The Bologna Process for Reforming Higher Education in Europe

1. The Bologna Process for Reforming Higher Education in Europe Prepared By Isam H. zabalawi Higher Education Reform Expert-Tempus For presentation at Jordan-European Higher Education Cooperation Day University of Jordan, FET, Mon. 21st Jan 2013

2. Presentation Outline • Challenges Facing HE in Europe Prior To The Bologna Process • Why Bologna? • The Bologna Process Time Line • Magna Charta Universitatum • The Bologna Declaration • The Bologna Process Action lines • The Diploma Supplement • The National Qualification Framework. • Recommendations For Reforming HE in Jordan

3. Challenges Facing HE in Europe Prior To The Bologna Process • Titles of the degrees • Periods of Study • Recognitions • Accreditation • Quality and Relevance • Funding of Research • Recruitment of foreign students • European Content • Mobility of Graduates

4. Why Bologna?

5. Oldest Universities In the World University of Al-Karaouine: Located in Fes, Morocco, this university originally was a mosque founded in 859 by Fatima al-Fihri,. Al-AzharUniversityAl-AzharUniversity: This university, located in Egypt, is the world’s second oldest surviving degree-granting institute. Founded in 970-972,. Nizamal-MulkNizamiyya: This series of universities was established by KhwajaNizam al-Mulk in the eleventh century in what is now present-day Iran. University of Bologna : This university was the first higher-learning institute established in the Western world in 1088.

6. Timeline: The Bologna Process

7. Bologna Process :The Magna Carta • Magna Carta, 1297: Widely viewed as one of the most important legal documents in the history of democracy. • King John of England agreed, in 1215, to the demands of his barons and authorized that handwritten copies of Magna Carta be prepared on parchment, affixed with his seal, and publicly read throughout the realm. Thus he bound not only himself but his "heirs, for ever" to grant "to all freemen of our kingdom" the rights and liberties the great charter described. With Magna Carta, King John placed himself and England's future sovereigns and magistrates within the rule of law.

8. Magna Charta Universitatum The Magna Charta of Universities The Magna Charta of the European Universities is the final result of the proposal addressed from the University of Bologna, in 1986, to the oldest European Universities. The idea of the Magna Charta was enthusiastically accepted. The document, drafted in Barcelona in January 1988, was signed by all the Rectors who were in Bologna to celebrate the 900th Anniversary of the Alma Mater On 18 September 1988 some 386 rectors from universities worldwide signed the Magna Charta Universitatum. This document has since become the reference for the fundamental values and principles of the university, in particular institutional autonomy and academic freedom. By now, some 600 universities have signed the Magna Charta Universitatum.

9. The Magna Charta of University ……………. universities will be called upon to play in a changing and increasingly international society, Consider - that at the approaching end of this millennium the future of mankind depends largely on cultural, scientific and technical development; and that this is built up in centers of culture, knowledge and research as represented by true universities; that the universities' task of spreading knowledge among the younger generations implies that ,in today's world, they must also serve society as a whole; and that the cultural, social and economic future of society requires, in particular, a considerable investment in continuing education; that universities must give future generations education and training that will teach them, and through them others, to respect the great harmonies of their natural environment and of life itself. The undersigned Rectors of European universities proclaim to all States and to the conscience of all nations the fundamental principles which must, now and always, support the vocation of universities

10. The Magna Charta of University: Fundamental principles The university is an autonomous institution at the heart of societies differently organized because of geography and historical heritage; it produces, examines, appraises and hands down culture by research and teaching. To meet the needs of the world around it, its research and teaching must be morally and intellectually independent of all political authority and economic power. Teaching and research in universities must be inseparable if their tuition is not to lag behind changing needs, the demands of society, and advances in scientific knowledge. Freedom in research and training is the fundamental principle of university life, and governments and universities, each as far as in them lies, must ensure respect for this fundamental requirement. Rejecting intolerance and always open to dialogue, a university is an ideal meeting-ground for teachers capable of imparting their knowledge and well equipped to develop it by research and innovation and students entitled, able and willing to enrich their minds with that knowledge. A university is the trustee of the European humanist tradition; its constant care is to attain universal knowledge to fulfil its vocatian it transcends geographical and political! frontiers, and affirms the vital need for different cultures to know and influence each other.

