The Bologna process and its impact in Europe: it's so much more than degree changes.

AuthorTerry, Laurel S.

ABSTRACT

The Bologna Process is a massive, multi-year project designed to create the "European Higher Education Area" by the year 2010. It began ten years ago, when four European Union (EU) countries signed a relatively vague declaration. It has grown to include forty-six countries, including all of the EU Member States and nineteen non-EU countries. The Bologna Process countries have agreed on ten "action lines" for restructuring European higher education. These action lines are nothing short of revolutionary--they address everything from a three-cycle degree system (e.g., bachelor-master's-doctorate degrees), European-wide quality assurance efforts, mobility of higher education students and staff, "recognition" in one European country of studies undertaken in another European country, and the suitability of education for the marketplace. Because of the number of countries participating in the Bologna Process, its ambitious goals, and its demonstrated commitment to achieving those goals, the Bologna Process is an extremely significant development that will be important not only in Europe but elsewhere in the world. This Article is designed to provide "one-stop shopping" for understanding the Bologna Process, which will allow the reader to learn about all of its initiatives and action lines, and to understand and place in context future developments. This Article covers developments through the May 2007 London Ministerial meeting. It concludes with an examination of the impact of the Bologna Process on European higher education, including legal education.

TABLE OF CONTENTS I. AN OVERVIEW OF THE BOLOGNA PROCESS A. Origins, Ongoing Ministerial Meetings, and Communiques B. Ten Action Lines C. Bologna Process Administration II. PLACING THE BOLOGNA PROCESS IN CONTEXT: PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS AND OTHER BOLOGNA PROCESS STAKEHOLDERS A. The European Union and its Higher Education Initiatives 1. Introduction: EU Member States Have Traditionally Regulated Higher Education 2. The Socrates and Erasmus Programs 3. European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) 4. EU's Lisbon Strategy 5. Eurydice 6. The Morgenbesser Case 7. Other EU Initiatives B. Intergovernmental Participating Organizations and their Initiatives 1. UNESCO (including the UNESCO Centre for Higher Education, known as UNESCO-CEPES) 2. Council of Europe 3. The European Cultural Convention 4. The 1997 Council of Europe/UNESCO Lisbon Convention 5. Diploma Supplement 6. ENIC/NARIC Networks 7. OECD/UNESCO Guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross-Border Higher Education C. Other Bologna Process Participating Organizations and Stakeholders 1. European University Association (EUA) 2. European Association of Institutions in Higher Education (EURASHE) 3. European Students' Union (ESU, formerly ESIB) 4. European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) 5. Education International Pan-European Structure 6. BusinessEurope (formerly UNICE) 7. The Tuning Project 8. Other Organizations D. European Legal Education and its Stakeholders 1. Introduction--Legal Education and Legal Practice in the EU 2. European Law Faculties Association (ELFA) and its QUAACAS Committee 3. CCBE 4. ELSA and Other Organizations III. THE HISTORY AND COMPONENTS OF THE BOLOGNA PROCESS A. The 1998 Sorbonne Declaration B. The 1999 Bologna Declaration and Aftermath 1. The Bologna Declaration 2. Post-Bologna Follow-up Work C. The 2001 Prague Communique and Aftermath 1. The Prague Communique 2. Post-Prague Follow-up Work D. The 2003 Berlin Communique and Aftermath 1. Berlin Communique 2. Post-Berlin Follow-up Work 3. The 2005 Stocktaking Report E. The 2005 Bergen Communique and Aftermath 1. The Bergen Communique 2. Adoption of the EHEA Qualifications Framework 3. Adoption of the European Quality Assurance Standards and Guidelines 4. Post-Bergen Follow-up Work 5. The 2007 Stocktaking F. The 2007 London Communique and Aftermath 1. The London Communique 2. Post-London Follow-up Work 3. The 2009 Stocktaking Exercise G. Summary IV. THE IMPACT OF THE BOLOGNA PROCESS ON EUROPEAN HIGHER EDUCATION A. The Scorecard Data in the 2007 Stocktaking B. Additional Items Subject to Stocktaking C. The Stocktaking Conclusions D. Other Evaluations of the Impact of the Bologna Process V. THE EFFECT OF THE BOLOGNA PROCESS ON EUROPEAN LEGAL EDUCATION VI. CONCLUSION VII. APPENDIX 1 VIII. APPENDIX 2 IX. APPENDIX 3 European countries are in the midst of a massive project called the Bologna Process that is dramatically changing the face of higher education in Europe. (1) One goal of the Bologna Process is to create something called the "European Higher Education Area" by the year 2010 (2) Although the Bologna Process is an extremely high profile issue in Europe, (3) it has not received much attention from the U.S. legal community. (4) A few U.S. law-review articles have focused on one or two aspects of the Bologna Process, but none have provided a comprehensive overview; furthermore, many individuals think that its primary goal is to convert European universities to a bachelor-master degree structure. (5) Although the U.S. legal community has not paid particularly close attention to the Bologna Process, the U.S. Department of Education and other U.S. higher education entities have been following Bologna Process developments and are well aware of their potential impact in the United States. (6)

