EFEN BASELINE STUDY A baseline study into the Forensic Study Programmes across Europe in light of the establishment of a European Forensic Study Program - 0 -
Table of Contents Introductory comments...- 2-1. About the EFEN Baseline Study...- 2-2. Design and Scope...- 3-3. Methodology...- 3-4. Problems encountered... - 4 - Baseline Results...- 5-1. Number of HEI s/country offering FSP s/fsc s...- 5-2. Variation in content between countries...- 6-3. Faculties vs. FSP s/fsc s...- 7-4. Level of education: BA MA MA+...- 8-5. Conclusion...- 9 - - 1 -
Introductory comments 1. About the EFEN Baseline Study The EFEN initiative is a European Commission-funded project led by a number of European leading universities and institutions; the Erasmus Hogeschool Brussel (EhB) and the Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB) in Belgium, the Società Italiana de Fisica and the Indagini Mediche E Forensi in Italy, Avans Hogeschool in The Netherlands and Staffordshire University in the United Kingdom. Preparations for the EFEN initiative began in 2012 and following a successful ERASMUS funding application and the project went live in September 2015. We are currently producing a number of baseline Forensic Education Provision studies throughout Europe. Following the baseline study's successful completion, the EFEN initiative aims to develop a number of internationally focused forensic postgraduate courses. The EFEN initiative is actively engaging: students interested in the field of forensic sciences, criminologists, lawyers and legal scholars, actors in the field and primary stakeholders with an interest in developing a transnational approach towards forensics as a whole An integral aspect of our successful ERASMUS bid was the creation of a baseline study to ascertain the current level of Forensic Education throughout the European Community. The use of forensic science services within the various Criminal Justice Systems of the EU has risen consistently over the past decade. Accompanied by an increased level of transnational criminal activities: human and drugs trafficking, cybercrime and terrorism. The need for internationally aware Forensic Science Practitioners is immediately apparent. The lack of such has led to a number of investigative and legal failures throughout Europe. One such case was the 2007 abduction and subsequent disappearance of four year old Madeline McCann. Both forces involved criticized and blamed each other for the ultimately unsuccessful and costly investigation. The differences in forensic protocols between forces and the complicated, often lengthy, administrative process was highlighted as being a significant factor by both the British and Portuguese Whilst work is currently being carried out to formalize and standardize forensic protocols and policies throughout Europe. Little or no attention has been given to the importance of standardizing the forensic education provision that is currently available. Universities from European member states teach their students the nationally accepted forensic science protocols without exposing students to the inherent international aspect of forensic sciences. Whether through a lack of knowledge or cooperation, the implications of the current situation affect future cross-border investigations. A lack of international exposure and understanding also - 2 -
reduces the employability of students throughout member states. The significant differences in forensic protocols ultimately leads to the creation of "region specific forensic practitioners" who are unable actively engage in a sector where the demand for international forensic knowledge is a pre-requisite. The work in this project covers the current state of Forensic Study Programmes (FSP) within 27 European Member Nations. Considering both the wide array of FSP s in the UK and the decision of the British government to leave the European Union, the results pertaining to their territory are covered in a separate report. 2. Design and Scope In order to conduct an efficient study, the design and the scope of the subject that was to be studied had to be laid out preemptively. The general idea was to conduct an analysis of the current situation regarding forensic educations in Europe, in order to identify the starting points for the EFEN program. Any education would be considered as forensic when relating to the use of scientific knowledge or methods for crime-solving purposes. An education could either be a full education program or a specific course in any higher education institution (HEI). This means that other training, such as provided by police institutions, are not covered by this study. The territorial limit was set by only considering these countries that are Member States of the European Union. During the course of the EFEN project, the United Kingdom voted a referendum in favor or leaving the EU. As such, we have adjusted our output and provided a second report covering the UK. 3. Methodology For the results to be comparable, a uniform methodology was designed before the actual research began. The first task was to identify all higher education institutions (HEI s) in each and every country. Such list was acquired for every member state, using information that is available on the world wide web. - 3 -
