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On Accountability, Consider Bologna

Click here for the article of Inside Higher Education, July 28, 2008.

Impressed by American higher education’s embrace of accountability?

"You shouldn’t be, according to a new policy brief on the Bologna Process from the Institute for Higher Education Policy. Written by Clifford Adelman, a senior associate at the institute, the document “contends that none of the major pronouncements on accountability in U.S. higher education that we have heard in the recent past – from Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings’ Commission on the Future of Higher Education to platitude pronouncements and wish lists for student learning from the higher education community — even begin to understand what accountability means"...

Russian Graduates Should Be Free to Go Abroad - Putin

Click here for article of iStockAnalyst, Wednesday, July 16.

MOSCOW. July 16 (Interfax) - Russian university graduates should not be restricted in their right to work for foreign companies or go abroad, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said.

"As head of the government, I dislike the fact that some (graduates) are leaving Russia, nevertheless, I believe it is wrong to restrict our people in their rights," Putin said at a meeting with senior members of the Federation Council in Moscow on Wednesday.

Responding to Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov's criticism of the Bologna process and his proposal to introduce special measures to make Russian university graduates stay and work in Russia, Putin said: "We have conceptual differences with you."

The fact that some Russian young people go abroad has a positive side to it, he said.

"Our education systems are therefore showing their competitiveness," Putin said.

"You think that by getting European-standard diplomas our people are encouraged to look for jobs in foreign companies or abroad. We should act not through restrictions but through creating the optimal conditions for young people to work here, that is by increasing salaries and providing housing opportunities," the prime minister said.

AcademyOne, Inc. promoting US student mobility

Website

AcademyOne is simplifying student mobility and curriculum alignment between higher education institutions balancing pro-active and re-active methods.

www.collegetransfer.net supports students, institutions and state agencies improving coordination, outreach, guidance, recruiting, assessment and student success by bridging policies, practices and processes.

Carrots, Sticks and Transfer - Bologna Process vs. US

Click here for the article of Inside Higher Ed, June 23rd 2008.

Before becoming a DC think tank person, I worked for the Indiana Senate, advising the chair of the State Budget Committee. Much of this job consisted of listening to people ask my boss for money.

...The United States is an unusually large nation populated by a restless citizenry prone to moving from place to place. Our higher education system is also unusually diverse and decentralized, with thousands of public and private institutions retaining the academic freedom to decide what kind of course credits they’ll accept from whom. As a result, the basic logistic challenges of managing student transfer are considerable. It’s hard for a given college to evaluate credits from a huge number of courses, departments, and institutions nationwide...

The result — a chaotic, inefficient transfer “system” that’s hardly a system at all — makes life very difficult for students who attend multiple institutions, as more and more do. What’s worse, many students don’t find out how many courses will be accepted for credit until after they transfer, so they can’t take ease of transfer into account when they decide where to go....

...The flawed U.S. transfer non-system has also persisted because, historically, it was still better than what students experienced elsewhere. But that, too, is changing. As the Institute for Higher Education’s Clifford Adelman found in his recent report on the Bologna Process, universities in Europe are poised to leapfrog the United States in ease of transfer, based on a process of deep, concurrent analysis of academic goals, degree qualifications and credit systems that goes far beyond what a harried registrar’s office in a U.S. institution could hope to accomplish one transcript at a time...

Increased Interest in Erasmus - Spain still no 1. destination.

Europa Communiqués de presse, 13/05/2008.

Established in 1987, Erasmus, the EU's flagship education and training programme for mobility and cooperation in higher education across Europe, continues to expand. Erasmus receives approximately € 450 million per annum under the EU's Lifelong Learning Programme 2007-2013. For the academic year 2006/07, figures show that 3% more students and 10% more university teachers went abroad compared to the previous year. This brought the total participants to almost 160 000 students and 26 000 teachers in that year alone. Central and Eastern European countries, as well as Turkey, have had the biggest growth in the numbers participating in the programme. ...

