1 Introduction
1. In May 2007 the United Kingdom is due to host
the fifth conference of Ministers of Education of countries that
have signed the Bologna Declaration of co-operation in higher
education. The purposes of the Declaration are to increase staff
and student mobility, simplify and improve the mutual recognition
of qualifications and enhance the attractiveness of the European
Higher Education Area as an international study destination.[1]
The Education and Skills Committee thought it timely to undertake
a short inquiry into progress being made with implementation of
the Bologna Process, with a view to facilitating discussion of
issues affecting UK[2]
universities[3] and other
providers of higher education that may arise at the May conference.
We hope that this Report will prove to be a constructive contribution
to the Ministerial Summit in May and beyond.
2. Written submissions were invited from institutions
and organisations with interests in this field, and around forty
responses received and studied. The Committee took oral evidence
in January 2007 from the Minister for Higher Education, Bill Rammell
MP; Lord May of Oxford; the President of Universities UK, Professor
Drummond Bone; the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education;
the UK Higher Education Europe Unit; and the Pro-Vice-Chancellor
of the University of Newcastle, Professor Ella Ritchie. The Committee
also heard evidence regarding the Bologna Process in its wider
higher education inquiry from the Chief Executive of the Higher
Education Funding Council for England, Professor David Eastwood;
and the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leicester, Professor
Robert Burgess.
3. The Committee has reached the following conclusions.
- First and foremost, there is
overwhelming support in and beyond the academic community for
the UK to continue to play a leading role in the Bologna Process.
- Second, there is a desire to maintain and protect
the current distinction between, on the one hand the voluntary,
bottom-up, 45 country Bologna Process, focused on academic cooperation,
and on the other, the European Community,[4]
with its much broader economic, social and political agenda, legislative
and legal powers and massive resource base (from which the Bologna
Process itself derives significant benefits).
- Third, anxieties exist about the implications
for UK institutions and programmes of certain aspects of the Bologna
commitment to a three-cycle (bachelors, masters, doctoral) course
structure and the way in which students will acquire academic
credits. The status of self-standing and integrated Masters' level
courses is a particular focus of these anxieties.
- Fourth, there are doubts about whether the full
significance of the coming into existence of the European Higher
Education Area (EHEA)[5]
has yet been adequately recognised by all those engaged in higher
education as teachers, researchers, and employers of graduates.
- Fifth, the Government is not so far seen to be
sufficiently pro-active in disseminating information, identifying
and where possible resolving potential difficulties, and consulting
on the future of the EHEA, especially where this entails an increase
in the number of participating countries.
4. The remainder of this Report sets out the evidence
on which these conclusions are based and makes recommendations
for action by government, institutions and organisations, with
a particular focus on the forthcoming Ministerial Conference in
London.
5. In the final section of the report we look beyond
2010 to the significant potential long-term advantages of operating
within a robust, competitive, and flexible European Higher Education
Area: advantages for the UK economy, students, graduates, and
higher education sector.
1 Adapted from the Quality Assurance Agency's written
submission to the Committee, Ev 16. Back
2
The Bologna Process applies to all universities and higher education
systems in the UK. This report has focussed on the impact on the
English higher education system and has not looked separately
at the impact in Northern Ireland, Scotland, or Wales. Back
3
The term "universities" is used throughout the report
to refer to all higher education institutions. Back
4
The European Community is legally separate from the European Union.
Each has its own powers-those for education being located exclusively
in the EC Treaty (articles 149 and 150). There can be no EU legislation
or action on education. Back
5
One of the key aims of the Bologna Process is to create a European
Higher Education Area by 2010. Back
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