In this entry, I will concentrate on one issue – in my opinion a crucial one: the duration of courses. In one of the next posts, I will continue this mini-series on the European university – the »universitas europeana« – with some thoughts concerning the question of doctoral programmes in Europe I developed some time ago (in German).
Let’s imagine that one night we fall asleep and the problem I see in the various durations of courses now being offered to students in Europe under the same label (be it Bachelor or Master) is solved. How would we notice? To keep it simple: It would no longer be so commonplace to have one student studying four years to obtain a Bachelor’s degree and another studying four years to first get a Bachelor after three years and a Master on top of it with just one more year.
Now if we dream on to an equally complex field: What would happen in this magic night to the challenge of recognizing courses taken while on an ERASMUS exchange abroad, for example? It might be to much of an utopia to imagine a 100% recognition ratio of your courses taken abroad, but one could have the idea of a Higher Education Area where all courses that are being promised to be recognized beforehand are actually counting for the concerning degree in the end (the audio from the discussion treats this topic, among others).
panel discussion Spring Agora Rhein Neckar (audio clipping)
The panel discussion was moderated by myself, participants were Prof. Ulrich Teichler (International Centre for Higher Education Research Kassel), Lucille Rieux (Secretary General of AEGEE-Europe), Emanuel Alfranseder (President of ESN - Erasmus Student Network) and Karina Ufert (Chairperson of ESU - European Students’ Union). For more information:
http://www.rhein-neckar-agora.de/spring-agora/thematic-focus
