European Commission Looks at Progress in Educational Structures

Ministers from 46 (mainly European) countries met at the end of April to discuss progress made toward the goal of creating a European Higher Education Area by next year under the tenets of the Bologna Process. In a pre-meeting memo, the European Commission outlined the progress it felt had been made in the ten years since the Bologna Declaration was signed.

The memo pointed to an “overall picture … that reveals that substantial progress has been made in all the areas that have been examined, and the benefits of enhanced European cooperation brought about through the Bologna process are evident.” That comment was qualified with a call for “an increased focus on the impact of structural reforms and on how higher education institutions and systems are responding to new challenges.”

The report also noted that “the new three-cycle structure is theoretically fully in place or has at least been extensively introduced in all countries in most institutions and programmes. However, several study fields, such as medical studies, architecture and engineering remain outside these new structures in some countries.”

The memo notes that a first-cycle bachelor program of 180 ECTS credits (3 academic years) has been adopted in 19 countries versus 11 countries that have adopted a 240-credit (4 years) model. At the master’s level, 120 ECTS credits (2 years) appear to be the norm, having been adopted in 29 of the countries analyzed in the report.

-egovmonitor
April 22, 2009