Conformity or confusion? Changing higher education grading scales as a part of the Bologna Process: the cases of Denmark, Norway and Sweden

2009 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bettinal Lien Dahl ◽  
Åsa Lindberg-Sand
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Bologna Process ◽  
Classification Systems ◽  
General Level ◽  
Grading Scale ◽  
Intended Learning Outcomes ◽  
The Bologna Process ◽  
Grading Scales

The aim of the Bologna Process is to make higher education systems across Europe more transparent. It is crucial for this purpose that confusion concerning the characteristics of the systems should be replaced by conformity. But, as we will show, conformity brought about at one level may create confusion at another. The curricular aspect of the Bologna Process focuses on a shift to outcome-based and student-centred programmes. Syllabi should now be based on intended learning outcomes (ILOs) and should be adjusted to general level descriptors for qualifications. However, the Bologna documents give no explicit recommendations about the use of grading scales. In Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the reforms of higher education induced by the Bologna process included a change of grading scales and referred to the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS). Through these three case studies, we describe and analyse the political process and argumentation underpinning the decisions to change the grading scales in each country. This includes the problems, both experienced and perceived, with the old grading scales, the various national assessment traditions and the new grading scales. The purpose of the change was not the same in each country, but the ongoing adaptation to a seven-step grading scale was thought to ease the international recognition of the national grades, making mobility easier. Though a seven-step grading scale was implemented in both Danish and Norwegian higher education and also by an increasing number of Swedish higher education institutions, the translation of grades only works on a superficial level. The grading scales designed are fundamentally different as classification systems; they attach different numerical values to grades with identical labels and they relate differently to norm- and standards-referenced judgements of learning outcomes. The information condensed in similar grades from the three countries cannot be equated. The vision of simple transparency turns out to be an illusion.

scholarly journals Columbus’ Egg? Qualifications Frameworks, Sectoral Profiles and Degree Programme Profiles in Higher Education

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Wagenaar
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Bologna Process ◽  
Reference Points ◽  
International Mobility ◽  
Programme Design ◽  
Subject Areas ◽  
Modernization Process ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Bologna Process

During the last 25 years international mobility has become paramount in higher education. International and national authorities and higher education institutions have set-up effective structures to facilitate and implement this process. It has become part of a higher education modernization process which obtained a serious push with the start and development of the Bologna Process in Europe as of 1999. However the same authorities have been far less active in finding answers on how to facilitate this process in terms of curriculum development, quality assurance and recognition. The initiative was largely left to individuals supported by their employing organizations. These have proven to be visionaries. Their efforts have led to competence and learning outcomes based descriptors for meta-qualifications frameworks and to important reference points / meta profiles for subject areas. Academics have been strongly involved in developing the latter and by doing so have offered a more sustainable basis for implementing reforms based on the student-centred approach, which is so relevant for today’s world in terms of employability and citizenship. The most recent development has been the development of Tuning sectoral qualifications frameworks which allow for bridging the two European meta-frameworks, the EQF for Lifelong Learning and the QF for the European Higher Education Area, with sectoral and degree profiles. This can be seen as a breakthrough initiative because it offers us a transparent model which is developed and owned by academics and can easily be used by all involved in programme design and development, quality enhancement and assurance and recognition of (periods of) studies.

scholarly journals Acquisition of general competences using project-based learning

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula M. Castro ◽  
Francisco Laport ◽  
Adriana Dapena ◽  
Francisco J. Vazquez-Araujo
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Bologna Process ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Project Based Learning ◽  
Project Work ◽  
Explicit Learning ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Transferable Skills ◽  
The Bologna Process

During years, professors of higher education focused on the outcome of the assimilation of information through learning (i.e., in the acquisition of knowledge).  In a European context, the Bologna Process has accelerated and spread the process of defining explicit learning outcomes for higher education programs, including those in terms of general competences and transferable skills. Our teaching experience in engineering degrees have shown that these students have difficulties for understanding the math basics of some disciplines. For greater effectiveness in knowledge acquisition, we consider as an essential issue the inclusion of laboratory activities based on computer simulations performed using software. For acquiring those general competences and transferable skills, our proposal also includes several projects in which our students must develop skills such as communication, teamwork or problem solving. We have observed that such projects allow students the development of their creativity, an improvement in oral and written communication, and also an optimal training for the B.S. degree project work and even for their future professional life.

scholarly journals Qualifications frameworks for the European Higher Education Area: a new instrumentalism or 'Much Ado about Nothing'?

