Campus Europae Newsletter, January 2009

With just a few months to go before the Leuven Ministerial Conference, the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union had the merit of putting student mobility discussions back in the agenda but the choice of topics and strategies has introduced a surprising twist on the debate.

The French Presidency has emphatically linked the objective of increasing student mobility with the need for more information on the offer of European universities and their quality, namely in the form of rankings – an association corroborated shortly after by the European Commission. The argument is simple: students will go abroad more easily if they are fully aware of the academic relevance of the exchange, while uncertainty deters them from embarking on the experience.

While the pressure to advance with European based ranking systems is far from new, the notion that rankings share a cause-effect sort of mechanism with increasing student mobility is relatively unheard of.  It is worth noting that the French Presidency has had its way paved by rather comprehensive studies, notably from the High Level Expert Forum on Mobility. Their report insisted on the multidimensional nature of the challenges that lay ahead if student mobility is to reach beyond the elites and pointed to the importance of actions that will “increase opportunities for organized learning mobility”, “raise awareness for the advantages of mobility experience”, “improve knowledge in the language and culture of other countries”, “address financial costs” and tackle the “issue of recognition and certification”.

How exactly rankings may ease and enhance student mobility is therefore a subject that merits some reflection, since their development does not seem to address directly any of the established fundamental concerns. It may in fact have counterproductive effects, the first of which concerns the always delicate issue of the financing of universities. As it already happens today with institutions with an exceptionally established reputation or those that happen to use one of the languages favored by international students, it is not hard to imagine that higher ranked universities will face a steep increase of interest by incoming students, whose admission will become a budgetary burden and negatively impact the institutional commitment towards exchange programmes such as Erasmus and Campus Europae.

The impact of developing tools that may lead to an increase of the imbalance between incoming and outgoing students must be seen in relation to other developments that threaten to become structural impediments to an increase in mobility, notably the shift in the mission of international offices which are increasingly asked to focus on maximizing the profit that can be made by marketing their institutions to overseas students – a legitimate and perhaps necessary component of their activity, but that Bologna Process stakeholders must ensure to be complementary rather than competitive in relation to their capacity of enhancing intra-European student mobility.

Another challenge that comes along with designing a European ranking system and the consequent increase of available information is exactly that of finding ways which will lead to increase the diversity and randomness of mobility flows from a country perspective so as not to hamper the notion of mobility as a pathway for multilingual citizenship.

What perhaps is more complicated, is to positively influence the kind of mental framework for mobility that the rankings will contribute to configure, both concerning professors and students. The first may find that recognition of studies abroad should be a function of “academic level” rather than comparability of learning outcomes – an old battle that is far from won today - while first cycle students will be invited to make use of a mechanism that in all likeness will filter their options in relation to perceived “academic excellence”. Academic excellence is of course something of indisputable importance but it does not reign supreme in the grand scheme of benefits to be reaped while going abroad, especially amongst students who are not yet in the most advanced phases of their studies.

These are not the concerns of a minority, since the issue of rankings was hotly debated on the last EUA’s Quality Assurance Forum, where the academic community expressed sizable reluctance at the perverse effects such ranking systems may have.

It must be conceded that a truly multivariable ranking would be a step in the right direction to address many of these concerns, but neither quality is as universally tangible as administrators and politicians would like to believe, neither it’s very likely that the European Commission will let all of the many and controversial design implications get in the way of a quick and straightforward reading.

Report on the last round of meetings of the CE Subject Committees

Now that post-Bologna curricular structures have finally been adopted by most participating universities, the 2008/2009 academic year started with a remarkable increase of the pace at which the CE Subjects Committees have sought to consolidate the cooperation developed in the previous years.

The European wide adaptation of existing study programmes to the Bologna Process tenets has proven to be a great challenge for the Subject Committees. The Committees were faced with the need to quickly but thoroughly revise the data collections that had been developed during previous meetings. At the same time it has provided an excellent opportunity for participating Professors to exchange experiences on changes that have affected the educational offer and landscape of each other’s universities.

Thus, following the Business and Law subject committee meetings in October, the Humanities, Natural Sciences, Engineering and Teacher Training also convened towards the end of 2008. In all meetings, subject committee members paid particular attention to the follow up of student exchanges in 2007/2008, notably in regard to academic recognition, as well as to the monitoring of the current exchange situation.

