Joint Degrees – a Hallmark of the European Higher Education Area?
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Berlin, 21-22 September 2006 Joint Degrees – A Hallmark of the European Higher Education Area? Offi cial Bologna Seminar CONFERENCE REPORT AND RELEVANT DOCUMENTS Official Bologna Seminar CONFERENCE REPORT AND RELEVANT DOCUMENTS Berlin, 21-22 September 2006 Joint Degrees – A Hallmark of the European Higher Education Area? Editor DAAD HRK Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst Hochschulrektorenkonferenz German Academic Exchange Service German Rectors’ Conference Kennedyallee 50, 53175 Bonn Ahrstraße 39, 53175 Bonn Project Coordination Dr. Siegbert Wuttig, Dr. Peter Zervakis This publication has been funded by the European Commission and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The publication reflects only the views of the authors. Neither the European Commission nor the Ministry can be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. Joint Degrees – A Hallmark of the European Higher Education Area? Introduction In the Bergen Conference of 2005, the Ministers responsible for Higher Education in the Bologna Member States defined the awarding and recognition of joint degrees at the Bachelor, Master and Doctorate level as one of the fields in which they will look for progress in their next Bologna Conference in London 2007. In this context the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) organised the official Bologna seminar “Joint degrees – a hallmark of the European Higher Education Area?” on 21/22 September 2006 in Berlin. Higher education experts from more than 30 Bologna signatory countries attended the conference. The conference participants underlined the impor- tance of joint degree programmes for intensifying the inter-institutional cooperation and increasing the number of mobile students in the European Higher Education Area and for making Europe more attrac- tive to students from other parts of the world. However, the discussions clearly showed that the number of “true” joint degrees is still rather low and further progress is needed especially regarding national legal provisions, recognition, quality assurance, and funding to make the joint degree programmes a real key element of the Bologna Process. The conference participants also stressed that more and better informa- tion and support should be given to European higher education institutions when developing joint degree programmes. The main results and recommendations of the Bologna seminar in Berlin are contained in this conference report. In addition, the background documents on joint degrees for the Berlin seminar are included. We do hope that the conference results and recommendations (also available on the official website of the British Bologna Secretariat: www.dfes.gov.uk/bologna) will be useful for the discussions of the European Ministers responsible for higher education in the London Ministerial Conference on 17/18 May 2007. Last but not least, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to Professor Hans Rainer Friedrich for his excellent conference report and to all seminar participants for their contributions in making the con- ference a success. Special thanks go out to the European Commission and our Federal Ministry of Education and Research for funding the Bologna seminar. Dr. Siegbert Wuttig Dr. Peter Zervakis (DAAD) (HRK) 3 Joint Degrees – A Hallmark of the European Higher Education Area? Content page Introduction . 3 Content . 5 Final Report of the Official Bologna Seminar “Joint Degrees – A Hallmark of the European Higher Education Area?” Prof. Hans R. Friedrich . 7 Definitions of Joint Degrees . 15 Results of questionnaires on the institutionalisation of Joint Degrees sent to Bologna Follow-Up Group members German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) . 17 Results of the Survey on Study Programmes awarding Double, Multiple or Joint Degrees Friedhelm Maiworm, Gesellschaft für Empirische Studien bR . 29 Guidelines for Quality Enhancement in European Joint Master Programmes European University Association (EUA) . 51 Qualitätssicherung in binationalen und trinationalen Studiengängen Prof. Dr. Dieter Leonhard, Deutsch-Französische Hochschule . 69 Assurance-qualité dans les cursus binationaux et trinationaux Prof. Dr. Dieter Leonhard, L’Université franco-allemande . 77 “The European Higher Education Area – Achieving the Goals”, Bergen Communiqué (2005) . 85 Recommendations for the Development of Double Diplomas and Joint Degrees German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) . 89 Recommendation on the Recognition of Joint Degrees Council of Europe/UNESCO (2004) . 93 “Realising the European Higher Education Area”, Berlin Communiqué (2003) . 97 “Integrated curricula – Implications and Prospects”, Mantova Report (2003) . 103 “The Development of Joint Degrees”, Stockholm Conclusions (2002) . 107 5 Final Report of the Bologna Seminar „Joint Degrees – A Hallmark of the European Higher Education Area?“ Rapporteur General, Prof. Hans R. Friedrich Joint Degrees – A Hallmark of the European Higher Education Area? Under the auspices of the German Rectors Conference (3) Competent authorities at the national and the (HRK)1 and the German Academic Exchange Service European level should be asked to compile a survey (DAAD)2 and financed by the European Commission, and describe existing double, multiple and joint Directorate-General for Education and Culture3, and the degree programmes to better illustrate the benefit of German Federal Ministry of Education and Research an these programmes and their European value both in official Bologna seminar4 on questions and strategies terms of globally competitive academic education and related to the awarding of “Joint Degrees” in the Euro- employment perspectives. Such studies could be initi- pean Higher Education Area (EHEA) was held on Sep- ated simultaneously at national and European level. 5 tember 21-22, 2006 in the Ludwig Erhard Haus , Berlin. (4) There are different criteria proposed for the design and development of integrated European (joint) pro- Conclusions and Recommendations grammes. It is suggested to set up a final list of “good The seminar agreed on the following conclusions and rec- criteria” (or “golden rules”) that can be derived from ommendations. the Stockholm, Mantova and Berlin seminars and other relevant documents in this connection. Such a (1) There is already evidence that joint (integrated) pro- list should then be published as a Bologna document grammes are a step forward to a truly bottom-up of reference and relevance. process in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and thus largely contribute to the establishment of a (5) As regards the legal definition of a “true” joint degree European identity of a specific, higher-education- there is no broad consensus and it may be difficult to related kind. They combine international experience, achieve it with a formula that covers all aspects; it is enhanced linguistic, cultural and social competence. If probably not even necessary. All ministers whose these contributions to the coherence of a European countries have already ratified the Lisbon Recognition Higher Education Area are in fact considered as valu- Convention (currently amounting to 39) have at least able and appreciated, there must be some kind of spe- in general agreed to the formulation chosen for the cific funding for them, either on the national or on the Lisbon Subsidiary Documents6 of UNESCO and the European level or perhaps even as a combination of Council of Europe (which is broader in terms of the the two. This demand is justified because – at least in design and description of joint integrated pro- the initial phase – there are additional (overhead) grammes). Therefore, the ministers are asked to incor- costs that are specific to such programmes. On the porate in their national legislation on higher educa- other hand, there is an added value of these pro- tion at least the written option for the awarding of grammes and in the long run and with more experi- joint degrees with a reference to the Lisbon Con- ence gained, there could even result lower costs or vention descriptions and make sure that they are greater capacity options by the (international) pooling quality-assured according to national standards and of resources. European principles and guidelines already agreed upon. (2) Since there are still comparatively few joint degree programmes with a small number of students and In addition to legal provisions allowing for joint there seems to be a recruitment problem in terms of degrees it is also of utmost importance to make attracting the “right” students, additional funding is extensive use of a precise and informative Diploma needed to ensure the desperately needed enhanced Supplement. The single or multiple diploma document marketing and information campaigns on the added could also be combined with a joint diploma supple- benefit of joint degree programmes which are still vir- ment in such a way that the different parts or sheets tually unknown. cannot be separated any more. In the meantime, the ministers should encourage institutions to continue and enhance their work for the preparation and 1 Hochschulrektorenkonferenz (HRK), Ahrstr. 39, D-53175 Bonn, design of integrated joint programmes. www.hrk.de and www.hrk-bologna.de (6) Ministers should encourage institutions engaged in 2 Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), Kennedyallee 50, D-53175 Bonn, www.daad.de joint study programmes to make use of mutual tuition 3 European Commission, B-1049 Brussels, waivers for study periods spent at