11. The means To attain these goals by following such principles calls for effective means, suitable to present conditions. To preserve freedom in research and teaching, the instruments appropriate to realize that freedom must be made available to all members of the university community. Recruitment of teachers, and regulation of their status, must obey the principle that research is inseparable from teaching. Each university must - with due allowance for particular circumstances - ensure that its students' freedoms are safeguarded, and that they enjoy conditions in which they can acquire the culture and training which it is their purpose to possess. Universities - particularly in Europe - regard the mutual exchange of information and documentation, and frequent joint projects for the advancement of learning, as essential to the steady progress of knowledge. Therefore, as in the earliest years of their history, they encourage mobility among teachers and students; furthermore, they consider a general policy of equivalent status, titles, examinations (without prejudice to national diplomas) and award of scholarships essential to the fulfillment of their mission in the conditions prevailing today. The undersigned Rectors, on behalf of their Universities, undertake to do everything in their power to encourage each State, as well as the supranational organizations concerned, to mould their policy sedulously on this Magna Carta, which expresses the universities' unanimous desire freely determined and declared. Bologna, 18 September 1988.

12. Council of Europe - UNESCO joint ConventionLisbon, 11 April 1997: Lisbon Convention The Lisbon Recognition Convention • The Lisbon Recognition Convention provides guidelines for the mutual recognition of qualifications giving access to higher education, periods of study and higher education qualifications. • The convention is based on the following two overarching considerations: • Any applicant should have appropriate access to an assessment of his/her foreign qualification. • A foreign qualification should be recognised unless substantial differences can be demonstrated in regard to the length of study, curriculum contents etc.

13. Sorbonne Declaration: building blocks for the Bologna Process The Sorbonne Declaration in 1998, signed by Ministers responsible for HE in France, Germany, Italy and the UK, identified the building blocks for the Bologna Process. This was the first step in agreeing that European higher education systems should be coherent and compatible to strengthen recognition of qualifications and international competitiveness of European HE The Declaration included calls for a two-cycle (undergraduate/postgraduate) degree structure and the use of credits.

14. The Bologna Declaration In 1999, Ministers from 29 European countries, met in Bologna and signed a Declaration establishing a European HE Area by 2010. The initial broad objectives of the Bologna Process became: • to remove the obstacles to student mobility across Europe; • to enhance the attractiveness of European HE worldwide; • to establish a common structure of HE systems across Europe, and; for this common structure to be based on: • two main cycles, undergraduate and graduate. • This in turn would lead to greater transparency and recognition of qualifications

15. Prague, The first follow-up meeting :ministerial summit , May 2001 • They welcomed the involvement of a number of new actors: the • European University Association (EUA), • National Union of Students in Europe(ESIB), • European Association of Institutions in Higher • Education (EURASHE) • and the European Commission (EC). • Ministers agreed on three new action lines to • add to the six in the Bologna Declaration: • lifelong learning, • higher education institutions and students in the process, • the promotion of the attractiveness of the European Higher Education Area

16. Over 300 higher-education representatives gather in Salamanca to assess the role of higher-education institutions in the Bologna Process in preparation for the Prague Summit of education ministers

17. Götenborg Student Convention 2001 Accreditation and quality assurance (co-operating European level Transnational Education Social implications of the EHEA Obstacles to mobility The role of higher education in Society European Credits System Degree system Policy making and the Student Involvement in the EHEA The Gothenburg Opera

18. Berlin, the Second follow-up meeting: ministerial summit three intermediate priorities for the next two years: Quality assurance, The two-cycle system and the recognition of degrees and periods of study. The development of an overarching European HE qualifications framework alongside national qualifications frameworks and the award of the Diploma Supplement by all HEIs by 2005 were also called for. Ministers considered it necessary to go beyond the focus on two main cycles of higher education and agreed on a new action line to include the doctoral level as the ‘third cycle’ in the Bologna Process to build links between the European Higher Education and Research Areas. Ministers accepted requests for membership of the Bologna Process from countries in southeast Europe and Russia, expanding the Process to 40 European countries

19. Graz Declaration • It sets out how Europe’s universities see their role in the future, identifies priorities for action and stipulates what action we expect of governments and what universities need to do to ensure that they remain central to the development of European society by:

21. Bergen ( Norway), the third follow-up meeting From Berlin to Bergen and beyond Ministers took stock of the progress of the Bologna Process and set directions for the further development Five more countries (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine) sign onto the Bologna Process bringing the total number of signatories to 45. The Bergen Communiqué of Ministers is signed. The communiqué emphasizes the need for further progress in international cooperation in quality assurance

22. London, the fourth follow-up meeting May 2007 aim is to ensure that the HEIs have the necessary resources to continue to fulfil their full range of purposes. Thosepurposes include: preparing students for life as active citizens in a democratic society; preparing students for their future careers; enabling student for their personal development; creating and maintaining a broad advanced knowledge base; stimulating research and innovation.

23. Bologna Process Main Key Players • European Commission (EC) • The Council of Europe (CoE) • UNESCO European Centre for Higher Education (UNESCO-CEPES) • European University Association (EUA) • European Association of Institutions in Higher Education (EURASHE) • The National Unions of Students in Europe (ESIB) • European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) • Education International Pan-Euorpe Structure • The ENIC-NARIC Network • The Bologna Secretariat At the UK Level • Government • The Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) • The UK HE Europe Unit • UK Socrates-Erasmus Council (UKSEC) • National Recognition Information Centre (UK NARIC) Engineering Council UK (EC UK)

24. Action line 1: Adoption of a system of easily readable and comparable degrees • The establishment of readable and comparable degrees across Europe underpins many of the Bologna Process reforms. • The improved flexibility and transparency provided by degrees that can be easily read and compared with qualifications across Europe enables students and teachers to have their qualifications recognised more widely. • This facilitates freedom of movement around a more transparent EHEA. • The readability of European degrees will enhance the attractiveness of European HE to the rest of the world.

25. Action Line 2: Adoption of a system essentially based on two cyclesincluding qualifications frameworks The Bologna Process requires the adoption of a system based on two cycles (undergraduate and graduate). The Bologna Declaration stated that the first cycle should last a minimum of three years while no length is specified for the second cycle Masters qualification. This has required extensive restructuring of higher education systems in many European countries. Ministers from Bologna signatory countries have recognised the value of qualifications frameworks in making Europe’s HE qualifications more transparent and compatible with one another. Qualifications frameworks at national and at European level have the potential to make mobility and qualification recognition across Europe easier.

26. 10 steps in developing a national qualifications framework • Decision to start: Taken by the national body responsible for higher education (minister?) • Setting the agenda: The purpose of our NQF • Organising the process: Identifying stakeholders; setting up a committee/WG • Design Profile: Level structure, Level descriptors (learning outcomes), Credit ranges • Consultation National discussion and acceptance of design by stakeholders • Approval According to national tradition by Minister/Government/legislation • Administrative set-up Division of tasks of implementation between HEI, QAA and other bodies • Implementation at institutional/programme level; Reformulation of individual study programmes to learning outcome based approach • Inclusion of qualifications in the NQF; Accreditation or similar (cfr. Berlin Communiqué) • Self-certification of compatibility with the EHEA framework (Alignment to Bologna cycles etc.);

27. Qualifications Frameworks / Three-Cycle System • Qualifications frameworks describe the qualifications of an education system and how they interlink. National qualifications frameworks describe what learners should know, understand and be able to do on the basis of a given qualification as well as how learners can move from one qualification to another within a system. • National qualifications frameworks are developed to be compatible with the overarching framework of qualifications of the European Higher Education Area, which was adopted in 2005 and consists of three cycles (e.g. bachelor, master, doctorate). The overarching framework makes recognition of qualifications easier since specific qualifications can be related to a common framework.

31. Action Line 3:Establishment of a system of credits At the outset the Bologna Process saw the introduction of a European credit system as contributing to the removal of obstacles to academic mobility and facilitating mutual recognition of qualifications and periods of study. Credit is seen to have an important role to play in curriculum design and in validating a range of learning in an era of lifelong learning. The European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) was introduced by the European Commission to facilitate recognition of exchange programmes under its Socrates-Erasmus programme. ECTS is used widely across Bologna signatory countries as a mechanism for both transfer and accumulation.

