The Europeans Could Eat Our Higher Education Lunch?

Clifford Adelman thinks the US needs to adopt some of the European Bologna framework and principles for accountability:

Q: Are the Europeans going to eat our higher education lunch?

A: The Bologna Process is developing what will become the global paradigm for higher education in 15 years. If we remain in place without adopting some of it, yes...they will eat our lunch.

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• March 14–16: Baltimore, MD
• March 24–26: Cambridge, MA
• April 5–7, San Diego, CA

Towards a European Higher Education Area

This post quotes a message received by SCUP. We attended this event and it was very comprehensive and enlightening. We hope you will enjoy it via iTunes. The iTunes album is well organized.

The European Union Center of Excellence at the University of Michigan announces new content on iTunesU at U-M:

Album "Towards a European Higher Education Area.”

The international workshop "Towards a European Higher Education Area: Bologna Process and Beyond," took place in March 2009 at the University of Michigan's School of Education and explored how the Bologna Process relates to broader processes of globalization, internationalization, and diversification. Conveners were Janet Lawrence and Michael Bastedo, University of Michigan. Panelists included: Patrick Clancy, University College, Dublin; Anne Corbett, London School of Economics; Judith Eaton, Council for Higher Education Accreditation; Heather Eggins, Staffordshire University; Ase Gornitzka, University of Oslo; D. Bruce Johnstone, State University of New York at Buffalo; Barbara Kehm, University of Kassel; Marek Kwiek, Poznan University; Peter Maassen, University of Oslo; Christopher Morphew, University of Georgia; Christine Musselin, Sciences Po; and Bjorn Stensaker, Norwegian Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education.

Links:

Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education http://www.soe.umich.edu/cshpe/

Center for European Studies-European Union Center http://www.ii.umich.edu/ces-euc or http://www.ii.umich.edu/ces-euc/academics/projects/bologna

Album "Towards a European Higher Education Area” http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/umich-public.2086929890

Towards a European Higher Education Area

This post quotes a message received by SCUP. We attended this event and it was very comprehensive and enlightening. We hope you will enjoy it via iTunes. The iTunes album is well organized.

The European Union Center of Excellence at the University of Michigan announces new content on iTunesU at U-M:

Album "Towards a European Higher Education Area.”

The international workshop "Towards a European Higher Education Area: Bologna Process and Beyond," took place in March 2009 at the University of Michigan's School of Education and explored how the Bologna Process relates to broader processes of globalization, internationalization, and diversification. Conveners were Janet Lawrence and Michael Bastedo, University of Michigan. Panelists included: Patrick Clancy, University College, Dublin; Anne Corbett, London School of Economics; Judith Eaton, Council for Higher Education Accreditation; Heather Eggins, Staffordshire University; Ase Gornitzka, University of Oslo; D. Bruce Johnstone, State University of New York at Buffalo; Barbara Kehm, University of Kassel; Marek Kwiek, Poznan University; Peter Maassen, University of Oslo; Christopher Morphew, University of Georgia; Christine Musselin, Sciences Po; and Bjorn Stensaker, Norwegian Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education.

Links:

Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education http://www.soe.umich.edu/cshpe/

Center for European Studies-European Union Center http://www.ii.umich.edu/ces-euc or http://www.ii.umich.edu/ces-euc/academics/projects/bologna

Album "Towards a European Higher Education Area” http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/umich-public.2086929890

Is Europe Now Doing a Better Job of Assessment?

The Bologna Process for U.S. Eyes: Re-learning Higher Education in the Age of Convergence (PDF) is a new report by Clifford Adelman for the Institute for Higher Education Policy. The associated press release has some nice summary statements and choice quotations from the 258-page report itself, which is available online for free download.

While the United States remains concerned about its standing in terms of participation in global higher education and completion of degrees, 46 countries in Europe have been working for a decade on a completely different set of issues: bringing their higher education systems closer together in terms of standards for degrees, credit systems, more flexible pathways into and through higher education (hence, access), and accountability criteria. They call their undertaking “The Bologna Process,” and it is still a work in progress.

The Institute for Higher Education Policy’s (IHEP) new study, The Bologna Process for U.S. Eyes: Re-learning Higher Education in the Age of Convergence, contends the nation has misplaced its focus with pointing out that the countries involved in the Bologna Process are producing more and better degrees whose reference points in student learning outcomes is transparent—something that cannot be said for American awarded degrees. Countries outside of Europe have already recognized the profound revolution rolling from Cork to Vladivostok with parts of the Bologna Process having been imitated in Latin America, North Africa, and Australia, resulting in a global shift in higher education leadership.

For a long time, U.S. higher education did not pay much attention to the Bologna Process, but since IHEP published a long essay in May 2008, titled The Bologna Club: What U.S. Higher Education Can Learn from a Decade of European Reconstruction, the U.S. higher education has started listening seriously. Our nation is now starting to act, most notably, on learning outcomes in the context of the disciplines.

In fact, three state higher education systems—Indiana, Minnesota, and Utah—have begun their work examining and testing the Bologna “Tuning” process in six disciplines to determine the forms and extent of its potential in the United States contexts. Scarcely a year ago, such an effort, called “Tuning USA,” would have been unthinkable.

Learning Accountability from Bologna: A Higher Education Policy Primer

If this is in your area of interest, it is a "must-have":

The report, Learning Accountability from Bologna: a Higher Education Policy Primer, examines the reconstruction of those 46 European higher education systems—known as the “Bologna Process”—in terms of addressing challenges that lie at the core of current debates in the United States about documenting student learning. Written by higher education researcher Clifford Adelman, the study explores the core features of change in Europe that have been created jointly by higher education administrators, faculty, students, and national ministries of education.

The Bologna Club: What U.S. Higher Education Can Learn from a Decade of European Reconstruction

We'd like to say that this 118-page document (PDF) from Clifford Adelman is a "must read"; but we know you're probably too busy. So why not peruse this Inside Higher Ed article from Scott Jaschik, titled "Wake-Up Call for American Higher Ed," about it instead? It is really important. From the article:

The vision set out in “The Bologna Club: What U.S. Higher Education Can Learn From European Reconstruction,” is sure to be controversial. As Adelman explains it, the European model for making higher education harmonized should lead to similar efforts in the United States, with states taking the place of countries, and pushing colleges for agreements on what a bachelor’s degree truly represents in various fields. In plenty of states, where flagships, regional publics, community colleges and private institutions compete for students and funds — with a range of philosophies — that would appear easier said than done. But it is worth noting that Adelman — who spent years at the Education Department before joining the Institute for Higher Education Policy — has a track record of putting issues in play. The institute issued the report, which was supported by the Lumina Foundation for Education.

How Do You Make Bologna?

Enjoy this audio stream of David Crosier, project Director at the European University Association and lead researcher on the Trends project, which tracks Bologna Process developments. He explains what some of the current activities and changes have been as the European countries work to align their higher education systems.