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Berit Karseth
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Bologna Process ◽  
Curriculum Theory ◽  
Traditional Curriculum ◽  
European Higher Education Area ◽  
Much Ado About Nothing ◽  
Institutional Responses ◽  
European Higher Education ◽  
The Bologna Process

The purpose of this article is to explore the development of qualifications frameworks as a key element in the Bologna Process, which aims to develop a European Higher Education Area by 2010. By setting up descriptors of learning outcomes, a European qualifications framework is intended as an instrument that enables Europe to coordinate and exchange qualifications. Furthermore, the article analyses the proposal of a national qualifications framework in Norway and institutional responses to it. Despite general support for the idea of a framework, the analysis shows that the institutions question the possibility of a qualifications framework that fits all types of educational programmes.With reference to curriculum theory the article concludes that the idea of a qualifications framework based on measurable learning outcomes represents a turn towards an instrumental curriculum approach in higher education, in contrast to a traditional curriculum approach which foregrounds disciplinary content and its mastery. Drawing on institutional theory the article also questions the possible impact of qualifications frameworks in higher education.

scholarly journals Can Students' Concept of Learning Influence Their Learning Outcomes?

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Despina Varnava Marouchou
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Bologna Process ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Font Size ◽  
Conceptions Of Learning ◽  
European Universities ◽  
University Course ◽  
The University ◽  
The Bologna Process

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">This paper aims to readdress the lack of empirical data concerning university learning and in particular the dynamics students’ conceptions of learning may have on students’ learning outcomes. This paper is written at a time when the EU commission for Higher Education (HE) through the Bologna Process declaration has put into action, since 1999, a series of reforms needed to make European Higher Education compatible, efficient and competitive for students and academics alike. One of the reforms was the development of learning outcomes in the form of the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS). </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">As part of the process the European universities require to identify and describe the learning outcomes a student is supposed to achieve, in a particular course. The learning outcomes are, now, expected to be clearly specified in all the university course syllabuses. </span></p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><br />The main argument stated within this paper is that the design of effective learning outcomes, such as the ECTS, especially for curriculum development, cannot be successfully achieved in the absence of the students’ own experience of how they conceive learning to be, including the methods (approaches) they use for learning. Thus, the first aim of this investigation is to analyse the students’ conceptions of learning and the second aim is to examine, through prior research evidence, the effects these conceptions may have on learning approaches and specifically on learning outcomes.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><br />Drawing on a 2007 study of Cypriot students’ conceptions of learning, this paper discusses the possibility of a relation between these issues and outlines the importance of taking them into consideration when exploring learning outcomes, curriculum and syllabus design and the professional development of faculty.</p></span>

scholarly journals Problems of Introducing a Competence Based Learning within the Context of Bologna Process

Pedagogika ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 121 (1) ◽  
pp. 187-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rimantas Želvys ◽  
Aliya Akzholova
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Bologna Process ◽  
Essential Difference ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Educational Management ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Central Asian Countries ◽  
Project Participants ◽  
The Bologna Process

The article analyzes the problems of applying a competence-based learning in higher education. The Bologna process and development of common European higher education area (EHEA) is perhaps the most ambitious project initiated in higher education during the last several decades in Europe. However, not only European nations are involved in the Bologna process. In 2009 the Republic of Kazakhstan also became a member of the Bologna movement. The other Central Asian countries – Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – do not formally participate in the Bologna process, but are inevitably affected by changes initiated by the Bologna declaration in the area of higher education. In order to support the development of educational studies along the Bologna lines, the European Commission funded the TEMPUS project „Modernization and Development of Curricula on Pedagogy and Educational Management in the Central Asian countries (EDUCA)“. Analysis of study programs developed in the course of implementation the TEMPUS project “Modernization and Development of Curricula on Pedagogy and Educational Management in the Central Asian countries (EDUCA)” showed that project participants encountered threefold problems of introducing a competence-based approach. The goal and objectives of the current study were to discuss these three strands of problems. The problems of defining competences are reflected in certain difficulties of including the component of ethical values. The problems of classifying competences are determined by attempts of the project participants to specify the broad classification offered by the Tuning methodology. The problems of differentiating between the competences and the learning outcomes arise due to the vague understanding of the participants what is the difference between the two concepts. They tend to treat them as synonimous, though in reality there is an essential difference. Competences are the qualities developed by the learner while learning outcomes are determined by the academic staff. Further clarification of the concept of competences will be needed in order to place the programs completely within the context of Bologna process.