32. Action Line 4:Promotion of mobility Ministers at the Berlin ministerial summit in 2003 identified mobility of students, academics and administrative staff as "the basis for establishing the EHEA". Bologna Process reforms, such as greater use of credit, the development of qualifications frameworks and European quality assurance all facilitate mobility in Europe by creating a HE area built on trust and high quality HE. "Mobility of staff, students and graduates is one of the core elements of the Bologna Process 1999, creating opportunities for personal growth, developing international cooperation between individuals and institutions, enhancing the quality of higher education and research, and giving substance to the European dimension".

33. Action Line 5: Promotion of European cooperation in quality assurance • Quality assurance plays a central role in achieving the Bologna objective to enhance the international competitiveness of European higher education. • European cooperation in quality assurance will make it easier to compare qualifications across Europe and will facilitate mobility. • All Bologna ministerial communiqués have made reference to quality assurance. European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area

34. Recognition of Qualifications • The purpose of recognition is to make it possible for learners to use their qualifications from one education system in another education system (or country) without losing the real value of those qualifications. • The recognition of qualifications falls within the competence of each country. In most cases, this means that higher education institutions are responsible for the recognition of qualifications for the purpose of further study whereas professional bodies or employers are responsible for recognition for the purposes of the labour market. • the Council of Europe/UNESCO Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region (Lisbon Recognition Convention). • Tools that facilitate the recognition of qualifications are the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) and the Diploma Supplement (DS)

36. Action Line 6 :Promotion of the European dimension in higher education Since its launch in 1999 the Bologna Process has called for curriculum development, inter-institutional cooperation, mobility schemes and integrated programmes of study, training and research to add a European dimension to higher education in signatory countries. At the Berlin summit in 2003, Ministers agreed at national level to "remove obstacles to the establishment and recognition of such degrees (joint degrees), and to support the development and adequate quality assurance of integrated curricula leading to joint degrees". Erasmus Mundus programme: europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/mundus/index_en.html EUA Joint Master’s Project: www.eua.be/eua/en/projects_joint.jspx EUA Doctoral Programmes Project: www.eua.be/eua/en/Doctoral_Programmes.jspx QAA Code of Practice for Collaborative Provision: www.qaa.ac.uk/public/COP/cprovis/contents.htm

37. Joint Degrees - Main Features • the programmes leading to them are developed or approved jointly by several institutions; • students from each participating institution spend part of the programme at other institutions; • students spend significant periods of time at the participating institutions (as opposed to short exchanges); • periods of study and exams passed at the partner institution(s) are recognised fully and automatically by all institutions and countries involved; • teaching staff from each participating institution devise the curriculum together, form joint admissions and examinations bodies and participate in mobility for teaching purposes; • students who have completed the full programme ideally obtain a degree awarded jointly by the participating institutions, and fully recognised in all countries.

38. Action Line 7:Lifelong learning • The Bologna Process has identified lifelong learning as an essential element of the European Higher Education Area and its expansion has become one of the guiding principles for the development of all education and training policy in Europe. • Lifelong learning is one of the guiding principles for the development of all education and training policy in Europe. • It affects all aspects of European higher education mobility programmes, eLearning, research, vocational education, recognition of qualifications • It has been identified by the (EU) as having a central role to play in achieving the EU’s goal of the Lisbon Strategy “to make the EU the world's most competitive and dynamic knowledge economy in the world”. . • EUROPEAN UNIVERSITIES’ CHARTER ON LIFELONG LEARNING EUA has drafted this charter following on from a seminar on Lifelong Learning held in the Sorbonne in December 2007. At this time French Prime Minister François Fillon asked the European University Association to prepare a Charter on this key topic for Europe’s universities and for society in the future

39. EUROPEAN UNIVERSITIES’ CHARTER ON LIFELONG LEARNINGUNIVERSITIES COMMIT TO: • Embedding concepts of widening access and lifelong learning in their institutional strategies. • Providing education and learning to a diversified student population. • Adapting study programmes to ensure that they are designed to widen participation and attract returning adult learners. • Providing appropriate guidance and counselling • Recognising prior learning services. • Embracing lifelong learning in quality culture. • Strengthening the relationship between research, teaching and innovation in a perspective of lifelong learning. • Consolidating reforms to promote a flexible and creative learning environment for all students. • Developing partnerships at local, regional, national and international level to provide attractive and relevant programmes. • Acting as role models of lifelong learning institutions.

