Revista de Imprensa GRI

2009-03-27T12:35:00.001Z

The process of shaping the European Higher Education Area is generating considerable controversy

The process of shaping the European Higher Education Area is generating considerable controversy, controversy that reaches the level of opposition, with some nuances or, in certain sectors, especially the students. Many universities have attended day strike, sit-ins and demonstrations whose motivation was precisely the opposition to what is known as the Bologna process. Degreetab

2009-03-27T12:32:00.000Z

French university strikes have government recalling 1968

French students and university lecturers continued to strike around France this week, and government ministers have said they fear that the ongoing demonstrations could turn violent and trigger a wider anti-government movement akin to that of May 1968, when students rioted on Paris’s Left Bank. Tertiary Education Union

2009-03-19T17:55:00.000Z

Sector stops to reflect as Bologna milestone nears

A decade after the Bologna Process was created with the aim of establishing a "European Higher Education Area" by 2010, it is time for those involved to take stock.

This week, the European Universities Association (EUA) is holding its biannual convention in Prague, where key figures in European higher education will discuss what progress has been made towards Bologna's objectives, and where it goes from here. Times Higher Education

2009-03-12T18:05:00.000Z

Processus de Bologne : les universités françaises en colère

Fin 2008, les universités italiennes, espagnoles et grecques ont manifesté leur mécontentement. En 2009, c’est au tour de la France de dénoncer les conséquences du processus de Bologne qui recommande une « gouvernance » plus hiérarchique des universités. Une professeur explique les raisons de la mobilisation.

2009-03-09T18:13:00.000Z

EUROPE: Student declaration on Bologna

A meeting of more than 100 representatives from 49 student unions across Europe was held in Prague last month to draw up a declaration leading to a Ministerial Conference of the Bologna Process in April. The declaration provides an analysis of the progress made on Bologna over the last 10 years and calls for changes over the next decade to 2020. The key element of the declaration says that the vision of a European Higher Education Area that the Bologna process was intended to create is still a long way from being delivered.

"Words have failed to be met by actions and there is an 'à la carte' approach to the implementation of the reforms in many countries which means that certain action lines, specifically those relating to the social dimension and mobility, are being neglected," the European Students Union said in a statement following the meeting.

2009-02-27T18:29:00.002Z

Regional Conference of South, South-West and Central Asia on Higher Education Concludes with the Adoption of New Delhi Declaration

2009-02-27T18:29:00.001Z

GERMANY: Bologna process gets nod of approval

A senior Education Ministry official has taken a positive view of the impact the Bologna process has had on Germany's higher education system. Speaking at a symposium in Berlin in the run-up to the Bologna Conference of Ministers next April, Parliamentary State Secretary Andreas Storm told government, higher education officials and students that Bologna had contributed to what he referred to as a successful modernisation of German higher education. University World News

2009-02-27T18:28:00.001Z

Reforming Doctoral Education in Europe

Doctoral education in Europe has been undergoing a major transformation in the last decade. This transformation has occurred in response to several challenges: the changing nature of the labor market in the globalized economy; the European Union's common agenda in research and education, which seeks to make Europe the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world; and the intergovernmental European initiative called the Bologna Process, the aim of which is to create the European Higher Education Area by implementing reforms that will improve cooperation among European universities, raise quality, foster mobility of students and academic staff, and increase the employability of graduates. By Alexandra Bitusikova

2009-02-25T12:01:00.000Z

Where would European higher education be without the Erasmus programme?

According to a recent study the EU's Erasmus programme for mobility and cooperation in higher education has been a strong driving force in shaping the landscape of higher education in Europe. The programme, which is particularly popular for its student mobility activities, has contributed to improving, opening up and modernising both higher education institutions and education policies. For the vast majority of them, participation in Erasmus has led to innovation in core activity areas such as teaching and learning methods, recognition of study periods, support services for students, research activities, business cooperation as well as institutional management. @ 7^th Space

2009-02-03T11:30:00.001Z

Mapping out Europe’s progress towards a knowledge-based economy

The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research has just published an informative and data-laden report titled Science, Technology and Competitiveness Key Figures Report 2008/2009.

2009-02-03T11:27:00.000Z

Ideological Discourses of the White “Bible” on Education and Training

by Sissy Velissariou

“The White Paper on Education and Training: Teaching and Learning/Towards the Learning Society” (pub. by the European Commission in 1995) is a text of seminal importance because it seeks to outline an overall approach to education in the E.U. I’ll start with a crucial passage which serves as its fundamental working principle: “IV. Directions for the future: Everyone is convinced of the need for change, the proof being the demise of the major ideological disputes on the objectives of education. . . . The end of debate on educational principles: Heated debates concerning the organization of education and training systems—including debates on content and training methods --- have taken place over the last few years. Most of these debates now appear to have come to an end.’ (W.P.23).

2008-12-19T15:25:00.000Z

Implementing the Bologna process

Fernando Alexandre Ana Rute Cardoso Miguel Portela Carla Sá
18 December 2008

Shortening the first cycle in higher education studies is one of the most controversial aspects of the Bologna reforms. Recent research suggests students are voting-with-their-feet in support of this reform as study programs adopting the Bologna principles have seen a rise in demand.

2008-12-19T15:22:00.000Z

The Spanish university, locked to demand a referendum on the plan Bologna

Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Zaragoza, Granada, ... Hundreds of students are locked into their universities to stop the introduction of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). They demand the holding of a referendum binding on the entire university community on what is known as' Bologna process'.

