3 rd A nnual International Week at Klaipeda State University

1. 3 rdAnnual International Week • atKlaipedaState University INTERCULTURAL ERASMUS EXPERIENCE: 10 YEARS WITH ERASMUS A System of Interchange: its successes and failures Prof. UZ, dr hab., Marek Smoluk ZielonaGóra University, Poland

2. Unheeded voices of the past: • E. Morgan (1933), the Principal of University College of Hull, • ‘deplorably narrow’ higher instruction provided by and given to many undergraduates who plunge ‘deeper and deeper into the narrowing circle of specialisation’ and then come out with a ‘one-track mind’. Professor Herbert Read (1940) A. E. Morgan, Education in the Modern world: the function of universities, London 1933, pp. 8-9. first entered the University of Leeds that the ambitious of ninety out of every hundred of [his] … fellow-undergraduates were crude and calculating. They were interested in one thing only – in getting the best possible degree by the shortest possible method […]. Their career was plotted and they were careful not to stray from the thin line which marked an easy path through the world of knowledge’. H. Read, Annals of Innocence and Experience, London 1940, pp. 75-6.

3. A call for interchange between universities Bruce Truscot (1952): besides making for increased efficiency, goes some way towards the very real desideratum of giving undergraduates more experience. No-one familiar with American universities [the Author goes on, M.S.] can fail to appreciate the advantage of a system by which a student can do part of his work in one college and part in another. The United States being so large, and its smallest colleges so often remote from any broad current of culture, this system of progression is almost essential to educational efficiency. But a system of interchange, both of teachers and students, would also be valuable here, and, owing to the shortness of distances, is perfectly practicable.[1] [1] B. Truscot, Redbrick University. London 1952, p. 43.

4. The Credit Accumulation and Transfer Schemes CATs the European Credit transfer system, ECTS • to qualify for award of an honours degree, 360 credits required (240 secondlevelpointsorabove and 120 third levelpoints). • a Certificate of HigherEducation = 120 CATS pointsatLevel One • an extra 180 points for a pass degree, withanother 60 points for an honours degree. • ECTS has been equatedwith CATS • one ECTS point is equivalent to two CATS points • bachelor's degrees with honours with a typical total volume of at least 360 credits, equate to 180 ECTS credits

5. Does CATS open gates to variable possibilities? Students can ‘design’ their degree programme to reflect best their needs, expectations and talents allows a student to obtain credit at one institution and ‘carry’ it with them to another A student holds a diploma corresponding to each year and points scored enables them to return and continue their studies further at any time the “finals” at the end of a course replaced by continuous assessment

6. Should we go into raptures about these changes? For cash-strapped universities, consider: constructing a timetable is a real challenge paid employment, child care,etc. - impractical too few students vs. running unprofitable courses the actual number of teaching hours for less popular courses?

7. Is this credit transfer a straightforward administrative matter? • cohesiveness within all universities??? an "introduction to philosophy" module taught in a degree in linguistics and a degree in literature • inconsistencies within the UE? Number of points ascribed to a course of the Lithuanian language at Vilnius University or Spanish at Universidad Nacional de Educaciòn a Distancia in Madrid

8. I am in the business of collecting diplomas • giving away degrees and awarding first class honours disproportionally ‘Mickey Mouse” degrees & trivialisation of research

9. The arsenal of weapons in use in the fight for students In August 2013 in the opening web-page of the Admissions and Records Office of the University of Huddersfield potential post-graduate candidates can read the following text: In paid employment? Unemployed or caring for children or relatives? CATS opens a world of postgraduate study with its flexible and transferable approach. Courses are broken down into stand alone modules offering greater choice and flexibility. […].What’s more you’ll even have the opportunity to study associated subjects of your own choosing. Our students are increasingly able to combine subjects across traditional discipline boundaries and transfer across different types of award.[1] [1] University of Huddersfield, Admissions and Records Office available from: www.hud.ac.uk/postgraduate/creditaccumulationandtransferschemecats, retrieved August 2013.

10. Modularisation& Credit Accumulation and Transfer Schemes yet the core problem unresolved identified by a number of scholars, including R. Brown[1], B. Brecher[2], M. Evans[3] and recently T. Hussey, P. Smith COMMODIFICATION [1] R. Brown, The Greater Good is Not Served by Market Forces. Guardian Educational Supplement, December 11th 2007, p. 10. [2] B. Brecher, Fast Food is No Substitute For an Intellectual Feast. The Times Higher Educational Supplement, June 7th 2002, p. 18. [3] M. Evans, Killing Thinking: The Death of the University, London 2004, passim. have their merits

11. Commodification of education Already over 10 years ago Bob Brecher noted: Modularity transforms knowledge into a commodity, to be consumed as leisure activity, a matter of gathering and reproducing information: you learn, write up what you have learnt; and have it assessed; forget it, and go on to consume the next gobbet. B. Brecher,Fast Food is No Substitute For an Intellectual Feast. The Times Higher Educational Supplement, June 7th 2002, p. 18.

12. Higher education in numbers: in the early 1960’s about 5,5% in 1987 33% in 2010 50% The Dearing Report: in 1997 over a million people in 2010 over two million in 2012 two and a half million

13. ‘Processing’ students vs. university ‘clients’ In forming this kind of approach universities themselves have a massive share The University prides itself on offering a ‘fair fee’ for students. Our tuition fee for undergraduates in 2014/15 will be £8,250*, which is lower than many other universities.[1] [1] University of Huddersfield, Admissions and Records Office available from: www.hud.ac.uk/undergraduate, retrieved August 2013.

14. CONCLUSIONS: Merits Demerits • each year a great number of well-educated graduates leave universities • a significant number of dedicated researchers and lecturers who work not just in ‘élite’ universities • CATS and modularisation derive from the current expansion of higher education • confusing the basic order of priorities: universities’ number one priority is to educate. Not to do business, they should be “in business” to bring enlightenment, inner truth and wisdom rather than to function primarily as competitive corporate enterprises.

15. In 1937, Aldous Huxley presented his views on education, writing Among those who go through a course of our academic education, [...] most emerge as parrots and specialists. Minds that delight in what may be called large-scale knowledge [...] are rare. Academic education is supposed to impart such knowledge and to infect men and women with the desire to possess it; but in actual fact few are so infected and few go out into the world possessing it. A. Huxley, Ends and Means; an inquiry into the nature of ideals and into the methods employed for their realization, London 1937, pp. 197-8