European Ministers Of Education Research Articles

PhD Students’ Transformative Change in Teaching: A Comparative Case Study

As future academics, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) students are be expected to employ learning-centred approach as stated in the Paris Communique (2018) by the European ministers of education. The limited research available about doctoral students’ conceptions indicates that they range from content- to learning-centred. Although a few studies explored the factors which prompt students’ transformation of conceptions and approach, none specifically focused on PhD students. This comparative case study explored how PhD students describe the transformation in their teaching conceptions and approach towards learning-centredness, and the context surrounding it. The results indicated that participants described the transformation through the gaining of theoretical teaching-related knowledge, being related to dissatisfaction with their own teaching, the application of a learning-centred approach, and time. The teaching–learning context was described mostly as supportive but not always allowing the implementation of transformation. Results suggest that discourse is needed to facilitate critical reflection leading to transformative learning.

Universities of applied sciences in Germany: the winners of “Bologna”?

The signing of the Bologna Declaration in 1999 by 29 European ministers of education ushered in a period of fundamental change for the German higher education system, sparking and advancing importa...

English

In Spain, the organisation of doctoral studies has been substantially modified to come into line with the changes introduced by the agenda of the Bologna process. These changes have been specified in a number of statements by European Ministers of Education, and have required alterations to Spanish doctoral regulations. The aim of these changes has been to focus doctoral training more on the development of competency as better preparation for research tasks, linking the doctoral candidate with the job market outside university and allowing for the transfer of knowledge within the European context. To this end, Doctoral schools have been set up as a space in which to manage doctoral training, introducing specialisation in research through the design of new doctoral programmes, and means to provide doctoral candidates with mobility for their international training. Key words: Doctoral legislation, doctoral schools, international mobility, R&D training, transfer of knowledge, funding.

Learning from ‘Good’ Practice: What Could African [Universities] Possibly Learn from the Bologna Process and European Students’ Mobility?

In June 1999, European Ministers of Education and representatives of higher education gathered in Bologna, Italy, and agreed to work towards achieving the European Higher Education Area through a package of structural reforms. This move heralded the Bologna Process (BP). Although the BP has been criticized variously across Europe and elsewhere, however, it appears to be the most profound change encountered by European Higher Education in the 21st Century. The Bologna Process has inspired a number of moves towards restructuring of higher education globally, notably in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, and the Arab countries. In this paper, the author assesses developments within Africa’s higher education in order to establish in what ways African Higher Education reform initiatives have responded to various global challenges posed by the emergence of the BP. The paper specifically addresses four key questions: i) Has Africa achieved the African Higher Education Area, AHEA? ii) What transparency tools are available within AHEA to enable the interpretation and conversion of academic work from one African country to academic work in another? iii) What mobility frameworks relative to the terms of the BP, are there for the African students? And finally, how does African Union (AU) governments’ commitment to higher education reforms differ from those of the European Union governments? The author emphasises that learning from good practice is a step in the right direction, and therefore concludes that Africa could still maintain her Africanness while adopting the good practices of other regions such as that offered through the Bologna Process. Doing so, would enable Africa to forge a compatible approach towards the positioning of Africa’s higher education to compete with other education systems at the global arena. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n23p2092

Feeling the impact

Maria Jansen and Dirk Ruwaard state that ‘ in addition to scientific quality, societal impact is an explicit objective of important areas of research. This is especially true for applied research . ’ Hence, they advocate that societal impact should be given equal weight to scientific impact when measuring the performance of health researchers. We feel that this raises some fundamental questions for all Public Health academics who work in universities. What is a university designed to do? How should academia and its outputs be assessed and valued? Should different academic subjects be valued differently? The Bologna declaration of 1988 tells us what a university is designed to do. This declaration has been turned into an EU Joint declaration of the European Ministers of Education and signed by 752 universities worldwide, almost certainly including the universities of many people reading this. This document defines a university as ‘an autonomous institution’ which ‘produces, examines, appraises and hands down culture by research and teaching,’ describing the university as ‘enriching minds.’ The Bologna declaration proclaimed four fundamental principles of a university. The four fundamental principles are: (i) moral and intellectual independence from political authority and economic power; (ii) inseparability of teaching and research; (iii) freedom in research and training; and (iv) attainment of universal knowledge, to transcend geographical and political frontiers, and to affirm the need for different cultures to know and influence each …

The Bologna Process Offers New Research Opportunities for Academic Business Librarians Worldwide

European education ministers and officials signed a Bologna Declaration with a goal to reform, strengthen, and standardize higher education programs and degree structures by 2010. Graduates will become more mobile and marketable to employers throughout Europe. These programs shall also attract students worldwide. Higher education programs on other continents have taken notice and are in the process of initiating similar goals and outcomes. All of these events are creating new research opportunities for academic business librarians in all aspects of library support and services including collection development, reference, and instruction.

