1.B Explain the following concepts from the text.

The Bologna Process; inward perspective; to streamline; to steep in academic traditions; globalisation; academia; to bundel forces; harmonisation; compatibility; structural alignment; quilt of national icons; the Sorbonne Declaration; ingenious formulae; cross-evaluation; national credits; the Bologna Declaration; pan-European conference; educational national sovereignty; European Area for Higher Education; the Anglophone world; undergraduate cycle; graduate cycle; credit transfer and accumulation system; international mobility; quality assurance; European dimension in higher education; student-centered system; student workload; learning outcomes; acquired competences; international rally for brains; academic bastions; to revamp; to spark initiatives; the European Commission; to embrace wholeheartedly; the European University Association; the Bologna Signatory States; communique; degree recognition; to ascend; to subscribe; impact; straightforward exercise.

1.C Answer the following questions, using the information from the text.

1. What served as an impetus for European countries to reshape their own educational systems?

2. Why is harmonization a banned word in European Academia?

3. What are the key principles of current reform of educational system in Europe?

4. What elements of the higher education framework of one country can be incompatible with those of another country?

1.D Support or challenge the following statements.

1. It's economically unreasonable to abandon well-established national traditions in education.

2. Academic traditions, like old values, are dying hard.

3. Educational national sovereignty is a thing of the past.

4. Globalisation in higher education is an imperative necessity.

5. Unification of the higher education system of European countries will result in a better qualified and more competitive work force.

2.A Read the following article and do the tasks that follow. Higher Education in Ukraine and the Bologna Process

Requirements and procedures for joining the Bologna Process

When Ministers met in Berlin in September 2003, they adapted the rules for admission of new members to the Bologna Process as follows:

Countries party to the European Cultural Convention shall be eligible for membership of the European Higher Education Area provided that they at the same time declare their willingness to pursue and implement the objectives of the Bologna Process in their own systems of higher education. Their applications should contain information on how they will implement the principles and objectives of the declaration.

Principles

There are some basic principles in the Bologna Declaration and in the subsequent communiques that should be respected by all members of the Process.

– International mobility of students and staff;

– Public responsibility for higher education;

– The social dimension of the Bologna Process.

– Autonomous universities;

– Student participation in the governance of higher education.

They all come from the Bologna Declaration and/or from the Prague and Berlin Communique.

Where does Ukraine stand in relation to these principles?

The situation in Ukraine

From the information available, it can be seen that international mobility is a reality as 10.000 Ukraine student study abroad and 25.000 foreign students study in Ukraine. However, relative to the total number of students in Ukraine, the mobility is low.

The Law on higher education clearly takes higher education as public responsibility. However, the social dimension is only implicitly visible in a paragraph relating to the Specially Authorised Central Body which among its many duties shall identify trends in the higher education area and the impact of the demographic, ethnic, social and economic situation.

The law defines the autonomy (within limits) of higher education institutions. However, student participation in the governance of higher education does not follow from the law as it defines students' self-government bodies having an advisory nature.

Quality assurance system

In Berlin, Ministers defined three intermediate priorities; quality assurance, the two-cycle degree system and recognition of degrees and periods of studies. Specified goals were set for each of these action lines. Member countries will be, participating in a stocktaking exercise covering the three areas of intermediate priority. Potential members will not be part of the stocktaking but may be asked whether they have or when they will have an operational quality assurance system, a degree system and a recognition system satisfying the following requirements of the Berlin Communique:

The primary responsibility for quality assurance should lie with the institutions. The national quality assurance system should include:

– a definition of the responsibilities of the bodies and institutions involved;

– evaluation of programmes or institutions, including internal assessment, external review, participation of students and the publication of results;

– a system of accreditation, certification or comparable procedures.

Two-cycle degree system

A national two-cycle degree system for higher education should have been introduced. Access to the second cycle shall require successful completion of first cycle studies, lasting a minimum of three years. The first degree should also be relevant to the labour market

Recognition of degrees and periods of studies

The Lisbon Recognition Convention should have been ratified.

Every student graduating should receive the Diploma Supplement automatically and free of charge, in a widely spoken European language.

The situation in Ukraine

The Specially Authorised Central Body has the responsibility to guide and control higher education standards and to licence and accredit higher education establishments. How this is done, cannot easily be seen from the available documents. State standards also include a list of higher education trends and specialties. At present this list includes 76 trends and 584 specialties. This may have consequences for the recognition of foreign degrees. However, as Ukraine ratified the Lisbon Convention in 2000, recognition of a foreign degree should be possible, even if it does not directly correspond to one of the 584 specialties.

It may also be remarked, that the system of state standards strongly restricts the autonomy of institutions as regards curricula. Formation of joint degrees with foreign institutions may not be easy.

With regard to the degree system, there seems to be some reluctance at the labour market to accept the Bachelor's degree. This may be related to the lack of a clear understanding of the correlation between the degrees of Bachelor, Specialist and Master, and between a Master and a postgraduate student working on a thesis. Two parallel degree systems can not be a permanent solution.

As the Berlin Communique has introduced the doctoral degree as a third level, some reflections should probably be made on the two-tier system of doctoral degrees in Ukraine and in some other countries.