40. EUROPEAN UNIVERSITIES’ CHARTER ON LIFELONG LEARNINGGOVERNMENTS COMMIT TO: • Recognising the university contribution to lifelong learning as a major benefit to individuals and society. • Promoting social equity and an inclusive learning society. • Including lifelong learning objectives in the missions and work of national QA agencies and systems • Supporting the development of appropriate guidance and counselling Services. • Recognising prior learning • Removing specific legal obstacles that prevent many potential learners from returning to higher education. • Ensuring autonomy and developing incentives for lifelong learning universities. • Encouraging partnerships at regional level with local authorities, employers and agencies • Informing and encouraging citizens to take advantage of lifelong learning opportunities offered by universities. • Acting as role models of lifelong learning institutions. Europe’s universities cannot realise these commitments without the concerted actions of governments and regional partners in providing appropriate legal environments and funding. The following commitments are therefore expected from governments to ensure that a suitable environment is created for universities to develop their contribution to lifelong learning

41. Action Line 8:Higher education institutions and students

42. Action Line 9: Promoting the attractiveness of the European Higher Education Area • One of the founding objectives of the Bologna Process was to enhance the competitiveness of European higher education in a global market. • The European Union’s ‘Erasmus Mundus’ mobility programme was launched in 2004 to strengthen links between EU member States and non-EU countries through the creation of 250 new inter-university Masters courses. It also provides • EU-funded scholarships for third country nationals studying in the EU, and for EU nationals studying in non-EU countries. • The Prague ministerial summit opened Bologna Process seminars and conferences to representatives from around the world. • And as the Bologna Process expands to 43 Members at the Bergen summit, the European Higher Education Area will be almost double the size of the European Union.

43. Action Line 10:Doctoral studies and the synergy between the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and the European Research Area (ERA) The Bologna Process sees research as an integral part of European higher education. Meeting in Berlin in 2003, higher education Ministers considered it necessary to include the doctoral level as the third cycle in the Bologna Process. Lisbon objective to develop a European Research Area (ERA) was strengthened. In 2003 the European Commission published a Communication on ‘Universities in the Europe of Knowledge’ on the role of universities in achieving the EU’s Lisbon goal to become "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010". Doctoral Programmes Project to examine the development of existing doctoral courses.

44. OUTLINE STRUCTURE FOR THE DIPLOMA SUPPLEMENT 1 INFORMATION IDENTIFYING THE HOLDER OF THE QUALIFICATION 1.1 Family name(s): 1.2 Given name(s): 1.3 Date of birth (day/month/year): 1.4 Student identification number or code (if available): 2 INFORMATION IDENTIFYING THE QUALIFICATION 2.1 Name of qualification and (if applicable) title conferred (in original language): 2.2 Main field(s) of study for the qualification: 2.3 Name and status of awarding institution (in original language): 2.4 Name and status of institution (if different from 2.3) administering studies (in original language): 2.5 Language(s) of instruction/examination: 3 INFORMATION ON THE LEVEL OF THE QUALIFICATION 3.1 Level of qualification: 3.2 Official length of programme: 3.3 Access requirements(s)

45. OUTLINE STRUCTURE FOR THE DIPLOMA SUPPLEMENT 4 INFORMATION ON THE CONTENTS AND RESULTS GAINED 4.1 Mode of study: 4.2 Programme requirements: 4.3 Programme details: (e.g. modules or units studied), and the individual grades/marks/credits obtained: (if this information is available on an official transcript this should be used here) 4.4 Grading scheme and, if available, grade distribution guidance: 4.5 Overall classification of the qualification (in original language): 5 INFORMATION ON THE FUNCTION OF THE QUALIFICATION 5.1 Access to further study: 5.2 Professional status (if applicable): 6 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 6.1 Additional information: 6.2 Further information sources: 7 CERTIFICATION OF THE SUPPLEMENT 7.1 Date: 7.2 Signature: 7.3 Capacity: 7.4 Official stamp or seal:

46. Thank You