The Bologna Process and the University of Oxford

The UK ratified the Lisbon Convention (non-discrimination across holders of European qualifications) in 2003. To promote greater freedom of movement around the European Higher Education Area it is intended to make qualifications more transparent by use of the Diploma Supplement which would be part of the proposed online Europass[1]. The Diploma Supplement will provide a standard format for expressing the qualification and is very similar to the transcript element of existing documentation.

The University accepts the importance of the transparency and intelligibility of qualifications. It endorses the importance of world-wide recognition of its qualifications, and will promote such recognition and support the needs of any graduates who meet problems related to official recognition of qualifications.

It supports the provision of accurate and up-to-date information on an individual’s qualifications. Subject to progress on the University’s student information system, the facility to produce a Diploma Supplement for every graduating student should become available from 2007 onwards. Where required, information for the Diploma Supplement is already available on an individual basis within the University.

The ‘two cycles’ are undergraduate and graduate. The first cycle should, according to Bologna, last a minimum of 3 years, whilst no length is specified for second cycle Masters qualifications. A third doctoral cycle has now been added (see action line 10).

The UK has a well-established two-cycle system and several qualifications frameworks (nationally established for each of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). The European approach is set out in ‘A Framework for qualifications of the European Higher Education Area’

Like all other UK universities, Oxford offers a wide range of first- and second-cycle qualifications. It has already given considerable thought to the status of these courses in the light of the range of lengths for which the master’s qualification is awarded. It notes that other national systems within Bologna also have a very wide range of second-cycle qualifications, and there is therefore no sense in which the Bologna Process imposes a single model of master’s qualification.

The other factor to take into account is the question of credit rating. Although there has been a determined effort to rate courses according to learning outcomes, it seems clear that many European systems will continue to work on the basis of credits. This poses particular issues for UK institutions.

From the point of view of an applicant for study at master’s level, it is the total credit rating of the combined first- and second-cycle qualification earned which will be critical for subsequent progression to doctoral study. A student coming from a European background is likely to find that the combined total is sufficient for this purpose. The student who has taken an integrated master’s qualification in the UK is likely to find that this will not in itself (without a further master’s qualification) be sufficient to progress to doctoral study in a European university operating on Bologna principles. This is an element of the Bologna Process which the University will monitor closely.

While the academic integrity of a course is the primary factor in assessing questions of content and length, faculties and departments will keep the character and length of their various master’s courses (including the integrated master’s) under review in the context of Bologna expectations and the needs of their graduates.

The University recognises the importance of ensuring that its degree courses are structured so as not to hinder the mobility of its own graduates, and also to take advantage of the increased mobility to attract high quality international students into its courses, especially at doctoral level.

The European Credit Transfer System (ECTS)[2] was agreed in Berlin in 2000. Its purpose is to contribute to the removal of obstacles to academic mobility and to facilitate mutual recognition of qualifications and periods of study. It is also seen as important in curriculum design and lifelong learning. In the UK a steering group (chaired by Professor Burgess) is proposing the development of a common higher education credit system for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the recent report from this group includes a paper illustrating the articulation of UK credit and ECTS.

The extent to which the ECTS system is being used in Europe and beyond underlines its potential significance. Students coming from Europe and students going to Europe may well have a significant interest in relating their courses of study to credit standards represented by ECTS. In other Bologna signatory countries it is regarded as a key component of the wider recognition of qualifications, and is already associated with accumulation of credit as well as transfer.

The University will continue to monitor closely the developments in relation to credit systems in the UK and in Europe, and it has undertaken preliminary work on how to express the University’s existing courses in such terms (for the purpose only of enabling Oxford graduates to gain appropriate credit for work undertaken here). It remains committed to the view that the attribution of credit for work done elsewhere remains an academic decision for each institution.

In the light of developments to a UK framework (arising out of the work of the Burgess steering group) and to ECTS (arising out of the forthcoming revised guide to the system) and in the interest of students coming from and going to Bologna-compliant institutions, the University will supply indicative credit values for its undergraduate and graduate programmes at whole programme level only[3]. The University welcomes the government’s commitment to the articulation of qualifications according to learning outcomes rather than time served, and in particular its engagement with the European Commission on aspects of the ECTS framework which are particularly unhelpful to UK master’s courses.

The 2003 Berlin summit identified mobility of students, academic and administrative staff as ‘the basis for establishing the European Higher Education Area’. Clearly it is intended that the proposed introduction of frameworks, credit systems and common forms of quality assurance will contribute to this mobility.

The original Socrates programme has, from 2007, been replaced by the EC Integrated Action Programme for Lifelong Learning, with the intent of having 3 million participants by 2010. There is increased (and decentralised) funding for this scheme, but it is felt important to ensure the quality of the experience is assured. Inclusion of part-time, mature and lifelong learners will be an important development of the scheme.

Like other major universities, Oxford seeks high ability staff and students from all parts of the world. It is therefore committed to the mobility of students and staff and encourages students to take part in exchange opportunities. Similarly it encourages departments/faculties and individual staff to benefit from and contribute to European and international links. This is reflected in the University’s Corporate Plan (para 95).

