The impact of the Bologna Declaration on European engineering education TORBJÖRN HEDBERG 1

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1 The impact of the Bologna Declaration on European engineering education TORBJÖRN HEDBERG 1 The Bologna Declaration will lead to fundamental changes of the architecture of European higher education. The paper analyses possible consequences for Engineering Education and describes some of the different ways in which European countries have implemented the Declaration. How the application- oriented shorter engineering education should fit into the Bologna scheme remains a major problem. 1. Introduction When the European ministers of education signed the Bologna Declaration in June 1999 they committed themselves, and engaged their countries, to fundamental changes within their higher education system. This commitment was furthermore confirmed in Prague 2 years later where they underlined the crucial role of lifelong learning and the importance of the involvement of students. The Declaration deals with central questions and it will most certainly have a con- siderable influence on European universities in the coming years. Although the ministers did not define in detail what they understand by 'European area of higher education', it is obvious that mobility, transparency, compatibility and comparability are -important keywords. European higher education should be promoted to the rest of the world as a single coherent system. The ministers were clearly concerned by the fact that the higher education of continental Europe seems to have lost some of its attractiveness for non-european students. How the Declaration should be implemented is far from obvious and there are many ways to interpret its suggestions. The many different ways in which the various European states have reacted give ample proof for this statement. This is also an ongoing process, which means that any information given, including this article, runs the risk of rapidly becoming obsolete. 2. Is engineering education concerned? The Declaration talks about higher education and universities without making clear whether the intention is that it should be applied to all kinds post-secondary education or if there are some sectors that could be excluded. The authors of the Declaration seem, however, primarily to have had the general non-professional university education in mind-the classical faculties of arts, letters and science-and not professional education such as law, medicine, pharmaceutics, teacher training and engineering. As it turns out, nobody seems to think that medical studies should be reorganized according to the model proposed by the Declaration. The author of this paper is of the opinion that the same arguments as for medicine also apply to engineering education, but has to accept the fact that the different stakeholders act on the assumption that it should be a part of the process. 3. The objectives of the declaration The vast majority of educators and universities share the general aims of the Declaration and most of the stated objectives are not controversial. Few would thus object to the adoption of a system of easily readable and comparable degrees. The Diploma Supplement 1 Department of Mathematics, Lulea University of Technology, S Lulea, Sweden. torbjorn.hedberg@sm.luth.se

2 ( will most probably provide a good tool. That mobility should be promoted by over- coming obstacles to the effective exercise of free movement is a widely supported idea as well as the 'promotion of European co-operation in quality assurance with a view to develop comparable criteria and methodologies'.the same applies to the 'promotion of the necessary European dimension in higher education, particularly with regards to curricular development, inter-institutional co-operation, mobility schemes and integrated programmes of study, training and research'. The introduction of a common credit system such as the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS, also raises few objections, although this is more difficult in some countries than in others. But receiving universities must keep the right to decide whether or not credits acquired elsewhere should be recognized. The Declaration should not be allowed to lead to a situation where universities are no longer able to take responsibility for the quality of the degrees they confer. The most controversial part of the Declaration and the one that has created the most discussion is the following: Adoption of a system essentially based on two main cycles, undergraduate and graduate. Access to the second cycle shall require successful completion of first cycle studies, lasting a minimum of three years. The degree awarded after the first cycle shall also be relevant to the European labour market as an appropriate level of qualification. The second cycle should lead to the master and/or doctorate degree as in many European countries. The Declaration does not prescribe a so-called system-with 3 years for a Bachelor's degree, another 2 years for a Master's and 3 more for a PhD. This is unfortunately a common misunderstanding. The Declaration does not even specify that the first cycle should have a length of exactly 3 years; what is said is only that it should be at least 3 years. This part of the Declaration is sometimes taken to mean that (continental) Europe should switch over to some kind of Anglo- American Bachelor/Master system. This is an oversimplification as the normal academic background for a UK or us graduate engineer is a 4-year integrated curriculum leading to a MEng or to a BSc, respectively. 4. Is there a need for a new degree? There is undoubtedly a certain resistance in many universities to the introduction of a Bachelor/Master system. 'Normal' academic opposition against change could explain part of this resistance, but it is also a fact that the engineering education system that today dominates on the European continent already satisfies very high demands on transparency, readability and comparability. The author shares the opinion that the classical European integrated 5-year Ingenieur Diplomé/Diplomingenieur 'Diploma Engineer' programmes are already compatible with the idea of a European area of higher education. It should therefore be possible, in the future, to allow universities to organize the road to the 'Master's 'degree in different ways, either as a classical integrated 5-year programme, as a or a 4 + I BSc/MSc programme, or according to the French model. Some may also regret that the degree levels in the Bologna process are defined by time served rather than being related to learning outcomes.

