German students are still complaining about having their performance in courses abroad recognised at home. Credit transfer is a key aspect of the Bologna process, aimed at making European higher education systems more compatible. Nevertheless, reports of seemingly arbitrary recognition of credits from abroad appear to be discouraging many students from enrolling in foreign courses.

The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) refers to internationalisation as a "key topic" for the future of the country's higher education system. But just 16% of all German students do a semester abroad.

The DAAD's Siegbert Wuttig, head of its National Agency for Higher Education Cooperation in the European Union, points to flagging interest in studying abroad throughout Europe. In the medium term, the organisation would like to see every second student taking a longer stay in a foreign country to gain experience.

The European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) has been introduced throughout Europe although it is obviously not being applied by all higher education institutions in Germany. Direct and uncomplicated recognition of study performance abroad is at just 41%, 11 percentage points below the European average.

The Lisbon Recognition Convention, developed by the Council of Europe and Unesco, aims to facilitate recognition of qualifications granted by an institution abroad. Such a recognition can only be refused if the qualification is "substantially different from that of the host country", with the onus on the home institution to prove this is the case.

The convention was signed by Germany as early as 1997 but only ratified in October last year. In addition to learning outcomes, the convention focuses on learning agreements signed between the students, their home universities and transcripts of records documenting achievement. The learning agreements are obligatory if European Union Erasmus grants are involved.

All Germany's higher education institutions are to adopt the Lisbon stipulations in their quality assurance systems by 2009. The Rectors' Conference (HRK) has issued corresponding recommendations for institutions.

Jan Rathjen, Head of the HRK Department for Studies, Teaching and Exams, stresses that the Lisbon Convention still prescribes acceptance procedures for foreign qualifications. Qualifications may also be recognised in part following assessment, and re-examinations of performance may be possible.

But students complain that recognition of qualifications is still too arbitrary. Anja Gadow of the Freier zusammenschluss von StudentInnenschaften, a body representing student organisations at the federal level, says the problems are mainly with university teachers.

"They are far too rigid in their criteria and prefer to recognise only what they view as the exact equivalent of German contents, or of German credit hours," Gadow says. "But the problem is more deeply rooted in that federal and Land governments are not really doing anything to change the attitudes of university teachers in this respect."

michael.gardner@uw-news.com