Student and teacher mobility

During the 20-year period from 1987 to 2007, approximately 1.7 million students benefited from a study period abroad under the Erasmus programme with 159 324 Erasmus students in the academic year 2006/07. This represents an annual increase of 3.2% compared to 7.2% in the previous year.

Germany continued to be the biggest sender with 23 884 Erasmus students followed by France (22 981), Spain (22 322) and Italy (17 195). Spain remained the most popular destination for students, receiving 27 464 over the year, with France in second place (20 673), followed by Germany (17 878) and the United Kingdom (16 508).

Bologna process-Call for proposals: Tempus IV programme

From Cordis website, 5 February, 2008.

The European Commission's Directorate-General for Education and Culture has issued a call for proposals for its Tempus IV programme, on the reform of higher education through international university cooperation.

Tempus promotes multilateral cooperation among higher education institutions, authorities and organisations from EU Member States and partner countries. It focuses on the reform and modernisation of higher education.

The overall objective of the programme will be to contribute towards facilitating cooperation in the field of higher education among Member States of the European Union (EU) and partner countries in the surrounding area. In particular, the programme will help promote voluntary convergence with EU developments in the field of higher education deriving from the Lisbon agenda and the Bologna process.

For further information, please visit:
http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/tempus/index_en.html

To see the full details of the call, please  click here

European Education and The Bologna Process

European Education and The Bologna Process

Australia, New Zealand and Israel to soon join the Bologna Process?

Australia and Europe collaborate on Research, 13 November, 2007

Israel’s ambassador to the EU praises ‘real dialogue' between Israel and Europe, 22 November, 2007

Santiago Iniguez - "Merit and Age" - Aspen Conference in Italy

www.SantiagoIniguez.com, Dean of IE Business School.

Some days ago I was invited to speak at the conference of The Aspen Institute Italy under the topic "Merit, Not Age as a Discriminating factor", jointly organized with the Agnelli Foundation at their headquarters in Torino, Italy. The conference was preceded on the eve by an interview in the Financial Times with Mr. John Elkann , Vice-Chairman of the Fiat Group, who in fact co-chaired the plenary sessions with Mr. Mario Monti, President of Bocconi University and former Commissioner of Competition of the European Union. 

When I was invited to contribute at the conference I believed that the main theme was the consequences of the ageing population phenomenon for European business. Consequently, my presentation dealt with some foreseeable measures, such as postponing the time of compulsory retirement, and some solutions from educational institutions, for example promoting entrepreneurship programs for the elderly people, since this segment of populations is experienced, skilled and in many cases have the resources to pilot new start-ups. Actually, Peter Drucker affirmed in one of his latest contributions that the fastest growing segment of future education will be programs for the mature and aged people.

However, upon discussion with my table neighbors at the starting dinner I realized that the crux of the conference centered on how to ease the access of young people to key positions at Italian institutions. Interestingly, gerontocracy is the prevalent regime at most Italian organizations, from business to politics and academia. This is largely due to traditions and culture, but is also caused by strict labor laws, lack of real internal competition and the dominant systems for selecting and promoting people at the top. Indeed, Italy has one of the highest average age ratios of leaders across the board although there are some other countries in the same cluster, like Japan.       

Back at my hotel, located in the superbly restored Centro Histórico Fiat, once the reference of futuristic architecture, I redid my presentation to cover some topics related to the net generation and include some suggestions for promoting the advance of young leaders to management (see presentation attached). My main proposal was to foster the implementation of the Bologna Process at Italian universities. I believe that if Italy opens up to the cross-border movement of students, faculty and knowledge, the benign winds of international competition  and global convergence will facilitate the access of young generations, Italian and foreign, to many of its institutions, thus promoting meritocracy over gerontocracy. "Non habete paura" and open your doors to true competition.

