The Bologna Process and its Consequences
for North American Higher Education

Date: Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Venue: Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre Hotel

The Bologna Process is a European reform process aimed at creating the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) based on international cooperation and academic exchange that is attractive to European students and staff as well as to students and staff from other parts of the world.

The envisaged EHEA will:

• facilitate mobility of students, graduates and higher education staff;
• prepare students for their future careers and for life as active citizens in democratic societies, and support their personal development; and
• offer broad access to high-quality higher education, based on democratic principles and academic freedom.

The Bologna Process is named after the Bologna Declaration, which was signed in the Italian city of Bologna on 19 June 1999 by ministers in charge of higher education from 29 European countries. Today, the Process unites 46 countries - all party to the European Cultural Convention and committed to the goals of the European Higher Education Area. An important characteristic of the Bologna Process - and key to its success - is that it also involves European Commission, Council of Europe and UNESCO-CEPES, as well as representatives of higher education institutions, students, staff, employers and quality assurance agencies.

[Source: http://www.ond.vlaanderen.be/hogeronderwijs/bologna/about/]

Seminar Overview

1. Information about the Bologna Process
   1. Political background and motivation
      • to create a "European Higher Education Area"
      • promotion of student mobility
      • strengthen innovation and competitiveness of the European economy.
   2. The cornerstones of the Bologna Process
      • Harmonization of the “study architecture” on the basis of the Anglo-Saxon model
      • Modularization and credit transfer
      • Diploma Supplement to improve international "transparency"
   3. The implementation of the Bologna Process
      • Intergovernmental process – biennial follow-up conferences
      • resistance it faces from academics
2. Discussion about possible implications and lessons for North America
   1. Initial Scepticism
      • North Americans are bewildered by the highly centralised character of the project
   2. Increasing International Interest
      • The Bologna Process is a pull factor making Europe attractive for international cooperation
   3. Issues for Canada
      • Europe as competitor
      • Three-year “Bachelor Bolognese”: implications for graduate admission
      • Study abroad opportunities for Canadian students

The Seminar Leader

Hans Pechar is a professor in the Faculty for Interdisciplinary Studies (IFF), University of Klagenfurt, and head of the Department of Science Communications and Higher Education Research. The focus of his research is comparative higher education and economics of higher education.

From 1999-2003 he was a member of the Board of Governors of the Consortium of Higher Education Researchers (CHER). He was Visiting Associate at the Center for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE), UC Berkeley and guest professor at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. He is a frequent commentator on education policy in the Austrian media. Most recently, his publications have addressed topics of policies of access to higher education, governance of Austrian universities, and equity in education.

Recent publications in English include:

• “The Bologna Process”: A European Response to Global Competition in Higher Education. In: Canadian Journal of Higher Education, Volume 37, No. 3, 2007, p. 107-123.
• Country Study: Austria. In: Wells, P.J./Sadlak, J./ Viasceanu, L (eds): The Rising Role and Relevance of Private Higher Education in Europe, Bucharest: UNESCO-CEPES, 2007, p.33-62. (zusammen mit Elisabeth Fiorioli und Jan Thomas)
• Backlash or Modernisation? Two Reform Cycles in Austrian Higher Education. In: Alberto Amaral, Maurice Kogan and Ase Gornitzka (eds.): Reform and Change in Higher Education. Analysing Policy Implementations. Dordrecht: Springer, 2005, p.269-285.

Seminar Schedule
(subject to change)

9:00 am – 10:30 am Presentation/Information about the Bologna Process
10:30 am – 11:30 am Coffee Break and Discussion Groups
11:30 am – 12 noon Plenary Discussion
12 noon – 1:30 pm Lunch Break
1:30 pm – 2:00 pm Input: lessons for North America
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Coffee Break and Discussion Groups
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm Plenary Discussion, Conclusions

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