a tutoring system. This is more expensive, but we believe that it is worth it.” She continued that Germany must offer training in higher education which could keep up with the best in the world. This was an investment in future competitiveness. Minister Schavan also touched upon the question of funding: This was an important public task, but the higher education institutions themselves must also seek alternative new sources of finance.
A Register of Quality Assurance Agencies will ensure more transparency when evaluating courses of study in the Bologna states. In future, this register will list agencies which are entitled to accredit courses of study and will thus serve to strengthen the importance of quality assurance in the Bologna Process. Schavan stressed: “In Germany, we must take advantage of every opportunity to assure quality at the highest level.” Apart from the accreditation of individual study programmes, Schavan also spoke of the possibility of accrediting processes or systems, that is to say accrediting larger units, such as institutions of higher education.
In future, the Bologna states want to increase their focus on the employability of graduates. “If we place 40 percent of a year-group in higher education, it is the task of the institutions of higher education to also prepare them for the labour market,” Schavan said.
As far as implementing the Bologna reforms is concerned, Germany is doing well by international comparison with regard to mobility and quality assurance. The number of Germans studying abroad rose steadily between 1991 and 2004: from 34,000 to 69,000. According to Schavan: “This is due primarily to funding provided by the BMBF via the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and via BAföG grants for studies abroad.” Minister Schavan mentioned the conversion of study courses to the bachelor-master structure and the issue of meaningful Diploma Supplements as areas where Germany still had to make up ground.
Bologna also wants to penetrate beyond Europe: The ministers involved in the Bologna Process have drawn up a strategy paper with proposals for more targeted publicity and for improving the provision of information on the European Higher Education Area to non-European states. Schavan stated: “It is essential that we actively publicize the Bologna Process, not only in Europe, and that we remain open to the world.” She added that this also included “the fair recognition of qualifications which have been gained outside the European Higher Education Area”.
