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Bologna Process beyond 2010

Resolution from 27 January 2009 of the Fifth (extraordinary) General Meeting of the German Rectors’ Conference (Hochschulrektorenkonferenz – HRK)

1. Background

The Bologna Process began nearly ten years ago. Since then, a number of reforms have been implemented or at least initiated. In many respects, positive results have already been achieved, such as in the areas of study structure reform and quality assurance. However, some fundamental goals of the Bologna Process – for example, with respect to cross-border academic mobility or the mutual recognition of study degrees and achievements – have not yet been reached. This stems to a great extent from the legal, organisational and financial barriers as well as from differences of opinion and from opposition the reforms have met. And now in turn, this hinders the implementation and acceptance of the reform.
Aside from this, German institutions of higher education face a new challenge. After this (initial) phase of mostly structural reform, they now need to adjust their study programmes in a manner that is more consistently oriented toward individual competence acquisition and the opportunities posed by a changing labour market. This also means further developing study offerings with respect to the growing number and increasing diversity of students in an international perspective. Access to higher education has to become more transparent and open, suitable for a student body composed of national and international students, individuals who have taken “traditional” educational paths and individuals who have a less “conventional” educational biography. All of these tasks need to be encompassed in the internal and external quality assurance of a higher education institution. Ultimately, the new possibilities offered to students by these reforms in higher education need to be communicated in order for them to truly take effect. This in turn will support the implementation of the European Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning in Higher Education, which seeks to promote transparency, mobility and permeability.
Consequently, the year 2010 – instead of being a target as originally envisioned – will only be a stepping stone on the way to a common European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The questions of how to keep the reform process going after 2010 on a European-wide basis and what the substance of the process should be will not only remain strongly relevant. They will be decisive in determining how efficiently and comprehensively the EHEA can be accomplished. The subsequent political course will be set at the Ministerial Conference taking place in April 2009 in Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve. During the conference, the ministers responsible for higher education from the Bologna signatory states will confer and decide together on a European agenda for the further development of the Bologna Process in the coming decade (“Bologna 2020”).

  
2. “Bologna 2020”: Priorities from the Perspectives of German Higher Education Institutions

In 2007, the European University Association (EAU) called for refocusing on key goals of the Bologna Process in its “Lisbon Declaration”. Accordingly, students must be at the heart of an emerging EHEA in which mobility, labour market relevance, attractiveness and the social dimension must play key roles. From the point of view of German higher education institutions, the decisive task of the Bologna Process after 2010 lies in completing the reforms initiated, consolidating the results achieved, but also reviewing the legal framework with respect to its coherency and making improvements where necessary. At the same time, the European dimension of the reform project must be strengthened. More exchange between higher education institutions and national higher education systems in Europe is needed in order to assure the EHEA can be achieved, involving a continuous process of coordination as well as dissemination and adoption of good practice examples.
More specifically for German higher education institutions, the further development of the Bologna Process after 2010 entails the following priorities:

1. Learning Outcomes, Competences and the Development of Qualifications Frameworks
Many goals of the study reform can only be achieved if the degree programmes and corresponding teaching are planned in accordance with the aspired learning outcomes and competences sought by graduates. Qualifications frameworks should help in developing the programmes in a way that facilitates recognition as well as national and international mobility. Nevertheless, curricula and teaching / learning forms must allow sufficient room to stimulate independent work and learning.

2. Mobility, Recognition and the Using Transparency Instruments
The EHEA cannot be realised without student and academic mobility. For academics, this concerns, among many other things, the portability of pensions, for students, better recognition of academic achievements. Therefore better coordination and expert advisory service are required. Transparency instruments such as ECTS and Diploma Supplements thus need to be applied consistently. Including windows of mobility into the curricula and developing common study programmes would additionally promote mobility.

3. “Studyability”(Studierbarkeit) and Attractiveness: Designing structured Degree Programmes
Teaching, learning and exam forms need to be more closely coordinated in order to ensure a successful study programme. Often curricula are designed too densely, with a high amount of exams that neither the student, nor the instructor, is capable of performing well. The structured degree programmes would become more attractive by taking better into account the actual time needed for coursework, the labour market acceptance and more flexibility for full or part-time students. The administration in higher education institutions likewise should better adapt its software to Bologna Process instruments and goals.

4. Labour Market Relevancy and Employability
The qualification goals of a degree programme encompass a number of aspects: the graduates’ capability to integrate into a changing working environment on the basis of their academic and personal educational development, but also their ability to participate in society. “Employability” and “citizenship” are complementary concepts of European higher education policy and entail bringing together education and employment systems. Thus, making these concepts work requires intense dialogue among governments, higher education institutions and employers.

5. Quality Assurance and Quality Development
The “European Standards and Guidelines”, especially with regard to internal quality assurance at higher education institutions, need to be completely implemented. Competence orientation at the same time should be integrated in quality assurance, for example by using qualifications frameworks. In general, an important task will be to promote a culture of quality in higher education and academic systems. It should strengthen the autonomy of higher education institutions, avoid unnecessary regulations and support a more efficient improvement process under the participation of all stakeholders.

6. Lifelong Learning: Higher Education Access, Continuing Academic Education and “participative equity”
Up to now, the study structure is overly designed around traditional, full-time students who come directly from university-preparatory secondary education. More transparency is needed in higher education access and a greater permeability to vocational / professional education should be provided. Achievements outside of higher education institutions could be counted more strongly for credit in degree programmes in the sense of quality-oriented recognition. At the same time, more part-time study options as well as continuing education programmes and part-time post graduate (Master) degree programmes (for employees) should be built up extensively.