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Before the signing of the Bologna declaration, the Magna Carta Universitatum had been issued at a meeting of university rectors celebrating the 900th anniversary of the University Of Bologna - and thus of European universities - in 1988 . One year before the Bologna declaration, education ministers Claude Allegre (France), Jürgen Rüttgers (Germany), Luigi Berlinguer (Italy) and the Baroness Blackstone (UK) signed the Sorbonne Declaration in Paris 1998 , committing themselves to "harmonising the architecture of the European Higher Education system". French officials in particular therefore often refer to the '''La Sorbonne/Bologna process'''. The Council Of Europe and UNESCO have jointly issued the Lisbon Recognition Convention on recognition of academic qualifications as part of the process, which has been ratified by the majority of the countries party to the Bologna process. FRAMEWORK The basic framework adopted is of three cycles of higher education qualification. As outlined in the ''Bergen Declaration'' The framework of qualifications for the European Higher Education Area of 2005, the cycles are defined in terms of Qualification s and ECTS credits:
In most cases, these will take 3, 2, and 3 years respectively to complete. The actual naming of the degrees may vary from country to country. These levels are closer to the current model in the UK and Ireland than that in most of Continental Europe , where the model often is based on the Magister or Diplom a. In any case, program length tends to vary from country to country, and less often between institutions within a country. GOALS The Bologna process was a major reform created with the aim of providing responses to issues such as the public responsibility for higher education and research, higher education governance, the social dimension of higher education and research and the values and roles of higher education and research in modern, globalized and increasingly complex societies with the most demanding qualification needs. With the Bologna process implementation, higher education systems in European countries should be organised in such a way that:
EFFECTS BY STATE The Bologna Process was not based on an intergovernmental treaty. However, the European Commission supported several European projects (the Tuning project, the TEEP project) connected to quality assurance etc. Most countries do not currently fit the framework – instead they have their own time-honoured systems. The process will have many knock-on effects such as bilateral agreements between countries and institutions which recognise each others' degrees. However, the process is now moving away from a strict convergence in terms of time spent on qualifications, towards a competency-based system. The system will have an undergraduate and postgraduate division, with the bachelor degree in the former and the master and doctoral in the latter. In mainland Europe five year plus first degrees are common, with some taking up to eight years not being unheard of. This leads to many not completing their studies; many of these countries are now introducing bachelor-level qualifications. This situation is changing rapidly as the Bologna Process is implemented. Depending on the country and the development of its higher education system, some introduced ECTS , discussed their degree structures and qualifications, financing and management of higher education, mobility programmes etc. At the institutional level the reform involved higher education institutions, their faculties or departments, student and staff representatives and many other actors. The priorities varied from country to country and from institution to institution. Austria See Also: Education in Austria The situation in and the Diplom -Ingenieur, which can be obtained after at least four to six years of study. However, beginning with the year 2000, many curricula have already been converted into separate bachelor (''Bakkalaureat'', although this term will be replaced by ''Bachelor'' in most studies by 2007) and master (''Magisterstudium'') programmes, with nominal durations of six semesters (three years) and three to four semesters (1.5–2 years), respectively. With few exceptions (e.g. studies of human and veterinary medicine), all university curricula will be remodeled to this format within the next years. Enrollment in a doctoral programme generally requires a master's level degree in a related field. The nominal duration of doctoral programmes is two or three years, but the actual time to graduation varies considerably and is generally longer than that. Belgium See Also: Education in Belgium In Belgium the candidate's degree took 2 years (in some cases 3), with an additional 2 to 3 years (in some cases 4) to obtain a License . This has been replaced by an academic bachelor's degree of 3 years and a master's degree of 1 or 2 years (in some case 3 or even 4). The professional (non-academic) graduate degree has been replaced by a professional bachelor degree of 3 years. Croatia In Croatia , the implementation of the Bologna process started in the academic year 2005/2006. The existing academic degree granted with a ''diploma'' was transformed into a baccalaureus and the programmes were shortened from 4 years to around 3. The degree granted with a ''magisterij'' was mostly eliminated or transformed into a master's degree, achieved after 5 years of study. Medicine and medicine related studies still last 6 or 5 years. The degree of ''doktorat'' (PhD, dr.sc.) remains but it can be received after 3 more years, i.e. 8 years in total. e.g. - 3 years (Bachelor or ''Baccalaureus/prvostupnik'') + 2 years (Master or ''magistar'') + 3 years (doctor of science or ''doktor znanosti''). Denmark See Also: Education in Denmark Before the adaptation to international standards, the lowest degree that could be obtained at universities in Denmark were equivalent to a Master degree (Kandidat). Officially, Bachelor's degrees has been introduced after 3 years university studies, but very few choose to stop at this stage, without the additional 2 years required to obtain a Masters degree. Various medium length (2-4 years) professional degrees have been adapted so they now have status as professional bachelor's degrees (3½ years), and opposed to academic bachelor's degrees they are considered to be "valid" degrees. Estonia See Also: Education in Estonia Since 2002 in Estonia all honours bachelors degree are three years (before 2001 enrollment 4 years), master's 2 and doctorates 4. The masters degree is always a postgraduate degree. Basically, there is no taught or achieved through research master's gradation. Finland See Also: Education in Finland In the Finnish pre-Bologna system, the higher education was strictly divided between the universities and polytechnics. In universities, the degrees were divided in most fields into a three-year degree ''kandidaatti'', which was followed by the two-year upper degree ''maisteri''. In these fields, the Bologna process causes no changes. The degrees retain their former domestic names but in English usage, Bachelor and Master are used to describe the degrees. In the field of engineering, the universities did not offer bachelor-level degrees, but only a 5½-year master's program ('' Diplomi-insinööri ''). This program has now been divided into a three-year bachelor-level degree ''tekniikan kandidaatti'' and a two-year master-level degree ''diplomi-insinööri'', for which the English names are Bachelor of Science (Eng) and Master of Science (Eng), respectively. A corresponding change has also been made in the military higher education, where the officer's degree was divided between a bachelor's and master's program. Only medicine retains its non-standard degree structure, where the Licentiate — higher than Master's, less extensive than Doctor of Medicine degree — serves as the basic degree. A six-year program of at least 360 ECTS credits leads directly to the degree Licenciate of Medicine (''lääketieteen lisensiaatti''). There is an intermediate title (but curiously, not an academic degree) of ''lääketieteen kandidaatti'', and there is no Master's degree. Licentiates of Medicine may continue to Doctor's degree. The degrees from polytechnics are considered Bachelor's degrees in international usage. However, in domestic usage, bachelors transferring from polytechnics to universities may be required a maximum of 60 ETCS of additional studies prior emabarking the master's level studies. In conjunction with Bologna process, the polytechnics have obtained the right to award master's degrees. However, such programs remain rather minor phenomenon. The polytechnic master's degree does not qualify for doctoral studies. |
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