UK: Bologna may not end the one-year masters

When the Bologna process was instigated, British academics were pretty relaxed because many of the proposed structures contained within its guidelines fitted Britain's tertiary education system – everything, that is, except one-year masters degree courses. These are considerably shorter than in most continental European countries, especially those courses that have been introduced following the Bologna launch.

In response, some continental universities moved to divide existing five and six-year programmes into two cycles: a 3+2 model. These differences in the length of the second cycle have led to some concerns about recognition of the one-year UK masters, potentially placing its future under threat, according to a briefing paper by the UK Higher Education Europe Unit.

"The Bologna declaration did not set out the number of years required to acquire a masters degree. As signatory countries make changes to their higher education systems towards the 3+2 model, the one-year masters is repeatedly subject to attack by some influential individuals and in some Bologna forums. The myth that Bologna requires a 3+2 structure is thus continued," the unit declared. In other words, fear of the death of the one-year masters under Bologna has been greatly exaggerated.

This Europe-wide inter-government initiative aimed at making it easier for students and staff to study and work in the 46 signatory countries, has been criticised and misunderstood since its inception. The British government admitted last year that more must be done to make universities aware that the process is not about standardisation or harmonisation of European higher education systems but rather comparability and compatibility.

Confusion has centred on the differences in the length of the 'cycles'. In Britain the system is flexible, with graduates taking a one-year masters after three years of study and some even going straight to PhD level programmes after graduating.

In a highly critical submission to the Parliamentary Education and Skills Select Committee, the Campaign for Science and Engineering or CASE said: "The Bologna declaration and other ministerial statements that have followed it seem to have come from largely uninformed political imperatives on the part of politicians of various countries, aimed at satisfying their individual aims regarding spending pressure rather than at providing international parity of outcomes at various levels of higher education."

CASE said there was nothing in Bologna that prevented the UK from offering one-year postgraduate and short undergraduate courses. "The problem is the nomenclature... If we believe these courses are useful in their present forms, then we should keep them and if Bologna makes us change their names, then so be it."

Another bone of contention is the European Credit and Transfer System or ECTS which has its origins in EU mobility programmes and is based on the number of hours of study, not on learning outcomes and competencies. Britain, however, wants to focus on the results of learning, not on a prescriptive emphasis on workload.

The Europe Unit says the European Universities Association must be involved in discussions on ECTS at a time when universities across Europe are calling for more autonomy, while the Campaign for Science and Engineering states it would be wrong to make programmes "less fit for purpose in the name of standardisation".