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European Qualifications Framework

Povl Tiedemann, Head of Department, Danish Business Economists

26 October 2007

From EU-press release it should be noted that on 25 October 2007 The European Parliament voted in favour of adopting the Recommendation on the establishment of the European Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning (EQF), proposed by the Commission in September 2006.

The EQF will link countries’ qualifications systems, improve their transparency and so act as translation device in order to help Member States, employers and individuals compare and better understand qualifications held by individual citizens from elsewhere in the EU.

The EQF is a translation grid for qualifications around Europe. It has two principal purposes: (1) to promote mobility between countries, and (2) to facilitate lifelong learning. Both are indespensable for achieving more and better jobs and growth, as Europe faces the challenge of becoming an advanced knowledge-based economy.

At the core of the EQF are its eight reference levels, from basic to advanced – combined with corresponding demands for Knowledge / Skills / Competence. These describe what a learner knows, understands and is able to do, regardless of the system in which the learner’s qualification was acquired.

The EQF therefore shifts the focus away from learning inputs (such as length of a learning experience, or type of institution), to learning outcomes. Shifting the focus towards learning outcomes brings significant advantages:

•    It supports a better match between education and training provisions and the needs of the labour market (for knowledge, skills and competences).

•    It facilitates the validation of non-formal and informal learning.

•    It facilitates the transfer and use of qualifications across different countries and education and training systems.

As an instrument for promoting lifelong learning, the EQF encompasses general and adult education, vocational education and training, as well as higher education. The eight EQF levels cover the entire span of qualifications from those achieved at the end of compulsory education, up to those awarded at the highest level of academic and professional or vocational education and training.

The recommendation approved by the European Parliament foresees that Member states relate their national qualifications systems to the EQF by 2010, and that individual certificates or diplomas should bear an EQF reference by 2012.

From the statement of Commissioner Jan Figel: “People in Europe too often face obstacles when they try to move from one country to another to learn or work. They sometimes also face obstacles when they want to move from one part of their own country’s education system to another, e.g. from vocational education and training to higher education…”

For further information, please check:
http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/educ/eqf/index_en.html

International Conference on "The African Universities' Adaptation to the Bologna Process"

The International Conference, last 16th July, on "The African Universities' Adaptation to the Bologna Process" in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), marked yet another attempt in the series of efforts to get African universities effectively associated with the planned creation of 'European Higher Education Area' by the year 2010.

After a long period of hesitation, African universities choose, one after the other, to adapt to the architecture of studies organisation which has been promoted since 1999 by the Bologna process.

In the South, the changeover is not simple: the model is imported from the North, there is no preliminary consultation between the European and the African universities on the characteristics it should have in order to be adapted to the economic, cultural and social context and needs of these two regions of the world. The European universities have adopted an organisation of the studies which they impose on their African counterparts, who are led to model themselves on them. There is no continent that is not influenced by the Bologna model which becomes universal. Asia and Latino America have undertaken reforms that go along the lines of a greater compatibility with the European higher education systems.
International financial organisations and institutions (UNESCO, World Bank, etc.) are in favour of the adjustment of African universities to the Bologna model, especially when it falls within concerted initiatives.

Nigeria: Bologna Process And African Universities

EUA: Call for Proposals and The Complete Call for Proposals document pdf (121 KB)

Unesco's Portal for Higher Education's Call for Proposals.

The Europe Unit, working for the UK higher education sector

The Europe Unit

Higher Education Ministers at the Bologna Process Summit that took place in London on 16-18 May 2007. Higher education ministers from the 46 Bologna Process participating countries met to review progress and to set priorities for the next two years in the resulting London Communiqué. More details...

Bologna Process Stocktaking London 2007

Bologna Process Stocktaking London 2007, (440 KB, 88 pages)

Report from a working group appointed by the Bologna Follow-up Group to the Ministerial Conference in London, May 2007.

