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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Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring:

• 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.

Contribution of Higher Education Institutions to Regional Development

This report is from the OECD Directorate for Education and based on research conducted from 2004–2007. A follow-up/continuation study from 2008–2010 is currently underway:

Universitites and other higher education institutions (HEIs) make a significant contribution to regional economic, social and cultural development. In a globalised economy this role is growing in importance. IMHE, in collaboration with the OECD Territorial Development and Public Governance Directoriate, has conducted a comparative review of how these issues are addressed in OECD countries, with the objective of reinforcing the partnerships between institutions and regions.

From one of the linked reports, a "policy brief":

The contribution of HEIs to developing their home regions has not previously been a major concern for public policy or the HEIs themselves. But this is changing with the expansion of higher education, particularly in the non-university sector, which in some cases has aimed to addresws regional disparities. Another crucial factor is a poilicy switch in most OECD counties towards indigenous development in regions emphasizing skills, entrepreneurialism and innovation.

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.

RSS Feed "Being Present in the World": A Conversation With Professor Jose Marques dos Santos

"I think that the Bologna effort will have been worthwhile—very worthwhile. To create a European system of higher education, people will need to be able to understand the nature of academic programs across borders and be able to assess the quality of different programs across borders. I suspect that the landscape of European higher education will be more comprehensible in ten years than it is today and that it will be much stronger and more competitive than it is today. Of course, nationalism and chauvinism stand in the way of this. Too often universities have trouble cooperating even with other universities that are their neighbors."

Crumbling French Universities Look for Help

The article, "Crumbling French Universities Look for Help," is from the Boston Globe by Anna Willard:

The ugly concrete campus of Paris 6 university is dominated by a tower that has been a building site for eleven years as asbestos is removed. Nobody seems to be able to pinpoint when the work will finish.

The government tried to brighten the dreary site with a modernistic red and yellow science building but forgot to put in air conditioning, a mistake because the laboratory machines heat up to temperatures that damage the research.

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France's 85 universities are struggling. They have slipped down international league tables, many are overcrowded, lacking funds and facilities and losing their best staff to better paid jobs in the United States or elsewhere.

Trends V: Universities Shaping the European Higher Education Area

This is a 97-page PDF document from the European Universities Association which:

[P]rovides the most comprehensive view available of the state of European higher education - as seen by higher education institutions themselves.. . . more than 900 European higher education institutions contributed to this report, either by responding to a wide-ranging questionnaire, or by hosting visits of research teams, or through providing input in other meetings.. . . [it] shows the progress made by Europe’s universities in implementing the Bologna reforms, and outlines the main challenges ahead. It is thus a significant publication for all those concerned with European higher education, whether universities and students, or governments, business and industry, or other stakeholders.. . . [and] is also the European universities’ report to the Conference of Ministers of Education meeting in London on 17/18 May 2007 to discuss the culmination of the Bologna process by 2010. It thus mirrors issues addressed by the stocktaking exercise of the Bologna governments - degree structures, Bologna tools, quality and recognition. In addition Trends V also examines the response of higher education to lifelong learning, pays attention to the services in place to support students, and looks at the particular challenges being faced in the countries that are recent entrants to the Bologna process.