3 5. How has the declaration been implemented? How the Declaration is being interpreted and applied varies from country to country. It is therefore not yet really possible to talk about a new European system. The ECTS system and the Diploma Supplement are being introduced. In some countries this is a legal obligation and in others it is done on a voluntary basis. It is also fair to assume that obstacles to mobility are being removed, in line with the Declaration. There are also some signs of an increasing European co-operation on quality issues. The situation concerning the two-tier system is more sensible and complicated. The five largest member countries of the European Union have each chosen different approaches, at least for the time being. The Italian authorities have taken the lead and Italy has already made drastic reforms and rapidly introduced a two-tier system in full accordance with the Declaration. It has also been decided that the new degree system should replace the older one.. Britain seems to be satisfied with its present system. The declaration is often interpreted as a support of the present British system. Even if some discussion has started there are no indications of any reform that can be traced to the Declaration. Germany has introduced a two-tier system, although this reform process was initiated well before the Declaration. The new system will also exist in parallel with the old one. The German picture is also complicated by the Fachhochschule! Technical University dichotomy. The French Ministry of Education published new regulations in May This will bring the French university system closer to the principles of the Declaration, but it does not seem to affect the structure of the classical and well-established French system for engineering education, namely 2 years of 'classes preparatoires' followed by 3 years at the Grandes Ecoles. Spain has not yet introduced any structural changes as a consequence of the Declaration. The main actors are today more concerned by the new 'Ley de Ordenación Universitaria' than by the Bologna Declaration. Some observers even deduce that this new Law is a move in the opposite direction, away from a two-tier structure (Dominguez 2002). To this list of larger countries, Poland could be added. The Polish system of engineering education has gradually changed into a two-tier system since 1997, and locally even earlier. The Declaration has thus not triggered the development, but it does influence the further development of the reform and encourages the reformers. Polish universities have the initiative, and the movement towards a two-tier structure is not co-ordinated by any central authority. As far as the rest of Europe is concerned, it seems that many of the smaller countries pay more attention to what has been signed in Bologna than the bigger ones, with the exception of Italy. Furthermore, for many Eastern and Central European states the Declaration gives a natural opportunity to restructure education according to a 'West European norm' and prepare their entry into the European Union. A number of European countries have had a two-tier system for some years, quite independently of the Bologna Declaration. To this group belong not only the UK, Ireland, Germany and Poland, but

4 also Russia, Slovakia, Estonia and Lithuania. The Russian two-tier system was introduced in 1992 and the Lithuanian system in Other European countries can be grouped into three main categories: Countries where the governmental authorities have decided to introduce or probably will decide in the near future to introduce a system. In this group we find Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Finland, the Netherlands and Belgium (Flemish Community)..Countries where the decision is left to the universities. To this category belong Austria, Switzerland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Portugal..Countries where no decision has been taken and where the existing system can be expected to prevail for the time being. This category contains countries such as Hungary, Romania, French-speaking Belgium and Sweden. The countries where the introduction of a system has been decided upon, or is likely to be decided upon, follow different patterns. Some of them have more or less clearly 4 indicated that the two-tier system will replace the classical 5-year one. To this group, belong countries such as Belgium, Finland, Iceland and Italy. In other countries the two systems will remain side by side, even if the intention in the long term might be to have only one model. To this group belong Germany, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Russia and Denmark. Austria and Switzerland will allow both models, but for any given curriculum in a university only one system may persist. 6. Relevant for the labour market? The simplest way to introduce a two-tier structure would obviously be to make a formal division of an existing 5-year curriculum, without making any fundamental changes of its structure, and create a diploma to be delivered after 3 years, say a BSc. Such a 3-year degree could hardly be said to fulfill the Bologna requirement of being 'relevant to the European labour market as an appropriate level of qualification'. It would, however, facilitate student mobility, either to a new university, to a new country or to a new field of academic study. Many countries, where an intermediate degree 3- year is introduced, have opted for a solution not too different from the one described above, with an 'academic' first cycle degree, preparing for a second cycle. This seems, for instance, to be the case in Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium (both the French-speaking and the Dutch-speaking communities). Other countries, such as Italy, Austria, Norway, Lithuania and maybe Germany, have chosen to stay closer to the spirit of the Declaration. In addition to the longer engineering education, most European countries today also offer a more application-oriented one, typically of 3 years' duration. These curricula are usually not designed as a suitable preparation for further study towards a Master's degree or equivalent, even if it is possible to enter the longer programme at an appropriate level. The numerous graduates from these shorter programmes have a strong position in the labour market. 7. Conclusion The process that started in Paris on the occasion of the 800th anniversary of the Sorbonne has developed into a series of educational reforms that no doubt will facilitate student mobility and

5 mutual recognition, strengthen European higher education and make it more attractive to non- European students. A successful implementation of the Declaration must, however, respect the particular conditions and circumstances for engineering education. One of these special circumstances is the existence of two types of engineers, the 'ingenieur de conception and the 'ingénieur d'application'. How the shorter application-oriented curricula should fit into the Bologna scheme and how they can be made to survive side by side with new intermediate 'Bachelor's' degrees is far from obvious. This may in fact be the main problem in the Bologna process, as far as engineering education is concerned. Reference DOMINGUEZ, U., 2002, Spanish engineering curricula. Moving towards the European Higher, Engineering Space? SEFI Annual Conference, Florence. About the author Torbjorn Hedberg is a Professor of Mathematics at Lulea. University of Technology, Sweden, and was President of this university from 1979 to He then became Director of the Ecole Européenne d'ingenieurs en Genie des Materiaux (EEIGM), Nancy, France, until He served as President of SEFI from 1999 to He obtained his PhD in Mathematics from Uppsala University in 1971 after studies in Uppsala and Orsay. He has served on a number of national (Swedish) boards and committees for engineering education and industrial development and is currently a member of the boards of EEIGM and ENSTA, France.

The recognition, evaluation and accreditation of European Postgraduate Programmes.

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