"There are three main findings from the 2007 stocktaking:
1. There has been good progress in the Bologna Process since Bergen.
2. The outlook for achieving the goals of the Bologna Process by 2010 is good, but there are still some challenges to be faced.
3. Stocktaking works well as an integral part of the Bologna Process strategy." (Report itself)

According to EurActiv .com: "While the report found that "there has been good progress on specific action lines and indicators", it reminds that is not enough to look at these in isolation because all aspects of the Bologna Process are interdependent. In particular, the report urges all participating countries to use learning outcomes as a basis for their national qualifications frameworks and systems for credit transfer and accumulation.

The ministers issued a Communiqué reviewing progress on the different Bologna process action lines (mobility; degree structure; recognition of qualifications; qualifications frameworks; lifelong learning; quality assurance; doctoral studies; social dimension; EHEA in a global context) and setting priorities for 2008-2009."

The National Unions of Students in Europe -Bologna

"BOLOGNA WITH STUDENT EYES" (2.5MB, 70 pages).

From The European Students' union (ESIB) website:      (About ESIB)

15th May: ESIB releases its third survey on how the Bologna Process is implemented around Europe. Covering 36 European countries, the report analyses how the commitments made in the Bologna Process are implemented in practice at national level. The authors deduce that many reforms are carried out only superficially: For example the European credit and transfer system, ECTS, (wikipedia definition) should facilitate mobility and put the learner in the center, but countries are not implementing it properly. It is shown that credits are not fully comparable within Europe.

Mobility of students, although one of the key Bologna objectives, remains connected to many obstacles. Student grants and loans are not fully portable for studies abroad yet, and additional financial support is missing. It is clear that not all students can afford to be mobile. The report also reveals the unequal treatment of foreign students in many countries. Problems related to visa regulations and work permits are a major hurdle for non-EU students.

The Social dimension of the Bologna Process, discussed and worked with since 2001, is also still an area in which a lot of work continues to be neccessary. There is still not enough comparable data availible about the social situation of the students and in some countries the social situation has deteoriated.

”Bologna goes Global”

Povl Tiedemann, Head of Department, Danish Business Economists

From recent press release by the Cabinet of EU Commissioner Jan Figel, it should be noted that the accelerating processes in the European Higher Education not only comprise the development from 29 to 45 participating countries – the contents and the objectives are also developing with an impressive momentum towards a global context.

Having the basic reforms on stream with:

-Three cycle structure,
-Quality assurance,
-Recognition of qualifications and study periods,

The London meeting of the Ministers of Education 17 – 18 May 2007 will expectedly adopt a  strategy for positioning the European Higher Education in a Global context with focus on: International Dialogue, Comparison, Competition and Quality.

The subsequent activities will comprise:

-Information provision,
-Attractiveness,
-Competitiveness,
-Partnerships,
-Policy Dialogue,
-Mutual Recognition.

Thereby the traditional ways of managing and performing Higher Education will be put under expected pressure by the competition- and market driven agenda of the future. However, also at an accelerated pace, and with due inspiration from the experiences of the suppliers of Mail – Tele – Rail – Energy.

Bologna Process - New EUA Trends Report

Complete article of European University Association (EUA), 10/05/2007 

Download the Trends V Report. (6.21 MB)

The latest survey of more than 900 European institutions, using both quantitative and qualitative analysis, will be presented to the 46 Education Ministers attending the Bologna Ministerial Conference taking place in London on May 17/18.

Trends V shows that 82% of the institutions responding to the survey have now introduced the three cycle degree system. However, while the report shows that there now seems little doubt that the reforms in degree structure will be in place by 2010, it highlights that there is still much work to be done to achieve the underlying social and economic aims of Bologna.

While 74% of institutions stated that it was crucial to make rapid progress to the EHEA, the report highlights that that most countries still need to make major progress in a number of areas such as:

•    Working more closely with employers to ensure that the reforms are understood, and that new qualifications are relevant for the labour market;
•    Improving quality assurance systems in Europe by strengthening institutional quality culture, involving students and moving to “light touch” external audits of institutions;
•    Strengthening trust between institutions and countries to improve mobility both for staff and students.

Trends V also highlights that universities must commit more resources to developing lifelong learning, a key goal for Europe. Only 17% of the sample felt this was currently a major priority for their institution. Finally, the study shows that the social objectives of Bologna are still someway from being achieved. Governments and institutions need to develop their strategies and take concrete action if they are to ensure that all who have the potential to benefit from higher education have equal opportunities in the European Higher Education Area.

Commissioner Figel to boost EU-Australia relations in education and training

EU-Australia Cooperation in Higher Education and Vocational Training

"There is no doubt that Europe, New Zealand and Australia can all profit from dialogue, exchange of experiences and best practices, and above all, institutional cooperation. Education cooperation is a powerful tool to improve mutual understanding, reduce distance and build long lasting personal and institutional relationships”

Bologna Process - Spain Grants Universities More Freedom in Faculty Hiring

Opening paragraphs from an article of The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Spain's parliament passed a law on Thursday that will give universities greater autonomy in faculty hiring but that critics say will foment academic inbreeding, long a controversial feature of Spanish higher education.

The new law is a modification of the Organic Law of Universities, enacted in 2001, which required candidates for tenured positions to pass nationally administered, competitive examinations in their fields.

Those examinations will now be replaced by a system in which universities can grant permanent teaching jobs to anyone accredited by national commissions composed of university professors. Accreditation will be based on an evaluation of a candidate's curriculum vitae, and there will be no limit on the number of accredited candidates. By contrast, the previous system qualified only enough candidates to fill the available number of permanent positions.

European universities courting Berkeley professors

Excerpt from article in FortWayne.com, March 5, 2007.

BERKELEY, Calif. - The new "Europe of Knowledge" could include a big chunk of UC Berkeley.

Professors on the Berkeley campus have received a surprising number of job offers from European institutions in recent months, the latest volley in the battle to keep top faculty members in the East Bay.

Berkeley professors have long entertained offers from the Harvards and Stanfords, but the Eidgenossische Technische Hochschules are the new players.

The push is part of an effort by European governments to improve higher education on the continent, seen as a key to economic success over the next few decades.

"European institutions are aware that they play second fiddle to American institutions," said Jan de Vries, the UC Berkeley vice provost who handles faculty issues.

In a bid to attract international students and faculty, at least 40 European countries have joined the Bologna Process, which includes dramatic changes to the continent's universities.

"A Europe of Knowledge," noted the 1999 accord that set up the process, "is now widely recognized as an irreplaceable factor for social and human growth."

A European college degree generally took at least six years to complete before the agreement; now it takes three or four years. Several universities have restructured tenure systems to make themselves more attractive to U.S. professors...

UK seminar today - Trade unions now fully integrated in the Bologna Process

Excerpt from Politics.co.uk article, 08 Feb 2007

University and College Union joint general secretary, Sally Hunt, will today [yesterday] tell delegates at a major European education seminar that unless trade unions are centrally involved in plans for greater mobility for staff and students across Europe the whole process risks becoming a white elephant.

Speaking at the ‘Making Bologna a reality’ seminar in central London, Sally Hunt will say:

“We are delighted that at last the trade unions representing the academic community in Europe are now fully integrated in the Bologna Process - it has taken us long enough to get to here. I want to impress just how important it is for the government and other key decision makers in every country to engage with the staff representatives and trade unions of our universities. The full involvement of academic and support staff in the Bologna Process will give it the dynamism it needs; without this the whole process risks being a grand idea that does not come fully to fruition.”

The aims of the Bologna Process are to create greater mobility between European countries for students and staff and to produce a system of easily comparable degrees..

The seminar takes place on Thursday 8 and Friday 9 February at the TUC Congress Centre, Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3LS. Sally Hunt is speaking at in the first session starting at 11am. Other speakers at the event include TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber. 

Australian Education passport in train

Article from The Australian (Higher Education section), January 10th, 2007.

THE University of New England will lead a consortium of 14 Australian universities to develop a template for a new international "qualifications passport".
The Australian Diploma Supplement is expected to make it easier for graduates to move between jobs and institutions in Australia and overseas.
It is part of the commonwealth's response to Europe's Bologna Process, a higher education bloc of 45 countries with common degree structures.

Education Minister Julie Bishop announced in September that she would proceed with a diploma supplement. Today she will reveal the 14 members of the consortium selected to draw up a template.

The supplement, used in many European countries, is a document of several pages attached to a degree or diploma that can be easily understood by institutions and employers anywhere...

... Last April a federal government discussion paper warned that Australia needed to look at uniform degree structures, a diploma supplement and international recognition of qualifications to meet competition from Europe.

"The Bologna process seems likely to have a profound effect on the development of higher education globally," the paper said.

But some sceptics believe the potential effect is overstated and that it would be better for Australia to align with Asian countries.

Erasmus

Brussels, 7 December 2006

The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, said: “ERASMUS has developed beyond just being an educational programme. It gives many European university students the chance of living for the first time in a foreign country, and it has reached the status of a social and cultural phenomenon. It is an excellent example of what coordinated European action in the field of education can achieve, and bodes well for the success of the recently proposed European Institute of Technology, which – like Erasmus 20 years ago – is a brand new concept that represents a vision and a belief that concerted European action has a larger added value than the sum up of excellent independent initiatives.”

Jan Figel, European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture, and Multilingualism said: “Erasmus has been and remains a key factor in the internationalisation and somehow “Europeanisation” of the EU’s higher education systems. Those months spent abroad are also a turning point in the lives of thousands of individuals: 80% of the participants are the first in their family to undertake a period of study abroad”. To conclude: “Among the challenges left, the ERASMUS grant remains far too low to allow students from less favourable financial backgrounds to enjoy the benefits of the Programme. Also the Commission is calling for Member States to increase their support for ERASMUS, to open it up to even more students, especially those from less privileged backgrounds.”

Education & Training 2010 - European Commission

"Education & Training 2010", Main policy initiatives and outputs in education and training since the year 2000. (88KB) - January 2007

This document provides an overview of the main policy initiatives and outputs resulting from the work
of the European Commission in the field of education and training since the Lisbon European Council
in March 2000. These form part of the integrated policy framework ‘Education & Training 2010’ and
includes Commission contributions to the Bologna intergovernmental process in the field of higher
education.

The Erasmus Programme celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2007

From European Commision>Education and Training>News The ERASMUS programme was launched in June 1987 and 3244 participated in its first academic year. Now, more than 150 000 people benefit each year from the programme. The Commission and the 31 participating countries will celebrate its 20th anniversary throughout the year 2007. The ERASMUS programme, which is arguably one of the best-known Community actions, encourages student and teacher mobility, and promotes transnational cooperation projects among universities across Europe. The scheme currently covers nine out of every ten European higher education establishments. It was named after Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466 – 1536), who was a Dutch humanist and theologian. ERASMUS has developed beyond just being an educational programme. It gives many European university students the chance of living for the first time in a foreign country, and it has reached the status of a social and cultural phenomenon. Well over 1.5 million students have so far benefited from Erasmus grants, and the European Commission hopes to reach a total of 3 million by 2012.

Contribution of the Council of Europe to the Bologna Process

The Council of Europe

COE- "Bologna for Pedestrians"

1. What is the Bologna Process?
2. How is the Process organised?
3. How did it all begin?
4. 1999
5. Prague 2001
6. Berlin 2003
7. Bergen 2005
8. Council of Europe
9. Who participates in the Process?

COE - "Contribution of the Council of Europe to the Bologna Process"

No German presidency initiative on education?

Article from Euractiv (About Euractiv), 18 December 2006.

