Santiago Iñiguez, Dean of Instituto de Empresa Business School.
You may be familiar with the hit movie of a few years ago, L'Auberge Espagnole , which recounts the story of a European student who leaves home and studies in a foreign country. He wins his independence, expands his horizons and makes long-lasting friends from all around Europe on the same program as himself. The Erasmus program has changed how we view ourselves as Europeans and our knowledge of our neighbours.
However, this is nothing compared to the veritable revolution that is planned to occur by 2010 that bears the name “The Bologna Process”. Effectively the EU will become the United States of Europe, well at least in what refers to education. Imagine a Greek computer science graduate who heads to Ireland to finish their studies and gets accepted to do a Master in Computer Science receiving teaching from a Polish professor, all of them voluntarily there due to the reputation of the university that they attend. This example will be greatly amplified in number and will have enormous ramifications in terms of mobility and dynamism, creating the healthy situation where each university has to differentiate itself from every other comparable one in Europe. This transformation is the equivalent in higher education to what happened in the European economy with the adoption of the Euro.
Bologna is an Italian city famous for its University, the oldest in the Western World. But since 1998 the name Bologna has been associated with a transcendental process initiated by the European Union education ministers that formulated the European Higher Education Space (EHEA). According to this agreement, university studies must have the same structure in Europe by 2010. The main purpose of the Bologna Process is to foster cross movements of students, academics and knowledge, in turn improving the quality of teaching and research, ultimately increasing economic productivity in Europe.
Certainly, the creation of EHEA will transform the university landscape in Europe. Currently, university studies across Europe vary widely, both in terms of duration, contents and degrees, among other important issues. The Bologna Process will harmonise the current divergence into two major degrees: bachelor (three years) and masters (two years) degree programmes, in line with the prevalent model in the US or UK. The implementation is mainly delegated to national governments, in line with the standard way that most legislation is developed in the European Union. Most member countries have approved this legislation.
More information can be found at the EFMD website among many others. It might be beneficial to discuss the implications in terms of the necessary financial schemes that would need to be put in place as well as the extent of the IT system needed to keep track of that movement.
Economist and OECD.
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