EUROPE: Bologna magazine sums up progress

The Hungarian and Austrian Ministers for Science and Research, Education and Culture who were responsible for the 2010 Bologna ministerial meeting have released a magazine summing up the Bologna achievements and capturing many of its dimensions.

Together with the Spanish Minister of Education, now chairing the Bologna process in the capacity of holding the Presidency of the European Union, the ministers' release captures the many dimensions in the Bologna process.

The magazine is a much needed simplification of what the Bologna process is about: most notably greater accountability of degrees and study periods among European nations as a pre-condition for increased mobility during and after graduation.

More than 30 opinions are in the publication, representing all major participants in agenda-setting of the Bologna process. The consensus is that the Bologna process has released new energy and a new spirit of collaboration and new goals for European higher education institutions.

Some say the Bologna process is the major impulse for university reforms ever, as expressed by E Stephen Hunt at the US Department of Education:

"The Bologna process is almost certainly the most important multinational reform of higher education undertaken since the teaching guilds and the student nations established the revolutionary concepts of the studium generale and universities in the 11th and 12th centuries," Hunt writes.

Pavel Zgaga, at the University of Ljubljana and former Minister of Science in Slovenia who has been the general rapporteur of the working group on the external dimension of Bologna, wrote The making of Bologna.

It is a good account of the issues involved. Zgaga's perspective in the conclusion is worth noting: "Success is a double-edged sword. It is inebriating but it is also binding. Real success cannot be measured in terms of `final implementation' and celebration but in searching for new momentum and re-conceptualisation."

This is perhaps the largest challenge of the Bologna process and can be summarised in the Spanish proverb: "Better is the enemy of the good".

There are commentaries from EU Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, Androulla Vassiliou, from Philippe de Buck from BusinessEurope, from Sjur Bergan at the Council of Europe who is also analysing the facilitating of mobility between national systems.

Lesley Wilson at the European University Association writes on the bridging of higher education and research, and the inclusion of doctorate education in the Bologna process.

Germain Dondelinger addresses the issue of future policies, based on the Data Collection Working Group 2007-09, and the so-called 'E4 group', and discusses the prioritised issue of quality assurance and European standards.

Some of these sections are more technical and mainly for Bologna experts in administrative positions in ministries in the participating countries. Representatives from universities are less frequently represented in the magazine yet the process must engage these people as well across Europe because the universities want to hear where Europe is heading.

There are not many visions of the future in the magazine. The Norwegian minister responsible for the 2005 Bergen Bologna meeting, Kristin Clemet, challenged the ministers to come forward with some visions for European higher education with a 20-30 year perspective.

Mass higher education is facing many strains: in the Nordic countries, the model of higher education as a public good is under pressure, while all over Europe males are under-achievers in higher education. Such examples could be addressed by the higher education ministries.

* BOLOGNA 1999-2010: Achievements, Challenges and Perspectives, Ministry of Science and Research, Austria; Ministry of Education and Culture, Hungary. Published by Dr Joseph Raabe Verlags GmBh, Berlin, 2010. www.raabe.de