The Bologna Declaration of 1999 triggered wide-scale reform across the continent and, in the past few years, not only has the introduction of new degree structures taken centre stage, but a range of other European and national higher education and research issues have found synergies with the Bologna reforms to create a potent change process.
It is worth considering that BoÂlogna is a voluntary process. This is part of the explanation for the posiÂtive momentum it has gathered. No government could feel threatened by an agreement to implement Âcommon-sense actions in response to a changing environment. MoreÂover, even the most conservative universities recognise the need for change in our fast-evolving society. And students see that higher education systems could do more to support them, and therefore act to influence the Bologna agenda.
Despite the successes, many are disappointed that things do not move faster, and feel reforms tend to address structures rather than content. But this is a mistaken view: Bologna implies a profound shift in education philoÂsophy and practice.
The most significant purpose of Bologna is to respond to new societal needs by moving from a system of teacher-driven provision to a student-centred concept of higher education. In a post-Bologna world, no longer would higher education be essentially a matter of professors “transmitting knowledge”.
Instead, the reforms lay the foundations for a system that responds to a growing variety of student needs within a framework of lifelong education.
This focus on student-centred learning is the most significant challenge higher education institutions are facing. Many now realise that curriculum reform is a matter of thinking through what students and society need from qualifications. This approach represents the most important pedagogical revolution under way in our institutions.
The Bologna “tool set” — which includes a European credit system based on student workload and learning outcomes, a diploma supplement to describe the outcomes of learning and frameworks to help clarify the levels and purposes of qualifications — is helping to support this shift.
It is important to consider the Bologna process has taken root at a time when institutions are under increasing pressure. Pressure to widen participation is primarily a result of the structural shift of economic activity in Europe in response to globalisation. The new objective for European nations is to compete as centres for innovation and knowledge, and higher education must adapt to produce the highly skilled graduates needed to sustain such a knowledge economy.
Changing demography is also set to have an impact. With ageing and shrinking populations becoming the norm in Europe, significant numbers of immigrants will be needed to sustain Europe’s future. Higher education institutions need to think how they can best attract and support not only national but international students and staff.
But the pressure for higher education institutions to expand and diversify their missions has not been accompanied by an increase in public financing. Many institutions now face a new challenge as governments are telling them not to expect the public sector to meet all their costs.
The idea that there is insufficient public money to meet higher education challenges is establishing itself as a truism — with surprisingly little public debate. Many European governments could easily afford to invest more in higher education if it were a political priority. But, in the current neo-liberal economic climate, many universities seem resigned to the idea that greater investment will come only from private sources. Higher education is thus being privatised by stealth.
Paradoxically, as public money decreases, institutions are required to gather more data to account for their spending. The past decade has not only seen an inexorable rise in quality assurance systems, but also an increasing emphasis on benchmarking and audits of all kinds. New rankings and classifications are being developed by all kinds of bodies to the point where they are becoming an established feature of the higher education landscape. But what will be the impact on higher education?
Higher education deals with risk, uncertainty, creativity and innovation — characteristics that are not susceptible to the type of measurement typically used to develop rankings and classifications. Can the performance of teaching and research really be captured by standardised indicators? Or is there a danger of measuring, assessing and judging what can be measured, assessed and judged, but failing to capture essential processes involved in learning, teaching and research?
Higher education is inextricably caught up in wider societal processes and it is striking that the challenges ahead cannot be contained within geographic boundaries. It has been of enormous benefit to European countries to address these challenges together and a return to considering higher education as a purely national concern is now unthinkable.
Higher education issues will move forward and institutions should take the lead in establishing frameworks for policy developments — taking forward the positive dynamic that the Bologna process has launched. Universities are dealing with universal knowledge and societal and human challenges, and this responsibility has never been more apparent than today.
David Cosier is the programme development director at the European University Association. He is responsible for the Trends Project, which is designed to gather information about how the European higher education and research areas are being developed. He is also an expert on the Bologna process