The Bologna Process and the sectoral professions

1
The Bologna Process and the sectoral professions

• Howard Davies
• Senior Adviser
• European University Association
• EAFP, Lille, June 13 2008

2
Main points of this presentation

• Overview of relevant legal competences and
  regimes of compliance the Bologna Process, the
  European Qualifications Framework, Directive
  2005/36/EC
• Pharmacy legal requirements and views of Bologna
• Key issues at the interface of Bologna and the
  Directive the 3-cycle architecture learning
  outcomes recognition of prior learning quality
  assurance
• Amending the Directive
• The role of EUA

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Legal competence and compliance

• Bologna Process
• Signed by 46 countries, but not a Treaty and not
  legally binding
• European Qualifications Framework EQF
• A Recommendation to EU27, with EEA relevance not
  legally binding levels 5-8 are compatible with
  Bologna FQEHEA
• Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of
  professional qualifications
• A legally binding Directive with EEA relevance
  infringements may be referred to the European
  Court of Justice

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Legal framework for training of pharmacists at EU
level

• Directive 2005/36/EC the deadline for
  implementation was October 20 2007 eleven Member
  States have not yet fully transposed it into
  national legislation
• It replaced Directives 85/432/EEC and 85/433/EEC
• Its objective is to ensure the mobility of
  pharmacists within the EU, by harmonising the
  minimum training requirements

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Requirements for training

• At least five years duration, including
• Four years of full-time theoretical and practical
  training at a university or at a higher institute
  of a level recognised as equivalent or under the
  supervision of university, and
• Six-month traineeship in a pharmacy open to the
  public or in a hospital, under the supervision of
  that hospitals pharmaceutical department
  (Article 44)

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Annex 5.6.1 basic curriculum

• Plant and animal biology, physics
• General and inorganic chemistry, organic
  chemistry, analytical chemistry
• Pharmaceutical chemistry, including analysis of
  medicinal products
• General and applied biochemistry (medical)
• Anatomy and physiology, medical terminology
• Microbiology
• Pharmacology and pharmacotherapy
• Pharmaceutical technology
• Toxicology
• Pharmacognosy
• Legislation and, where appropriate, professional
  ethics

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Article 44(3)

• Article 44.3 requires that the minimum training
  guarantee the acquisition of specified knowledge
  and skills
• of medicines and the substances used in the
  manufactures of medicines
• of pharmaceutical technology and the physical,
  chemical, biological and microbiological testing
  of medicinal products
• of the metabolism and the effects of medicinal
  products and of the action of toxic substances,
  and of the use of medicinal products
• to evaluate scientific data concerning medicine
  in order to be able to supply appropriate
  information
• of the legal and other requirements associated
  with the pursuit of pharmacy

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Article 45(2)

• Article 45.2 specifies the range of professional
  activities to be covered by the training
• Preparation of the pharmaceutical form of
  medicinal products
• Manufacture and testing of medicinal products
• Testing of medicinal products in a laboratory
• Storage, preservation and distribution of
  medicinal products at a wholesale stage
• Preparation, testing, storage and
  supply/dispensing of medicinal products in
  pharmacies open to public/hospitals
• Provision of information and advice on medicinal
  products

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Annex 5.6.2

• Annex 5.6.2 lists the qualifications which are
  subject to automatic recognition
• However, access to some professional activities
  can be subject to a requirement of supplementary
  professional experience, in addition to the
  possession of the diploma referred to in Annex
  5.6.2.

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PGEU and EAFP

• In 2004 PGEU expressed full support for mobility
  and ECTS, as proposed by the Bologna Process
• but was strongly opposed to the 2-cycle
  qualification
• In 2007 it reiterated its position, at the same
  time calling for communication skills and
  principles of pharmaceutical care to be
  integrated into the minimum training
• PGEU also stressed the importance of continuing
  professional development CPD
• EAFP endorses the PGEU position adopted in 2004
• It wants a multidisciplinary training programme
  carrying ECTS 300 theoretical, laboratory-based
  and patient-centred
• EAFP also aspires to become an accreditation body
  (Tartu 2006)

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Key issues the 2-cycle qualification

• Reconfiguring an integrated 5-year programme as
  Bachelor Master raises questions in relation
  to
• employability of holders of Bachelor
  qualification
• distribution of theoretical and practical
  elements of curriculum
• distribution of Bachelor-level and Master-level
  study
• continuity of funding to HEIs and to students
• inter-institutional and cross-border mobility
  between cycles
• content and designation of post-graduate
  qualifications

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Key issues learning outcomes

• The Bologna focus on student-centred learning may
  require the re-design of the programme, notably
  by
• Defining learning outcomes from the students
  point of view
• then expressing them as teacher objectives and
  elaborating an appropriate pedagogy
• Ensuring that the sum of module outcomes leads to
  coherent programme outcomes
• Mapping module and programme outcomes on to the
  Dublin descriptors and the national qualification
  framework
• Putting in place assessment methods which are
  consistent with the desired outcomes