Germany prepares to relaunch the EU's Lisbon Agenda without highlighting the key role that education must play to reach the Lisbon objectives.

Background:

When heads of state agreed on the Lisbon Agenda and goals in 2000, they asked for "not only a radical transformation of the European economy, but also a challenging programme for the modernisation of social welfare and education systems". They also said that by 2010, Europe should be the world leader in terms of the quality of its education and training systems.

To achieve these goals, however, all member states will need to fundamentally change their education and training systems. Such change could be brought forward by co-ordination between member states (joint definition of the objectives, common benhmarking, exchange of bes

Issues:

Even though Germany has set the relaunch of the Lisbon Strategy as one of its top priorities, no new initiative is set to be put forward on education by the end of July 2006.

The 'Lisbon relaunch' will instead focus on better regulation, with Germany bringing the current EU initiatives forward, linked to the Bologna process follow-up ministerial conference in May 2007 and the consultation on the European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) practice)...

Merger and Profiling - Danish examples in Academia

Povl Tiedemann, Head of Department, Danish Business Economists

Merger and Profiling
How to maintain accredited brand and identity independence  in a joint consortium with a non-accredited partner and continuing entity.

Gaining critical mass and volume concerning research and researchers, students, lecturers and professors, combined with viability in general, often involve establishment of co-operation like collaborative provision, consortia and direct commitment through merger.

Smaller and larger institutions – market driven business schools and classical universities, may find natural synergies through joint forces and ownership with full reciprocal commitment. This is of importance, specifically when operating on a worldwide scale.

However, when two or more institutions with full independent positioning, profile, identity and history are entering into such mutual commitments, accreditation may appear to be a critical issue between an accredited and a non-accredited institution - especially when the latter is the largest, the carrier of the main identity and being the continuing entity, e.g. a classical university.

Integration of institutions maintaining separate accreditation or an individual identity in general, will call for special merger models to ensure continued individual commitments and strengths, combined with the joint and scaled activities.

Dividing an “in-coming” and often smaller institution into bits and pieces to be absorbed by the continuing and often larger institution most certainly will eradicate the expected values added as well as the synergies of joint faculties.

To maintain accreditation together with brand and identity independence for the “in-coming” institution, it is imperative to:

Balance differences of mission and vision, aiming at full
Autonomy concerning
Resources
Strategy 
Internationalisation
Governance

constituting the basic business school accreditation elements and criteria to be supplemented by AACSB, AMBA and EQUIS.

Such demands may be difficult for the absorbing and continuing entity to accept and digest. However, through creation of the necessary platform and modus operandi to host the “in-coming” institution, the initial process and final consolidation may develop fruitfully, and with full complementary and synergy benefit.

For a positive case of inspiration please visit the websites and management forum at: the University of Aarhus , the Aarhus School of Business and the Danish University of Education

Above institutions of great variety are joining forces commencing by 2007, based on a general “university / professional school” platform of independency and individuality created at AU for the ASB and DPU units.

The basic elements of this platform are deducted from above accreditation criteria, thus leading the way for similar merger initiatives – locally as well as internationally across institutional interests.

The initial inspiration for this process is presented on www.globalisering.dk and the driving force is maintained by www.vtu.dk, nourished by the attitude that students should be treated like quality demanding clients, and Business Schools - Universities should perform like customer oriented service providers on a global marketplace.

This development corresponds directly with the 10 may 2006 – position of the European Commission on how best to modernize Europe’s universities, comprising the proposal to allow universities greater autonomy and accountability, so that they can respond quickly to change.

Winds of change rattle European universities

Article by CNN, November 20, 2006.

PARIS, France (AP) -- German universities are trying to charge tuition. Paris schools are considering selection instead of open admission. Dutch colleges are pushing students to finish faster. Greece wants to lift a ban on private universities.

Change is rattling Europe's temples of learning.

Resistance remains fierce, driven by fears of the "Americanization" -- or commercialization -- of higher education.

