What Europe wanted and what Flanders achieved: paradoxes after 15 years Bologna and a decade of Bachelor/Master structure.

Author(s):

Bruno Broucker(presenting / submitting)Kurt De Wit(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

22. Research in Higher Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

22 SES 05 B, Policy, Management and Governance in Higher Education

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-03

11:00-12:30

Room:

B021 Anfiteatro

Chair:

Liudvika Leisyte

Contribution

Research questions

The Flemish government used the Bologna Process as a window of opportunity to implement thorough changes in the higher education system. From the academic year 2004-2005 onwards, the two-cycle structure of bachelor and master programmes became obligatory. Consecutive regional legislation further defined the framework for more flexible education pathways for students, for a more efficient and effective quality assurance system, more (international) student mobility, and a modernised funding system. Ten years onwards, the question arises what the actual effects of the policy changes have been and whether these effects are still in line with the initial goals of the Bologna Process. Therefore, three interconnected research questions can be formulated. First, to what extent have the goals of the Bologna process yielded the desired policy effects, given their translation in national policies and institutional practices? Second, how big is the gap between the desired outcomes and the achieved results? Third, which factors can explain the observations?

Objectives

This paper wants to reflect on the achievements of the Flemish higher education reforms under impulse of the Bologna declaration. On a high level it is clear that Belgium in general and Flanders in particular have implemented most goals Bologna defined (Dittrich, Luwel, Frederiks: 2004), e.g. Flanders has introduced easily readable and comparable degrees in the bachelor-master-doctorate structure and has implemented a new quality assurance system.

However, there can be a difference between reforming in accordance with general goals and reforming in such a way that policy goals are actually met. It is clear that European goals can only be reached through national implementation, which is also based on national issues and identified problems. Furthermore, national legislation leaves room for higher education institutions to implement the educational policy and this too can flaw intended outcomes.

The question is to what extent this three-step-process leads to results on the lowest level (i.e. actual effects) that are still in accordance with the expectations on the highest level (i.e. the Bologna process)?

Theoretical framework

The theoretical framework we use is based, first, on Pettigrews change model (Pettigrew 1987; 1992) which identifies three dimensions in strategic change: content, process, and context. The content focuses on the ‘what’: what objective, purpose or goal needs to be achieved? The process clarifies how procedures and methods have been implemented to achieve the goals. The context makes clear why a certain process has taken place, taken into account internal (strategy, structure, culture, management and political processes of the organization) and external (political, economic en societal) contextual factors. Applied on Bologna, it is clear what the goals of Bologna were, but the way it has been implemented has been influenced by European, national and institutional factors (the context). As a result, the desired outcome by Europe shows gaps with the achieved results in Flanders.

Second, the discrepancies we expect will be explained by framing the research results in organizational theories that help explain why intended goals or policies do not necessarily lead to the desired results. Resource dependency theory and neo-institutional theory are complimentary theories (Maassen & Gornitzka 1999; Gornitzka & Maassen 2006) allowing an explanation of (a lack of) change both in structural terms and in cultural terms. Hence, we will identify gaps between policy goals and achieved results in the context of the Bologna implementation in Flanders by referring to both the availability of resources at different policy levels and the conformity of European goals with the norms and values underlying higher education policy in Flanders.

Method

In order to investigate the research questions defined above we will use three types of data. First we will use content and document analysis of legislative and policy documents and reports, starting from the European level but primarily looking into the policies in Flanders. We will use both actual legislation and contextual documents explaining the rationale behind policies, e.g. explanatory memorandums and policy evaluation reports. These are for the most part publicly available. From this, we can assess the ideological background of policies and the resources made available to implement them (e.g. legislation on the funding of higher education) . Second we will conduct an analysis of administrative data on accreditation practices and diploma recognition. This will give an insight in the implementation and results of the Flemish policy with regard to quality assurance. These data will be retrieved from the so-called ‘higher education register’, the official database in Flanders containing all higher education programmes and institutions. Third we will perform longitudinal data-analysis on official data regarding student mobility, student efficiency, time to graduation and so on. This analysis will allow us to check on the ‘performance’ of higher education in Flanders with regard to mobility and student progression within the bachelor/master structure and through flexible pathways in higher education. We will use data from our own institution and, where possible, official data from the ‘database higher education’, a database set up by the government and the higher education institutions in Flanders as a means to allocate funding of higher education and to give students information on their study progression (the so-called ‘learning account’).

Expected Outcomes

Most reports tend to investigate what the impact of Bologna was on national policy initiatives and policy instruments. This article wants to go back to the fundamentals of Bologna and investigate to what extent those fundamentals have reached the desired outcomes. This article is interesting for other countries because it represents a critical overview of the Bologna process and a theoretical framework that can be used to perform similar investigations elsewhere. It is, for other countries, an invitation to look beyond policy instruments, and to dig into the national effects resulting from European impulses. In general, the European goals, mediated by national implementation, lead to effects that can run counter to the goals as they were intended. We expect to find this in Flanders in a number of areas. Whereas other reports like the Trends reports usually focus on whether tools are implemented (e.g. ECTS), we focus on the actual effects of these tools when implemented through national policies and institutional practices (e.g. the effect of ECTS on flexible study paths, on time to graduation, …). We expect to find discrepancies or paradoxes between the European goals and the actual effects (in Flanders) on a number of issues. For instance: - Mobility: Bologna wanted to achieve more student mobility, while Flanders seems to cope with a stagnating mobility rate by its students - Internationalization: Bologna stimulated the creation of a Higher Education Area, while Flanders recently introduced a more severe legislation which inhibits the creation of English programmes and the role of English courses in her academic programmes. - Quality assurance: while Europe wanted to create one framework for quality assurance, in Flemish higher education institutions there seems to be a growing tendency to be wary of the administrative burden the quality assurance system in Flanders entails, and to find accreditation elsewhere.

References

Dittrich, K., Luwel, M. & Frederiks, M. (2004) 'The implementation of Bologna in Flanders and the Netherlands', European Journal of Education, vol. 39, 2, september 2004, pp 299-316). Gornitzka, A. & P. Maassen (2006), Europese universiteiten tussen markt en overheid, pp. 99-117 in De Wit, K., L. Dom, C. Gijselinckx, J. Peeraer & K. Stassen (eds.), Onderwijs en Samenleving. Thema’s in het werk van J.C. Verhoeven. Leuven: Acco. Maassen, P & A. Gornitzka (1999), Integrating Two Theoretical Perspectives on Organisational Adaptation, in Jongbloed, B., P. Maassen & G. Neave (eds.), From the Eye of the Storm: Higher Education’s Changing Institution. Dordrecht: Kluwer. Pettigrew, A.M. (1987). Context and action in the transformation of the firm. Journal of Management Studies. Volume 24, Issue 6, pages 649–670 Pettigrew, A.M., Ferlie, E. & Mc-Kee, L. (1992). Shaping Strategic Change, Making Change in Large Organizations. The case of the National Health Service. London: Sage Trends reports: http://www.eua.be/eua-work-and-policy-area/building-the-european-higher-education-area/trends-in-european-higher-education.aspx

Author Information

Bruno Broucker (presenting / submitting)

KU Leuven

Public Governance Institute

Leuven

Kurt De Wit (presenting)

KU Leuven

Educational Policy and Quality Department