Social Dimension in SEE

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What is Bologna With Student Eyesand Why Should
I Care?
Love Hansson Academic Affairs Committee European
Students' Union
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Answer 1 BWSE is a research project on the
Bologna Process and therefore on the state of the
EHEA
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BWSE basics

• A research project by ESU
• Inquiring into the state of the Bologna Process
• Investigating how well implementation of the
  Process' action lines match students' needs and
  the original ambitions of the Declarations of
  years past
• And arriving at concrete suggestions on how to
  move forward with the European HE reform agenda

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A comprehensive research project

• BWSE aims at covering all the action lines of the
  Bologna Declaration and the following Ministerial
  Declarations
• but does not stop at that
• BWSE also attempts to cover important aspects of
  European Higher Education which are not (yet) at
  the focus of policymakers and HEIs

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Areas covered by BWSE 2009

• The Social dimension of the Bologna Process
• Student participation
• Quality Assurance
• Student Mobility
• Cycles and Credits
• Qualifications Frameworks
• The Diploma Supplement
• Research and Doctoral Education
• Lifelong Learning
• Employability
• Attractiveness of the EHEA

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A long-standing commitment

• BWSE is a biennial report
• The 2009 edition is the third report of its kind
• It aims at creating not just a snapshot image of
  the state of the EHEA, but to give a good
  overview of what development has looked like over
  time

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Student-centered research

• The heart of the research for BWSE is based on
  students' views as reflected by their respective
  National Student Unions (NUSes)
• But also taking national stocktaking reports and
  other data sources into account
• From this data, conclusions are derived and
  recommendations and suggestions for future policy
  lines put together

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Answer 2 BWSE points to the results and
consequences of the Bologna Process
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Key findings in BWSE 2009
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General remarks

• The data gap remains huge
• The Bologna Process is a complete reform
  package...
• but is treated rather as an à la carte menu by
  governments!
• Student knowledge of the different aspects of the
  Bologna Process varies greatly
• Students, HEIs and national governments sometimes
  have completely different pictures of the
  situation at hand

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Social Dimension

• Not a political priority for many governments
• Student unions report of widespread
  discrimination of many different groups
• Huge data gap
• Student costs increasing faster than student
  support systems can manage
• Widespread lack of national action plans or
  strategies on the social dimension

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Student Participation

• Widespread legislative reform based on the
  Bologna Process to empower students
• However, changes are far less dramatic in real
  life
• Students report widely being treated as unequal
  stakeholders, having only formal rights but no
  informal power
• In 2/3 of all countries investigated, student
  unions considered that not much had changed

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Quality Assurance

• Notable for the progress made at the structural
  level (legislation/institutions)
• Increased student support for the ESG
• Improving student participation in QA processes
• ...but still, students report that participation
  is met with institutional reluctance and is more
  often than not limited to consultative forums
  rather than decision-making ones

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Student Mobility

• Very sharp contrast between ambitious goals and
  dull reality
• Absence of overall European-level targets and
  strategies for increasing mobility...
• ...are accompanied by (causes?) a lack of
  commitments on the national and institutional
  levels
• Thus, true student mobility continues to be
  reserved for a small, homogenous elite of students

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Cycles and Credits

• Structural reforms have progressed vastly since
  1999...
• ...but since 2007, virtually nothing has
  happened!
• Copy-paste mentality in many countries
• Students' reports give a feeling of the reform
  agenda having stopped half-way

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ECTS

• Structurally, ECTS is now close to being fully
  implemented
• However, there is an alarming lack of connection
  between student workloads, learning outcomes and
  ECTS credits
• Thus the ECTS might actually risk causing damage
  to some of the goals which were initially meant
  to be improved by it
• ECTS has, at it seems, become a hinder to
  student-centered learning

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Qualifications Frameworks

• Strong student support of National Qualification
  Frameworks...
• ...but extremely slow progress...
• ...and very low student involvement in the
  creation of NQFs

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The Diploma Supplement

• One of the brightest shining stars of the Bologna
  Process
• Widespread implementation and enthusiasm from
  students
• However, awareness of the Supplement remains
  worryingly low among employers and the general
  public
• Some issuing and pricing issues remain

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Research and Doctoral Education

• Lack of coherence in the treatment of doctoral
  students
• Poor implementation of the 3rd cycle leads to bad
  integration of doctoral students with other
  students
• Differences in tuition fees for 3rd level
  education
• Many unclarities remain regarding funding,
  student participation, and in many other areas

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Lifelong Learning

• Patchy progress more than half of the EHEA
  states still do not have any national strategy or
  policy on LLL
• In many places, lifelong learners are still
  considered to be lower-level students, with less
  rights and fewer support measures
• Good practise examples exist, like the European
  Universities Charter for LLL. However, these are
  not used sufficiently in the public debate on LLL.

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Employability

• Increased focus in many countries
• However, improving employability for first cycle
  students remains a low priority throughout the
  EHEA
• This is partially due to a copy-paste mentality
  by policy makers and HEIs
• As in many other cases, there is a big lack of
  data on employability

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Attractiveness of the EHEA

• Poor knowledge of the EHEA in a global setting
  strategy by national stakeholders
• Tendency by countries to promote their national
  HE systems instead of the EHEA as a whole
• Little concern for the integration of incoming
  students into everyday student life
• Lack of support arrangements for outgoing
  students
• Worrying that tuition fees for non-EU/EES
  students have become increasingly common

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Answer 3 BWSE represents the students' views on
European Higher Education
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Why is this important?

• The 11 million 1st, 2nd and 3rd cycle students
  represented by ESU comprise the bulk of people
  affected directly by HE reform agendas
• European students have a unique insight into the
  state of European HE
• However, students are also not invited (as much
  as they should be) to share their knowledge and
  participate in HE governance and reform

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Is the research valid and reliable?

• NO
• We asked the students and BWSE reflects their
  point of view
• There might also have been a certain corruption
  of data due to interpretation errors, different
  perceptions of scale, etc.
• However, despite these factors, we argue that...

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Is the research valid and reliable?

• YES!
• Student representatives are full-time knowledge
  economy workers whose task it is to be
  well-informed and to constructively change the
  situation of students for the better. Thus, the
  report reflects an impressive amount of knowledge
  - information which is not always reflected in
  other European HE research.
• The BWSE research team put down considerable
  effort into clarifying misconceptions, completing
  data sets and other measures to raise research
  validity and secure reliable data.

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Answer 4 BWSE is a constructive contribution to
the EHEA reform agenda
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A selection of recommendations...

• Commitments need to be matched by actions...
• A comprehensive review of earlier commitments
  should be undertaken
• Policymakers and HEIs should make a serious
  effort to improve data gathering
• ...and Declarations need to be matched by
  commitments!
• The social dimension, student participation and
  many other action lines of the Bologna Process
  are neglected by stakeholders
• Treat the Bologna Process as a complete package,
  not as an a la carte menu!
• Make a commitment to accessible education for
  all, free of charge!

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A selection of recommendations...

• National Action Plans for the Social Dimension!
• Set up concrete goals for improved mobility of
  students and staff!
• Ensure equal support to all doctoral students!
• Make student-centered learning a reality by
  implementing the Bologna Process in its entirety!

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So where does this lead us?

• Governance and reform of Higher Education in
  Europe should be guided and influenced by
  students' voices. BWSE points to the need of
  including students' views and expertise on all
  levels of HE reform and governance. Not just by
  reading BWSE, but by consequently inviting
  students to participate at the round table of
  stakeholders. On all levels.

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Questions?
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Thank you!

• Love Hansson
• love_at_esu-online.org