2008-12-19T15:21:00.000Z

Anti-Bologna movement spreads in Spain

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Opposition to the Bologna Process, an EU-inspired series of university and college reforms, has expanded substantially across Spain in recent weeks, as students protest, occupy school buildings and even block rail lines.

2008-12-11T10:35:00.000Z

In Greece, Protests Echo European Students' Ire

Thousands of students were joined by striking workers in a fifth day of protests in Greece, an uprising that mirrors growing discontent among youths in many European countries over outdated education systems, lack of jobs and a general apprehension about the future.

From Rome to Berlin to Madrid, young people graduate from university much later than their peers in Northern Europe, the U.S. or U.K. When they do, they struggle to find long-term jobs with social-security benefits. Wall Street Journal

2008-12-11T10:33:00.000Z

L'essoufflement d'Erasmus

Paradoxe ? Au moment où la ministre de l'enseignement supérieur, Valérie Pécresse, assure urbi et orbi son désir que "la mobilité des étudiants européens devienne la règle et non plus l'exception", le plus populaire des programmes européens ne fait plus recette. Erasmus, qui a entraîné, en un peu plus de vingt ans quelque 1,7 million d'étudiants hors de leurs campus nationaux, ne séduit plus. Ou plutôt il séduit moins. Quand les jeunes des nouveaux pays membres sont encore en appétit, la Vieille Europe fait la fine bouche. Toujours attractif en Pologne et en Hongrie notamment, ainsi qu'en Turquie, où il a connu une progression de plus de 10 % au cours de l'année universitaire 2006-2007, il s'essouffle en Allemagne, stagne en Belgique et en Suède, progresse peu en France - au point que près de 5 000 bourses n'ont pas trouvé preneurs -, baisse en Espagne, au Danemark, en Finlande, en Irlande, en Grèce... Le Monde

2008-12-11T10:30:00.000Z

21st Century Globalization

Twenty years ago, the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) convened a group of experts to examine international higher education and make recommendations for the future of study abroad programs at U.S. universities. In its report to CIEE, the group—which represented a wide range of experience in higher education, foreign language and international studies, and public policy—called for increased international awareness among the nation's colleges and universities. NAFSA

2008-12-11T10:26:00.001Z

The future is another country

The global market in education is changing beyond recognition. Getting to grips with it will be crucial to the UK's status as a world leader. guardian.co.uk

2008-11-05T18:59:00.000Z

Bologna 2020: Trust and responsiveness

As the Leuven 2009 Summit approaches, European ministers of education contemplate the future of the Bologna Process. Dutch minister Ronald Plasterk stressed that excellence evolves from "spontaneous aggregation", rather than from (European) government policy. He made his statement last week at the EUA conference in Rotterdam. However, the minister added that in his view, a knowledge-based economy cannot progress without international benchmarks nor without learning from international best practices. President of the HBO- raad in Holland, Doekle Terpstra, analyses this approach and what is essential for a happy ending to the Leuven Summit.

2008-11-05T18:58:00.000Z

Foreign students to fill the halls

Japanese universities look abroad in hopes of upping their sagging enrolments

2008-11-05T18:57:00.000Z

British Universities Warned of Need to Rethink International Strategy

With countries like India and China rapidly expanding their higher-education systems, British universities will be able to attract fewer students from abroad, the British Council has warned in a report.

2008-10-13T11:53:00.000Z

Vast rise in student mobility

More than 2.5 million university students are now estimated to be studying outside their own countries - a 70% increase in the past decade and the number looks set to continue rising. A new report confirms that students from China dominate those studying abroad, far exceeding young people from India, South Korea, Germany and Japan - the top five nations with the most students in other countries. Form University World News

2008-10-09T16:38:00.000Z

World beaters: but what makes these universities special?

Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2008

2008-09-24T09:54:00.000Z

Courses trim for global outlook

Luke Slattery | The Australian

A REVOLUTION from below is transforming Australian higher education as leading universities unleash radical course reforms in advance of the Rudd Government's policy overhaul.

The University of Western Australia has joined a group including Melbourne, Macquarie, Monash, South Australia and Victoria universities undergoing radical course reform unprompted by government policy.

Melbourne, UWA and Macquarie have jettisoned the smorgasbord of credentials characterising Australian higher education in favour of a much smaller number of broad undergraduate courses integrating the humanities and science.

UWA last week announced plans to cut its undergraduate courses from 70 to six, while Macquarie University plans to cut the number of undergraduate courses by 75 per cent in time for the 2010 academic year as part of an attempt to "reinvent" and "reposition" the university.

2008-09-22T11:41:00.000Z

OECD calls for greater internationalisation

Governments should position their higher education systems in the global arena, develop a strategy and framework for internationalisation and encourage institutions to be more proactive internationally, says an OECD report published last week. Tertiary Education for the Knowledge Society offers this and other policy advice to countries striving to build tertiary education in ways that stimulate innovation, competitiveness and economic growth.

The new report has two volumes - the first focusing on governance, funding and quality and the second on equity, innovation, the labour market and internationalisation - and draws on a study of tertiary policy in 24 countries, the OECD Thematic Review of Tertiary Education.

On internationalisation strategy, the report points out that countries vary greatly in terms of their power, size, geographic location, dominant culture, tertiary education systems, the role of their language globally and their previous internationalisation strategies.

"Obviously, this strategy needs to adapt to country-specific circumstances, building upon natural advantages and acknowledging constraints, and there is no ideal internationalisation strategy other than maximising the benefits of internationalisation in the national context." (University World News)