1. Internationalization Processes in
European Higher Education
Antoinette CHARON WAUTERS
University of Lausanne, Switzerland
European Association for International Education
IAU International Conference
‘Internationalization of HE New Directions, New Challenges’
Beijing - October 12-15, 2006
Beijing, October 13, 2006
2. Internationalization Processes in
European Higher Education
SUMMARY
1. Which Europe?
2. The Role of the European Union
Programmes
3. The Bologna Process
4. The HE Europa-wide general trends
5. Conclusions
Beijing, October 13, 2006
3. 1. Which Europe?
A. Geographical Europe
• 966 million inhabitants
• 49 countries
• 41 national languages
B. European Union
• 457 million inhabitants
• 25 countries
• 20 national languages
Beijing, October 13, 2006
4. but also:
C. The "ERASMUS-Europe" D. The "Bologna Process Europe"
III.
32 countries 45 countries
including 7 non-EU states up to Vladivostok
Beijing, October 13, 2006
5. 2. European Union HE Programmes:
From inside …
• During the 80’s, the EU launched and developed an
internal Europeanization process in HE institutions
through Education Programs
• ERASMUS, started in 1987, has forced the European
universities to actively internationalize, discover each
other and network by fostering mobility of students
and teaching staff
«the time of cooperation,
and Europeanisation»
Beijing, October 13, 2006
6. ERASMUS Program 1987-2006 Achievements
• Since 1987: 1.2 million students have benefited from
the program for study abroad
• A European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) is now
widely understood and accepted
• Joined projects in curriculum development
• In 2005: 2,199 HE institutions in 31 countries (+CH)
budget 159 Mio €, 144.000 students, 21.000 teachers
Beijing, October 13, 2006
7. Further development of EU-Education programmes:
2007-2012
Life Long Learning 2007-2012
Total budget requested: 7 Billion EUR
COMENIUS ERASMUS LEONARDO GRUNDTVIG
Pre-school Higher Education DA Adult education
and and VINCI
School education advanced training Initial and continuing
vocational education
and
training
Transversal programme: policy development, language learning,
Information and communication technology, dissemination
Beijing, October 13, 2006
8. 2. European Union HE Programmes
…to outside.
EU-Education programmes worldwide
With North America : EU/US, EU/CND
With Asia : Asia-Link, EU-Vietnam, et..
With the Mediterranean Area : TEMPUS/MEDA
With Africa-Caribbean-Pacific Region : EDULINK
With Latin America: ALFA and Alβan
And ERASMUS MUNDUS to make European HE more attractive.
Beijing, October 13, 2006
9. 3. The Bologna Process:
Internal and external aims
“Bologna Declaration” 1999 -
Heads of European Governments and States (45 so far) agreed to:
- reform their higher education structures to achieve a greater
transparency and compatibility (Bachelor min 3 yrs – Master)
- assure worldwide competitiveness of the European Higher
Education
- launch an action programme up to the year 2010
= “the time of improved cooperation
… and competition”
Beijing, October 13, 2006
10. 3. The Bologna Process
Internal and external aims
An ongoing process :
Action lines
a. introduced in the Bologna Declaration 1999
1. Adopt a system of easily readable and comparable degrees
2. Adopt a system based on two cycles
3. Establish a credit system
4. Promote mobility
5. Promote European cooperation in quality assurance
6. Promote a European Dimension in Higher Education
Beijing, October 13, 2006
11. 3. Bologna Process:
Internal and external aims
An ongoing process :
action lines
b. introduced in the Prague communiqué 2001
7. Develop life-long learning
8. Involve Higher Education institutions and students
9. Promote the attractiveness of the European Higher Education
c. introduced in the Berlin Communiqué 2003
10. Develop doctoral studies and synergy between EHEA and ERA
Beijing, October 13, 2006
12. 3. Bologna Process:
Its impact on internationalization
A. Bologna has forced European universities to
implement reforms at a local, national and European
level
– Gain of experience in implementing reforms
– Catalyst for new thinking
AND
– Having implemented or implementing the reforms, institutions
discover the external dimension of Bologna
– Many universities are rethinking the role of
internationalisation. What for ? And with which means ?
Beijing, October 13, 2006
13. 3. Bologna Process:
its impact on internationalization
B. Bologna has reinforced elements of
internationalisation in EHE institutions
– Increasing creation of networks, alliances and partnerships for
curriculum development, research and innovation
– Growing number of joint degrees
– Discovering of vertical mobility of students and of the need for
new degrees in order to attract good students - and/or fee
paying students
– Development of marketing and promotion of EHE abroad.
Beijing, October 13, 2006
14. 3. Bologna Process:
Its impact on internationalization
C. Many of the Bologna features contribute to raise the
attractiveness of European HE:
– Give better visibility to the University curricula at 3 different levels:
1st cycle (Bachelor), 2nd cycle (Master), 3rd cycle (Doctorate)
– Introduce mobility and transparency tools (ECTS credits and
Diploma Supplement)
– Reduce the legal barriers to international mobility among Bologna
countries as well as third countries
– Introduce international quality evaluation procedures in all Europe
– By its convergence process, help raising the profile of European
HE and reflect a search for common answers to common problems.
Beijing, October 13, 2006
15. 3. Bologna Process:
Its impact on internationalization
D. Spin-offs of reinforced elements of internationalisation
in EHE institutions
– Improvement (?) of horizontal mobility of students
– Improvement of mobility of young researchers
– Internationalisation of staff
– Internationalisation ‘at home’
– Double degree/co-doctorate (co-tutelle)
– Virtual mobility
– Cross-border education
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16. 4. The HE Europa-wide General Trends
All universities worldwide face common problems:
• A smaller world: increased travel and communication facilities
• Increasing need of transnational education
• Growing competition between regions and institutions
• Stimulating role of international HE rankings and
quality evaluation tools
• Debate on trade in educational services (GATS)
• etc…
Beijing, October 13, 2006
17. 4. The HE Europa-wide General Trends
The European Universities face conflicting demands:
• Be more local / more European / more global
• Increase mobility within Europe / attract more students and
scholars from outside Europe
• Improve academic quality / be more responsive to labour market
by providing more employable skills
• Provide compatible curricula across Europe / maintain cultural
diversity
• Etc…
...and, of course, do all of it with decreasing /freezed public
funds!
Beijing, October 13, 2006
18. 4. The HE Europa-wide and Worldwide:
general trends
Where do we stand?
• An increasing number of students and teachers are
attracted from abroad to European HE institutions
(Unesco UIS)
• In the 2006 ranking of the ‘Times Higher Education
Supplement’ this week, among the 100 best HE
institutions worldwide, there are 41 European
institutions:
UK 15, Netherlands 7, France 5, Switzerland 5, Germany 3,
Belgium 2, Denmark 1, Russia 1, Ireland 1, Austria 1
We still have a long way to go!
Beijing, October 13, 2006
19. 5. Conclusions (1/2)
• Since 2 decades, European Higher Education
institutions have been submitted to internal and
external trends that have forced them to change and
organize their internationalisation
• The Bologna process, is the biggest educational
reform ever undertaken in Europe (and worldwide)
and the HE institutions in the Bologna countries are
taking into account not only the national and
European implication of the process but also its
external dimension.
Beijing, October 13, 2006
20. 5. Conclusions (2/2)
According to their specific needs and profile, the
European HE institutions have now to rethink or develop
their internationalisation strategy in order to better target
regions and partner institutions :
- type of activities
- recruitment policy for staff
- mobility possibilities for students and
researchers
- language policy (all English or NOT, …)
etc…
Which means a lot of work for EHE and…
Beijing, October 13, 2006