The Bologna process, medical education and integrated learning

The Bologna Declaration, signed in 1999 by all European Ministers of Education and currently in a phase of active implementation in Europe, specifies a three-cycle degree structure – Bachelor's, Master's, Doctorate – for all disciplines in Higher Education. The application of this model to medical education has been opposed on various grounds. In particular, a ‘Ba/Ma’ model for undergraduate medical degrees has been viewed as undoing recent progress towards fully integrated learning of basic and clinical medical sciences. However, this can be overcome by the use of a learning outcomes framework, agreed at European level, that reinforces the primarily medical nature of both degrees and which requires integrated teaching, learning and assessment at every stage. With this proviso, application of the Bologna principles to medicine can help to drive educational development and quality enhancement in European medical education.

Lifelong learning in the Bologna process: European developments in higher education

Since 1999, European education ministers have discussed and further implemented the ‘Bologna process’, a wide‐ranging framework for the reform of higher education. Lifelong learning was added as a goal of the process in 2001. This article evaluates the extent to which the development of lifelong learning has progressed and examines whether the Bologna process has facilitated lifelong learning opportunities in a sample of countries. The evaluation of legislative instruments and policy positions of different stakeholders in Germany, France, Italy and the UK shows that countries link quite different strategies to lifelong learning in higher education. Specific national approaches exist which facilitate or restrict its development. Thus far, the impact of the Bologna process on this issue has been modest. The process has mainly had an impact on the discussion regarding lifelong learning, not necessarily whether and how such policies and programmes are implemented.

Developing Subject Specific Competences and Cycle Level Descriptors for Occupational Therapy in Europe Through the Tuning Process

Higher education in Europe has been in a process of change and harmonisation since European Ministers of Education signed the Bologna declaration in 1999. This process has been supported by the Tuning Project, initiated in 2000 by European higher education institutions, to “tune” higher education with a common understanding of cycle levels (equivalent to bachelor, master and doctoral), credit points (ECTS), competence based learning and quality enhancement. In 2003 the European Network of Occupational Therapy in Higher Education and the Council of Occupational Therapists for the European Countries joined to “tune” European occupational therapy education. This article highlights two areas within this project; the development of European competences and cycle level descriptors for occupational therapy. It is expected that this document will supplement World Federation of Occupational Therapists Minimum Standards (Hocking & Ness 2002) within occupational therapy education and assist in the regulation of the occupational therapy profession in Europe.

Changes in Nursing Education in the European Union

To provide an overview of changes in nursing education in the European Union (EU) within the framework of the Bologna Declaration, signed in 1999 by the European ministers of education, and to describe specific efforts and changes in Spain. (a) the Bologna Declaration process, its recent reforms in all disciplines including nursing, and perspectives on future developments; (b) the Tuning Project, designed and carried out by a group of European universities to meet the challenges posed by the Bologna Declaration; and (c) efforts in a group of Spanish universities to promote higher education in nursing. These changes promote enhanced academic recognition, professionalism in nursing education, and graduates' competencies in practice in most European countries by specifying the undergraduate nursing degree as the minimal entrance level for practice and master's and doctoral programs for further career development.

Editorial: Geography and the ‘European Year of Citizenship through Education’

This year (2005) is the ‘European Year of Citizenship through Education’ (EYCE) (Standing Conference of European Ministers of Education, 2003; Council of Europe Division for Citizenship and Human R...

Political education in schools

Political education is now backon the agendain Britain following the election of the Labour government and the report of the working party, under the chairmanship of Bernard Crick, set up to investigate ways as to how citizenship issues for all pupils can be better, or at least formally, introduced intoschools. In Central and Eastern Europe the ending of Communist one-party rule has put the issue of education for democracy to the fore. Also, it is to be positively noted that the European Ministers of Education, meeting in Madrid in Summer 1997 at the 18th session of their standing conference, concluded that there was a need for a coherent and sustained approach by schools to education for democratic citizenship. This paper hopes tobe part of this process by explaining the experiences of 30 years of the formal teaching of political literacy (albeit nottoevery pupil) in Scottish secondary schools through the unique Modern Studies, while touching on recent experiences in Central and Eastern Europe, evidence as to the effectiveness of political education and its role in a democracy.