Since traveling to each of these institutions was practically impossible (both in terms of time and money), the second step foresaw a search for FSP s and forensic courses through a thorough analysis of the HEI s website. These were either standalone FSP s, or courses embedded into other educations. The educations taken into consideration are: Medicine, Law/Criminology, Biology, Chemistry, IT, Psychology, Dentistry, Physics, and a last category of other. In a final step, the data gathered for every Member State was sent to the national bureaus and institutes who are members of the ENFSI (European Network of Forensic Science Institutes). They were asked if the data seemed accurate and complete, and were invited to provide us with comments and possible additional information. Less than half of the national contact points (NCP s) replied to our request, but those who did were able to either confirm the information we collected or add to them by providing more inside-information. 4. Problems encountered As during any research, a number of problems were encountered. The main problem were all the different languages that are used inside the EU. Since the study was conducted by Belgian researchers, Dutch and French did not form an issue. Other languages, such as Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian, etc. were translated using an online plug-in translation tool. This allowed the researchers to understand the content of the webpages, although this made it more time-consuming. Sometimes the full curriculum of an education was not made available to third parties, but only to staff and students enrolled at the HEI. This also made it for some HEI s impossible to access the information needed for this study. Furthermore, curricula change over time. Some FSP s or forensic courses were offered in the past, but are not anymore and others may disappear/be replaced/be added in the (near) future. It is important to know that the results of the baseline study capture the situation anno 2016. All these factors play a role and make that the baseline study does not cover ALL of the FSP s or forensic courses available. This would be an unrealistic goal to strive to achieve. Instead, they do present an overall analysis of the situation with as much data as is publicly accessible. - 4 -
Baseline Results 1. Number of HEI s/country offering FSP s/fsc s The first data that was analyzed once it was all gathered, were the number of higher education institutions per country that offered forensic science programs or forensic science courses. Sweden The Netherlands Spain Slovenia Slovakia Romania Portugal Poland Malta Luxembourg Lithuania Latvia Ireland Italy Hungary Greece Germany France Finland Estonia Denmark Czech Republic Cyprus Croatia Bulgaria Belgium Austria 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 The results indicate that Spain, Romania and Germany respectively form the top 3 of countries with the highest number of HEI s offering forensic education. Malta, Luxembourg and Lithuania/Latvia are the countries with the least amount of HEI s offering forensic education. - 5 -
2. Variation in content between countries Secondly, we wanted to know whether the countries with the highest number of HEI s also had the widest array of forensic educational topics. Sweden The Netherlands Spain Slovenia Slovakia Romania Portugal Poland Malta Luxembourg Lithuania Latvia Ireland Italy Hungary Greece Germany France Finland Estonia Denmark Czech Republic Cyprus Croatia Bulgaria Belgium Austria 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 This led to the interesting conclusion that this was partially the case. Germany and Spain remain two of the countries with the most elaborate topical choice in forensic education. Where Romania was in the top 3 in the previous slide, however, Poland has now taken its place. - 6 -
3. Faculties vs. FSP s/fsc s The focus shifts from the country where the course or program is offered, to the faculty in which this program or course is embedded. Medicine Dentistry Informatics Law Psychology Other 16% 5% 41% 31% 3% 4% The Faculty in which most of the forensic programs and courses are embedded, is that of Medicine. This seems logical, since the most common course to be offered, to lawyer, doctors, and other educations alike, is that of Legal/Forensic Medicine. The second largest part of the pie chart represents the Faculty of Law/Criminology. Finally, the Psychology Faculty is the third largest contributor of forensic programs and courses. - 7 -
Austria Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Italy Ireland Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Spain The Netherlands Sweden 4. Level of education: BA MA MA+ In assessing the data, a distinction was made between several levels of education. The first one is BA, referring to Bachelor s degree. The second classification hold programs and courses of MA Master s degree. Finally, the highest classification was that of MA+. This hold programs and courses that feature in Postgraduates, Master after Masters, Programs for professionals, etc. A additional category was foreseen, N/A. This refers to not available, meaning that the exact level of the course (programs are not included in this category), could not be determined since it was not available. 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 BA MA MA+ N/A We notice strong differences among the different countries. The high number of N/A for Poland, however, could not be resolved due to language difficulties. The highest number of MA+ is recorded in Germany, while the highest number of BA is noticed in Ireland. Furthermore, the highest number of MA is recorded in Spain. The MA-category is mostly comprised of courses of forensic nature, embedded in another education however. - 8 -
5. Conclusion The data that was gathered and is annexed to this report, offers a great insight into the current state of the availability of educational forensic programs and courses. As to today, no FSP s (forensic study program) exist that offer the possibility of learning how to deal with transnational cases, both in terms of legal and practical aspects. Herein lies the added value of the EFEN program: established by different European universities and focused on the transnational aspect of cases that cross borders inside the EU, involved students are prepared to deal with increasing transnational crime. - 9 -