Because of the scope and breadth of the Bologna Process, its impact could be felt across the entire U.S. legal community and law school curriculum. With respect to law schools, for example, there are numerous Bologna Process initiatives or offshoots that could affect a law professor teaching property, torts, contracts, antitrust, or any other subject. (7) The Bologna Process has led to (a) initiatives to define the "outcomes" or "competences" that European students should have, (b) discussions about "recognition" processes for students (and lawyers) who have studied elsewhere, (c) efforts to develop transnational quality-assurance standards, (d) initiatives to make higher education more responsive to the needs of business and industry and help Europe become the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world, and (e) efforts to develop common curricular standards. (8) This latter point is particularly important for the U.S. legal community. If representatives from forty-six European countries were to decide that European students studying "X" area of law needed to master certain substantive law concepts, because of the size of Europe and the global nature of the U.S. economy, it would be important for U.S. lawyers and students to be familiar with those substantive concepts as well. (9)

The goal of this Article is to provide a comprehensive overview to those persons who are interested in learning more about the Bologna Process. Simply put, the Article aims to provide "one-stop shopping' with respect to the Bologna Process. After finishing this Article, the reader should be able to navigate the multiple Bologna Process websites, find documents of interest, and understand the context and meaning of those documents. This Article includes the important developments from the May 2007 Bologna Process Ministerial Meeting held in London. In doing so, this Article provides the background and context that will be necessary to understand the developments that will take place at the next Ministerial Meeting, which will be held in May 2009. (10)

Part I of this Article provides an overview of the Bologna Process and the ten "action lines" it has adopted to implement the European Higher Education Area. (11) Part II provides necessary contextual information; it identifies initiatives of the Bologna Process "participating organizations" and explains the relationship of those initiatives to the Bologna Process. Part III explores the history and development of the Bologna Process initiatives. Part IV addresses the impact of the Bologna Process on European higher education, and Part V addresses its impact on European legal education specifically. This Article also includes three Appendices. Appendix 1 identifies the overlapping memberships of each Bologna Process country. Appendix 2 presents the results of the 2005 and 2007 Stocktaking exercises. Appendix 3 summarizes existing data about the impact of the Bologna Process on European legal education.

  1. AN OVERVIEW OF THE BOLOGNA PROCESS

    1. Origins, Ongoing Ministerial Meetings, and Communiques

      The Bologna Process began in 1998 with a written understanding signed by the Ministers of four European Union (EU) countries. (12) By 2007, the Bologna Process had expanded to forty-six participating countries, including all twenty-seven of the EU countries and nineteen non-EU countries. (13) The number of participating countries is likely to expand in the future. (14) The goal of the Bologna Process is exceedingly ambitious; it plans to remake the face of higher education in these forty-six countries and form the so-called European Higher Education Area (EHEA) by the year 2010. (15)

      The goals of the EHEA and the Bologna Process have evolved through a series of biennial meetings and the work leading up to those meetings. (16) Between 1998 and 2007, the education Ministers of the Bologna Process countries met six times. (17) During each of these meetings, they significantly expanded the Bologna Process objectives and work program. (18) The results of the first two meetings are contained in the 1998 Sorbonne Declaration and the 1999 Bologna Declaration, (19) and the results of the next four meetings are memorialized in the 2001 Prague Communique, (20) the 2003 Berlin Communique, (21) the 2005 Bergen Communique, (22) and the 2007 London Communique. (23)

      During the 2005 meeting, the Ministers adopted two additional documents that are currently being implemented by Bologna Process members: the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT