Penn State Dickinson Law Dickinson Law IDEAS Faculty Scholarly Works Faculty Scholarship 1-1-2008 The Bologna Process and Its Impact in Europe: It's so Much More than Degree Changes Laurel Terry [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://ideas.dickinsonlaw.psu.edu/fac-works Part of the Comparative and Foreign Law Commons, Education Law Commons, and the Higher Education Commons Recommended Citation Laurel Terry, The Bologna Process and Its Impact in Europe: It's so Much More than Degree Changes, 41 Vand. J. Transnat'l. L. 107 (2008). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at Dickinson Law IDEAS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarly Works by an authorized administrator of Dickinson Law IDEAS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Bologna Process and Its Impact in Europe: It's So Much More than Degree Changes Laurel S. Terry* ABSTRACT The Bologna Process is a massive, multi-year project designed to create the "EuropeanHigher Education Area" by the year 2010. It began ten years ago, when four European Union (EU) countries signed a relatively vague declaration. It has grown to include forty-six countries, including all of the EU Member States and nineteen non-EU countries. The Bologna Process countries have agreed on ten "action lines" for restructuring European higher education. These action lines are nothing short of revolutionary-they address everything from a three-cycle degree system (e.g., bachelor-master's- doctorate degrees), European-wide quality assurance efforts, mobility of higher education students and staff, "recognition"in one European country of studies undertaken in another European country, and the suitability of education for the marketplace. Because of the number of countries participating in the Bologna Process, its ambitious goals, and its demonstrated commitment to achieving those goals, the Bologna Process is an extremely significant development that will be important not only in Europe but elsewhere in the world. This Article is designed to provide "one-stop shopping" for understandingthe Bologna Process, which will allow the reader to learn about all of its initiatives and action lines, and to understand and place in context future developments. This Article covers developments through the May 2007 London Ministerial meeting. It concludes with an examination of the impact of the Bologna Process on European higher education, including legal education. * Professor, Penn State Dickinson School of Law ([email protected]). The Author would like to thank the numerous people who helped her during her sabbatical and with this article, especially Ron Aronovsky, Helen Hartnell, Prof. Dr. Martin Henssler, Dr. Matthias Kilian, Dr. Julian Lonbay, the German-American Fulbright Commission, and the participants at the 2006 Berlin Seminar, who provided useful comments. She would also like to thank Neil Conley for research assistance. 108 VANDERBILTJOURNAL OF TRANSNATIONAL LAW [VOL, 41:107 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. AN OVERVIEW OF THE BOLOGNA PROCESS .................... 113 A. Origins, Ongoing MinisterialMeetings, and Com m uniqu s .............................................. 113 B . Ten A ction Lines ................................................. 115 C. Bologna Process Administration........................ 117 II. PLACING THE BOLOGNA PROCESS IN CONTEXT: PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS AND OTHER BOLOGNA PROCESS STAKEHOLDERS .............................120 A. The European Union and its Higher Education Initiatives.......................................... 120 1. Introduction: EU Member States Have Traditionally Regulated H igher Education ......................................... 121 2. The Socrates and Erasmus Programs ........ 122 3. European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) ..................... 123 4. EU's Lisbon Strategy ................................... 124 5. E urydice ....................................................... 127 6. The Morgenbesser Case ............................... 128 7. Other EU Initiatives .................... 130 B. Intergovernmental Participating Organizationsand their Initiatives................... 131 1. UNESCO (including the UNESCO Centre for Higher Education, known as UNESCO-CEPES) ................................... 131 2. Council of Europe ......................................... 132 3. The European Cultural Convention ........... 133 4. The 1997 Council of Europe/UNESCO Lisbon Convention ....................................... 134 5. Diploma Supplement ................................... 136 6. ENIC/NARIC Networks ............................... 137 7. OECD/UNESCO Guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross-Border Higher E ducation ...................................................... 137 C. Other Bologna Process Participating Organizationsand Stakeholders ....................... 138 1. European University Association (EUA) .... 138 2. European Association of Institutions in Higher Education (EURASHE) .............. 140 3. European Students' Union (ESU, form erly ESIB) ............................................. 140 4. European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (E N Q A ) ......................................................... 141 2008] THE BOLOGNA PROCESS 5. Education International Pan-European Structure ....................................................... 142 6. BusinessEurope (formerly UNICE) ............ 143 7. The Tuning Project ...................................... 143 8. Other Organizations .................................... 145 D. European Legal Education and its Stakeholders........................................................ 146 1. Introduction-Legal Education and Legal Practice in the EU ............................. 146 2. European Law Faculties Association (ELFA) and its QUAACAS Committee ....... 152 3. C C B E ............................................................ 154 4. ELSA and Other Organizations .................. 155 III. THE HISTORY AND COMPONENTS OF THE BOLOGNA P R O C ESS ........................................................................ 155 A. The 1998 Sorbonne Declaration......................... 156 B. The 1999 Bologna Declarationand A fterm ath ............................................................ 157 1. The Bologna Declaration ............................. 157 2. Post-Bologna Follow-up Work ..................... 159 C. The 2001 Prague Communiqui and Aftermath 160 1. The Prague Communiqu6 ............................ 160 2. Post-Prague Follow-up Work ...................... 161 D. The 2003 Berlin Communiqu6 and Aftermath.. 164 1. Berlin Com muniqu6 ..................................... 164 2. Post-Berlin Follow-up Work ........................ 167 3. The 2005 Stocktaking Report ...................... 172 E. The 2005 Bergen Communiqu6 and A fterm ath ............................................................ 174 1. The Bergen Communiqu6 ............................ 174 2. Adoption of the EHEA Qualifications Fram ew ork ................................................... 180 3. Adoption of the European Quality Assurance Standards and Guidelines ......... 181 4. Post-Bergen Follow-up Work ...................... 181 5. The 2007 Stocktaking .................................. 184 F. The 2007 London Communiqu6 and A fterm ath ............................................................ 187 1. The London Communiqu6 ........................... 187 2. Post-London Follow-up Work ...................... 193 3. The 2009 Stocktaking Exercise ................... 195 G . S um m ary ............................................................. 195 IV. THE IMPACT OF THE BOLOGNA PROCESS ON EUROPEAN HIGHER EDUCATION ................................... 195 A. The ScorecardData in the 2007 Stocktaking.... 196 B. Additional Items Subject to Stocktaking ........... 201 C. The Stocktaking Conclusions ............................. 204 110 VANDERBILTJOURNAL OF TRANSNATIONAL LAW [VOL. 41:'107 D. Other Evaluationsof the Impact of the Bologna Process .................................................. 206 V. THE EFFECT OF THE BOLOGNA PROCESS ON EUROPEAN LEGAL EDUCATION ...................................... 210 V I. C ON CLU SION .................................................................. 216 V II. A PPENDIX 1 .................................................................... 218 VI II. APPENDIX 2 .................................................................... 221 IX . APPENDIX 3 .................................................................... 227 European countries are in the midst of a massive project called the Bologna Process that is dramatically changing the face of higher education in Europe.' One goal of the Bologna Process is to create something called the "European Higher Education Area" by the year 2010.2 Although the Bologna Process is an extremely high profile issue in Europe, 3 it has not received much attention from the U.S. 1. The Bologna Process is sometimes referred to as "Sorbonne-Bologna" after the cities in which European education ministers first met to discuss these issues. See, e.g., Julian Lonbay, Sorbonne Bologna Links & Mutual Recognition, http://elixir.bham.ac.uk/Free /20Movement /20of%20Professionals/SB/SB-linksOl.htm (last visited Nov. 1, 2007) (referring to Sorbonne-Bologna). 2. See Joint Declaration of the European Ministers of Education: The Bologna Declaration of 19 June 1999, http://www.bologna-bergen2005.no/Docs/00- Maindoc/990719BOLOGNADECLARATION.PDF (last visited Oct.