Education and Equality of Opportunity for Girls and Women

At the Thirteenth Session of the Standing Conference of European Ministers of Education (Dublin, May 1983) the Ministers agreed to review at their Fourteenth Session (Brussels, May 1985) the action taken at national and European level to implement the proposals contained in the statement on "Education and Equality of Opportunity for Girls and Women" adopted at the Eleventh Session (The Hague, June 1979) (see Appendix I [not reprinted here—Ed.]).

Education under Attack — the Response of European Politicians: an informational analysis of the resolution on new challenges for teachers and their education adopted at the fifteenth session of the standing conference of European Ministers of Education [1

Summary A contextual setting is provided for a resolution of the European Ministers of Education passed at the fifteenth session of their Standing Conference in Helsinki in May 1987. The decision making structure of the Council of Europe in the field of education is described and the relationship of that structure to the Standing Conference is clarified. The development of the Standing Conference since its first full meeting in 1961 is briefly traced. An analysis is made of a key theme which emerges from the preparatory papers commissioned for the Standing Conference session. The attempt is then made to gauge to what extent the Ministers were influenced by the papers in this respect in their debate. The article ends with the resolution itself. [1] The Journal is grateful to the Council of Europe for permission to publish the Resolution and other references quoted in this article.

Resolution No. 1 on Migrants' Education

The European Ministers of Education at the Thirteenth Session of the Standing Conference, Reaffirming the principles set out in resolutions devoted to the educational and cultural development of migrants by preceding sessions of the Standing Conference, Welcoming the progress achieved and the research undertaken by member states in this field, and at the same time recognizing the need to reinforce current efforts for the education and cultural development of migrants, Taking note with interest of the Report by Mr. Georges Vignaux on The Education of Migrant Children: Problems and Prospects [reprinted in the following article in this issue-Ed.], Noting: the changing pattern of migration, the broadening of scientific and pedagogical approaches, and a greater responsiveness to the variety of cultural situations associated with migration, Considering that countries of origin and host countries share a concern to provide migrants and their children with improved conditions of life and that, within the coordinated policy measures required for this purpose, provision of appropriate education and cultural development facilities is essential in view of the common obligations recognized by these countries, Noting that among those considered within the category of "migrants" for whom special education provision should be made, in addition to migrant workers who will return after a limited period spent abroad, there is now a growing proportion of: -adult migrants who still need assistance to complete their social and economic integration into the host country; -migrants' descendants (of the second and third generations) living in the host country; -non-working adults (the unemployed, women not employed outside the home) who may experience particular difficulties with regard to integration insofar as they lack opportunities for cultural and social contacts; and accepting that each of these groups requires appropriate education measures, Recommend that the governments of member states and in particular the Ministers of Education base their action on the following principles.

Resolution No. 1 on European Educational Cooperation

Abstract The European Ministers of Education at the Eleventh Session of the Standing Conference: 1. EXPRESS their warmest gratitude to the Netherlands for their generous hospitality during the Eleventh Session

Resolution No. 3 On Migrants' Education

Abstract The European Ministers of Education, at the Eleventh Session of the Standing Conference, TAKE NOTE of the report by Mr. Menendez-Pidal on the effects of Resolution No. 2 adopted in Stockholm and Resolution No. 1 adopted in Strasbourg on the education of migrants and particularly of their children.

Education of Migrants: Extract From A Report Prepared BY

Resolution No. 1 of the Permanent Conference of European Ministers of Education, adopted during its sixth session held at Strasbourg between June 20 and June 28, 1977, encharged the committee of top-ranking officials to prepare a report for the eleventh session in which it would evaluate the follow-up to the resolution adopted at this conference on the education of migrants and to the resolution adopted at the preceding conference, i.e., resolution No. 2 of the conference held at Stockholm in 1975.

The Teaching of Modern Languages in Primary Schools

The teaching of a foreign language before ten or eleven years of age has always existed, but it is only since the second world war, and with the object of promoting better international understanding, among other things, that it has undergone extensive development, especially in the United States, Great Britain and France. As far as Europe is concerned, a meeting of all the European ministers of education was held in Hamburg in 1962; on this occasion the ministers stated that the teaching of languages was not giving satisfactory results, and they made recommendations intended to encourage

Education as a Social Service

The concept of education as a social service available to all citizens throughout their lifetime, as distinct from education considered as the privilege of young people six to sixteen years of age, is one of the most promising concepts to emerge recently in Western Europe. That this educational service is to be an official agent of social change represents, moreover, a considerable departure from the classic structures of European education which traditionally have been criticized for their class consciousness and tendency to maintain the status quo. Henceforth, "the role of the educational system is not only to transmit the cultural heritage of European countries and to preserve the constant, basic values of society," resolved the European Ministers of Education in June 1973, "but also to enrich this heritage and to facilitate the democratic evolution of society."