But economic realities are overpowering those who maintain that universities should impart universal knowledge, not pave the way to a job. Too many European graduates are getting welfare checks instead of paychecks...

Scenarios for European Higher Education and Research in 2015

Newropeans, 27 November, 2006.

Newropeans´5 Scenarios of EU development in the next 10 years underlie this paper on the future of higher education and research in Europe in general, and in particular their consequences for recognition of studies abroad. (first few lines of scenarios 1,2,3, 4 & 5).

Paper by Bernd Baumgartl PhD (www.navreme.net )
Developing VET Scenarios in Central and Eastern Europe and Their Added Value for Policy-Making”, European Journal of Education, No. 1/98, Institute for European Educational Policy, Paris.

Article describing Scenarios 1,2,        Article describing Scenarios 3,4,5

(The reader might like to compare the scenarios with those of an earlier post on this blog, "OECD - Future of Higher Education" 28 Oct. 2006)

1 Scenario “Re-Nationalisation”
Scenario 1 has at its starting point the enormous impact which accession has meant for the EU. By 2015, the Union is in severe crisis. Since the accession of the first countries of Central and Eastern Europe in 2004, the uncompleted reform has meant serious financial implications for the Commission’s budget...

2 Scenario “Self-Governance”
The second scenario is based on an integrating EU, which however limits itself to its re-affirmed “core competences”, i.e. economic and monetary integration. The reinforcement of the principle of subsidiarity had exacerbated the cleavage between policy areas within EU responsibility, and those where the Commission is explicitly excluded...

3 Scenario “Mega-Centres”
This scenario foresees the implementation of the concept of “European Excellence” in all policy domains – substituting the principle of subsidiarity. Rather than functioning as a government, the European Union institutions and actors aim at supporting Europe’s institutions, companies and actors with international standing to become more competitive on the global market...

4 Scenario “Europeanisation”
This scenario assumes the undertaking of serious measures to implement the “Europe of Knowledge”. The policy goals agreed in Feira, Lisbon and Gothenburg had been brought forward, and the Estonian presidency 2011 had selected “Structuring European Knowledge Development and Mutual Learning” as the main priority for the EU integration and enlargement. Instead of economic competitiveness, the shared objective of democratisation of the EU and good governance is the manifest priority. Hence, enhanced attention for social policy and life quality...

5 Scenario “Privatisation”
The last scenario stems from the assumption of a general “retreat of the state”. Both on national and EU level, government has become less important. Like in the Italy of Berlusconi at the beginning of the decade, all states have continued their privatisation and de-regulation policies started in the 1990s, and powerful corporate and commercial interests have taken over the leading role in most policy fields...

Making Sense of ‘Bologna Degrees’

Making Sense of ‘Bologna Degrees’, November 6th, 2006, InsidehigherEd.com

(At a recent meeting in Washington there was discussion of how US, European and Australian educational systems might be harmonised especially in view of the upcoming Bologna Process changes in Europe).

In the early 1990s, the then-presidents of Oberlin College and Stanford University floated the idea that the standard time for an undergraduate degree might be better at three years instead of four. The idea went nowhere — at least in the United States.

But 45 European nations have pledged to make three years the standard time for their  undergraduate degrees by 2010. Under “the Bologna Process,” ...where the agreement for “harmonizing” European higher education was signed in 1999...

...What happens when some of that mobility involves graduate study in the United States? ...Should American graduate schools recognize three-year degrees and admit such students to graduate programs?

These were among the thorny questions that brought a number of academic leaders from the United States and Europe together on Saturday in Washington, at a meeting organized by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. The outcome of these deliberations is also seen as likely to affect students and institutions in many other countries.

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(Blogmaster) One of the comments to the original article:

There is an excellent set of resources on the Bologna Process available at the Web site of NAFSA: Association of International Educators. Location: http://www.nafsa.org/knowledge_co...t_admissions/bologna_process_net