It is clear that promoting co-operation in quality assurance is an absolute necessity where the goals include comparable qualifications and facilitating mobility. The European Network for Quality Assurance (ENQA) was asked by the Berlin ministerial meeting to develop an agreed set of ‘standards, procedures and guidelines on quality assurance’. The resulting report entitled The European standards and guidelines for quality assurance in higher education[4] provides an important European framework for quality assurance which reflects the significant input from the UK’s QAA.

The University has noted that the UK approach to professional accreditation (with professional bodies often sitting outside HE qualifications and accreditation systems) may create recognition problems in the future. The EC has already committed funding to a project for the pan-European accreditation process for Engineering and Chemistry. The Bologna promoters have drawn attention to some of the potential difficulties in this area, and suggested the importance of careful monitoring at institutional and national levels.

The University welcomes the national effort to ensure that European frameworks for quality assurance are complementary to the approaches taken in recent years in the UK.

The University should work to ensure that national representative bodies are closely in touch with developments in European frameworks for accreditation, professional recognition, and the provision of services – noting that individual academics may have close contact with subject developments in Europe as a result of their work for professional associations.

The Bologna process promotes curriculum development, inter-institutional co-operation, mobility schemes and integrated programmes of study, training and research to add a European dimension to higher education.

The recent emphasis has been on the recognition of joint degrees and a further report on this was made to the 2007 London ministerial meeting. The EU’s Erasmus Mundus programme[5] has increased the spotlight on such joint degrees.

The University has a substantial range of formal and informal research links across European universities, and participates in all the major exchange schemes. It has approved a small number of joint programmes in the past and is committed to considering such proposals on their individual merits. In its thinking about curriculum development, it will consider how the increasingly international nature of the University’s staff, of its students and of their employment aspirations might be appropriately reflected in the curriculum, alongside the existing emphasis on research-led teaching. Reflecting such international and research emphases are major elements in the University’s assessment of added value for its students.

The EU has identified lifelong learning as having a central role in achieving the EU’s goal of the Lisbon Strategy ‘to make the EU the world’s most competitive and dynamic knowledge economy in the world’.

From as early as the 2003 Berlin ministerial meeting, there have been calls for an increase in ‘flexible learning paths, opportunities and techniques’ within the context of lifelong learning. The London 2007 meeting will look at this and in the process review procedures for the recognition of prior learning.

The University has substantial experience of contributing to life-long learning, particularly but not only through the work of its Department for Continuing Education. The Department is a member of a regional credit consortium and has experience in credit-rating its programmes at part-time undergraduate and taught postgraduate levels. It is developing a range of online provision. As with its international strategy, the place of European developments flowing from the Bologna Process and the parallel work of the EU are significant factors in the development of the University’s work in life-long learning.

Through Bologna, HEIs and students have all been involved in forming a European Higher Education Area. There are three ‘umbrella’ organisations working towards this aim:

• European University Association (EUA)
• European Association of Institutions in Higher Education (EURASHE)
• National Union of Students in Europe (ESIB)

In the UK, the establishment of the UK HE Europe Unit is intended to raise awareness of European issues and co-ordinate involvement in Bologna Process debates.

The University notes from contact with Bologna promoters that students have played a particularly significant part in the Bologna Follow-Up group and its working groups.

The University welcomes the full participation of students in the concerns represented by the Bologna Process and sees this as a natural concomitant of the important part student representatives play in the work of the University’s Educational Policy and Standards Committee.

The attractiveness and competitiveness of the European higher education is to be enhanced by creating a coherent and transparent European Higher Education Area. This will be characterised by:

• a common framework of qualifications
• shared accreditation/certification procedures
• coherent quality assurance mechanisms
• improved information

Such a framework will enhance the appeal of European HE for the rest of the world.

The Erasmus Mundus mobility programme (see action line 7) was launched in 2004 to strengthen links between EU states and non-EU countries.

An overarching framework of qualifications for the European Higher Education Area has been developed and adopted and this is deemed to be complementary to the qualifications framework for lifelong learning adopted by the EU.

The international competitiveness of the UK and its consistent success in attracting international students, through strategies such as the funding of the British Council, is noted in the relevant literature. The University is committed to the recruitment of international students as part of its international mission and perspective. It notes the interest displayed in the structure of the Bologna Process and associated developments by other parts of the world, e.g. EU funding for a project to take the ECTS system to Latin America etc.

The University believes that its strong international reputation contributes to enhancing the attractiveness of Higher Education in Europe. It will take account of the growing international significance accorded to the Bologna arrangements, while acknowledging that its international strategy will have broad targets and horizons.

The Bologna Process sees research as an integral part of European higher education. The doctoral level was established as the ‘third cycle’ by Ministers meeting in Berlin in 2003. This clearly linked with the EU Lisbon initiative to form a European Research Area (ERA).

The Bergen ministerial meeting addressed the doctoral cycle in some detail. Noting that the normal workload of the third cycle in most countries would correspond to 3-4 years full time, universities were urged to ensure that their doctoral programmes met the needs of the wider employment market by promoting interdisciplinary training and the development of transferable skills. The Bologna Follow-up Group was charged to oversee a report on the further development of the basic principles for doctoral programmes, presented to the London ministerial meeting in 2007. There was a welcome comment that over-regulation of doctoral programmes must be avoided.

The University sees the education and training of doctoral students who are capable of work at the highest intellectual standards internationally as one of its key functions. It therefore looks to any developments in doctoral education under the aegis of the Bolognas Process to sustain and enhance this objective.