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Learning outcomes - definition

• Learning outcomes are
• precise statements of what a learner is
  expected to know, understand and/or be able to
  demonstrate at the end of a period of learning
  involving the exact identification of the skills
  and abilities that a student will have on the
  successful completion of a module/unit and/or
  complete qualification. Stephen Adam,
  http//www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/09/19
  908/42704
• They are regarded as a key feature of
• student-centred HE provision
• HE systems funded on an output basis
• qualifications frameworks built on level
  descriptors
• programme specifications
• credit accumulation systems
• effective lifelong learning provision

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Learning outcomes a priority for Bologna
ministers (London 2007)

• Degree structure Efforts should concentrate in
  future on removing barriers to access and
  progression between cycles and on proper
  implementation of ECTS based on learning outcomes
  and student workload.
• Qualifications frameworks should also help
  HEIs to develop modules and study programmes
  based on learning outcomes and credits, and
  improve the recognition of qualifications as well
  as all forms of prior learning.
• Priorities for 2009 the next stocktaking
  exercise should also address in an integrated way
  national qualifications frameworks, learning
  outcomes and credits, lifelong learning, and the
  recognition of prior learning.

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The student view

• ESU recommends an approach based on competences
  and learning outcomes at all levels of education
  (Bologna with Student Eyes, 2007, p.47, at
  www.esib.org/ )
• The most striking aspect of their introduction
  has been, according to the audit reports, the
  value attached to them by students who appreciate
  the clarity they have brought to the overall
  purpose of their programme, the interrelationship
  between parts of the programme and the nature and
  purpose of assessment tasks.
• (The adoption and use of learning outcomes, QAA
  UK, para.49)
• www.qaa.ac.uk/reviews/institutionalAudit/outcome
  s/learningoutcomes.pdf

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Key issues recognition of prior learning and
continuing professional development

• The Bologna Process is committed to extending RPL
  as a dimension of lifelong learning CPD is a
  second essential dimension of lifelong learning
• The Directive suggests that Member States are
  responsible for ensuring that professionals
  receive CPD on a lifelong learning basis, in
  order to remain informed of new scientific and
  technological developments Recital 39
• Future EU legislation on healthcare services will
  contain reference to CPD

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Key issues quality assurance

• In Bologna, QA means operations consistent with
  the European Standards and Guidelines ESG
• at HEI level, an internal quality culture
  comprising appropriate structures, procedures and
  expectations
• at national level, an agency equipped to
  undertake reliable and valid external
  evaluations
• and which has been successfully reviewed by a
  peer agency
• at European level, voluntary application to the
  European Quality Assurance Register EQAR
• with student participation at all levels

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The Commissions position until recently

• The Commission has expressed a number of specific
  concerns
• EQF is an irrelevance and a source of confusion
  where the sectoral professions are concerned
• Splitting the minimum training into two cycles is
  possible, but problematic in cases of inter-cycle
  mobility how can the compliance of the final
  qualification be guaranteed?
• Learning outcomes cannot be objectively assessed
• RPL and CPD cannot be accommodated by the
  Directive, because only on-course, formal and
  pre-professional learning counts

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Amending the Directive (1)

• There have been long-standing reservations on the
  part of Commission, Member States, and
  professions
• New climate and new timeframe (2012) in which to
  re-engineer the Directive
• New comitology the Committee and the Group of
  Coordinators
• Recital 29 reads
• Where a national and European-level
  professional organisation or association for a
  regulated profession makes a reasoned request for
  specific provisions for the recognition of
  qualifications on the basis of coordination of
  minimum training conditions, the Commission shall
  assess the appropriateness of adopting a proposal
  for the amendment of this Directive.

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Amending the Directive (2)

• Draft Regulation COM(2007)741 if carried into EU
  law, will allow the Commission to amend
  non-essential elements of the Directive, using
  the Regulatory Procedure with Scrutiny
• For RPS, see Decision 2006/512/EC RPS gives more
  power to the Parliament, allowing it to comment
  on comitology resolutions
• In effect, the Committee will become the RPS
  committee
• Need for stakeholders to build consensus and to
  lobby
• EPSA and EAFP questionnaires

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The role of EUA

• A key player in the Bologna Process Follow-up
  Group BFUG promoting mobility, recognition,
  employability, quality assurance and enhancement,
  institutional autonomy
• A stakeholder in European Quality Assurance
  Register EQAR
• A provider of institutional evaluations based on
  peer review
• Committed to HE as a public good, to
  participatory governance, and to adequate funding
• Committed to act as interlocutor in the field of
  professional qualifications and to dialogue with
  HEIs, European Commission, European Parliament,
  and academic, professional, student and
  regulatory bodies

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Thank you for your attention

• howard.davies_at_eua.be