Academic Course Evaluation

2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 297-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edith Braun ◽  
Bernhard Leidner
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Education Reform ◽  
Bologna Process ◽  
Course Evaluation ◽  
Higher Education Reform ◽  
Teaching Behavior ◽  
Personal Benefit ◽  
Quality Of Higher Education ◽  
Confirmatory Factor ◽  
The Bologna Process

This article contributes to the conceptual and empirical distinction between (the assessment of) appraisals of teaching behavior and (the assessment of) self-reported competence acquirement within academic course evaluation. The Bologna Process, the current higher-education reform in Europe, emphasizes education aimed toward vocationally oriented competences and demands the certification of acquired competences. Currently available evaluation questionnaires measure the students’ satisfaction with a lecturer’s behavior, whereas the “Evaluation in Higher Education: Self-Assessed Competences” (HEsaCom) measures the students’ personal benefit in terms of competences. In a sample of 1403 German students, we administered a scale of satisfaction with teaching behavior and the German version of the HEsaCom at the same time. Using confirmatory factor analysis, the estimated correlations between the various scales of self-rated competences and teaching behavior appraisals were moderate to strong, yet the constructs were shown to be empirically distinct. We conclude that the self-rated gains in competences are distinct from satisfaction with course and instructor. In line with the higher education reform, self-reported gains in competences are an important aspect of academic course evaluation, which should be taken into account in the future and might be able to restructure the view of “quality of higher education.” The English version of the HEsaCom is presented in the Appendix .

Promoting Autonomous Learning through Self-, Peer-, and Co-assessment to Ensure High Quality in Georgian Higher Education (a case study of International Black Sea University, Georgia)

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Irma MESIRIDZE ◽  
Nino TVALTCHRELIDZE
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Black Sea ◽  
Communication Technology ◽  
Bologna Process ◽  
Education Quality ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Higher Education Quality ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
The Bologna Process

The Bologna Process, Information and Communication Technology, and market forces have brought manyinnovations and great changes to higher education systems throughout Europe. Reforms in higher educationhave taken a new direction, towards making higher education students more autonomous. However, manycountries have not really adopted this innovative way of teaching and still maintain an old ‘transmission’ stylewhich often entails teachers trying to pour knowledge into the minds of their students. Promoting autonomouslearning (the ability of students to manage their own learning) in higher education is crucial both for theindividual and society, as the idea of an academic student comprises critical reflective thinking and theimportance of becoming an independent learner. This article will discuss the importance of promotingautonomous learning throughout self, peer and co-assessment for higher education quality enhancement. Thepaper will examine the case of International Black Sea University’s MA students enrolled in the Higher EducationManagement program. The analyses of a survey will be used to discuss the significance of autonomous learningfor students and their readiness for self, peer and co-assessment.

scholarly journals The Bologna Process. Academic Mobility in Romanian Technical Higher Education

2012 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. 2229-2233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liliana-Luminiţa Todorescu ◽  
Anca Greculescu ◽  
Gabriel Mugurel Dragomir
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Bologna Process ◽  
Academic Mobility ◽  
The Bologna Process

ORGANIZATION OF INTERUNIVERSITY COOPERATION AS ONE OF THE STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS OF INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF UNIVERSITY

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 50-60
Author(s):  
SVETLANA KOBACHEVSKAYA
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Bologna Process ◽  
State Pedagogical ◽  
Current Article ◽  
International Activities ◽  
The University ◽  
The Bologna Process

In the current article, the viewpoints of the Belarusian and foreign scientists and experts on the organization of international cooperation in Higher Education Institutions within the Bologna process are analyzed, the directions of organization of interuniversity cooperation of the university are considered, the experience of Belarusian State Pedagogical University named after Maxim Tank in this direction and the objectives of interuniversity development are defined.

scholarly journals The Lithuanian Case of Higher Education Reforms in Europe

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liudvika Leisyte
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Bologna Process ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
The State ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Education Reforms ◽  
Higher Education Reforms ◽  
The Bologna Process

The Bologna process has spurred higher education reforms in various European countries. Higher education reforms in Lithuania took place rather incrementally and represented an interaction between two strong powers—the state and the academic oligarchy. In the 1990s, the structural changes at the forefront of the Bologna-related reforms in Lithuania, but higher education reforms have remained stagnant in Lithuania. It is too early to draw conclusions about the success of the reforms, but the involvement of various stakeholders and the vision of broad reforms increase hopes for prospects of a more radical change of the Lithuanian higher education landscape.

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