Humanities Subject Committee Meeting in the University of Novi Sad

The Humanities Subject Committee met in Novi Sad on the 7th and 8th of November. With Humanities being the broadest of the CE subject committee – it has subgroups in History, Philosophy, Languages, Literatures and Cultures, Sociology, Political Science and Tourism - the discussion was oriented on updating the subject areas in which the participating universities will be active with regard to preparing the 2009/2010 study year and the procedures for refreshing and rebuilding the data collection shared amongst the participants.
Several other topics merited in-depth discussions as well, notably the preparations for a CE Master Programme in European Identity and Multilingualism and how to best prevent and tackle issues that may steam from incorrect conversion of grades.

The following universities were represented at the meeting:

• University of Aveiro, Prof. Gillian Moreira, Subject Committee Chair
• University of Alcalá, Prof. Monica Giménez-Baldazo
• Ankara University, Prof. Sekine Karakas
• University of Greifswald, Mr. Stefan Loyen
• University of Joenssu, Professors Stefan Werner and Pasi Tuunainen
• Vytautas Magnus University, Prof. Ruta Eidukeviciene
• University of Lodz, Prof. Ewa Kubiak
• University of Luxembourg, Prof. Beatrice Arendt
• University of Novi Sad, Professors Branislav Djurdjev and Liljiana Subotic
• European Humanities University, Prof. Almira Ousmanova

Natural Sciences Subject Committee Meeting in the University of Novi Sad

The Natural Sciences subject committee held its 2nd annual meeting at the University of Novi Sad on the 21st and 22nd of November 2008. This meeting was organized primarily to allow the completion of the matrices that were under preparation for the areas of Biochemistry, Physics, Biology and Ecology. In fact, the four thematic matrices were completed very shortly after the meeting, which demonstrates the enormous commitment and enthusiasm of all participants. The committee’s assessment is that the matrices are now ready to be used by prospective movers and duly up to date.

Alongside with the work on the matrices, other issues were brought to the participants attention, notably the coming to existence of the EUF-CE Degree, the state of the art situation with regard to mobility flows, planning of the subject committee work, the role of student representatives and communication between subject committees and the CE student council , financing of mobility and other issues.

The following universities were represented at the meeting:

• University of Novi Sad, Prof. Neda Mimica-Dukic, Chair
• University of Aveiro: Prof. Ricardo Dias, Prof. Carlos Fonseca and Prof. Silvia Rocha
• University of Joensuu: Prof. Sinikka Parkkinen
• University of Lodz: Dr. Pawel Caban
• University of Novi Sad: Professors Slobodanka Pajevic and Milica Rutonjski

Engineering Subject Committee Meeting in the University of Novi Sad

The Engineering subject committee also met in Novi Sad on the 21st and 22nd of November, which allowed for the colleagues of Engineering and Natural Sciences to get acquainted and share information, impressions and ideas. As with Natural Sciences, the matrices were the pivotal point on the meeting’s agenda, and all members agreed to pool efforts in order to complete preparations in the area of Electrical Engineering for their next meeting which will take place in Luxembourg on the 22nd of March.

The subject committee divided its work in two phases, the first of which concerns the compilation of information and the second the analysis of the most suitable equivalences. During the meeting, the participants concluded the first phase and advanced considerably with the second which will be continued over the mailing list according to the agreed agenda.
An increase of the number of exchanged students was also discussed. All represented universities adopted the objective of sending two students from each of the universities to each of the other partners.

The following universities were represented at the meeting:

• University of Novi Sad, Prof. Vladimir Katic, Chair of the Subject Committee
• Ankara University, Prof. Feryal Karadeniz
• Gazi University, Prof. Senol Baskaya
• University of Alcalá, Prof. António Guerrero
• University of Aveiro, Prof. António Teixeira
• University of Joensuu, Prof. Markku Tukiainen
• Univerity of Lodz, Prof. Marcin Janicki
• Université Henry Poincaré / ESSTIN, Prof. Françoise Clerk

Teacher Training Subject Committee Meeting in the University of Aveiro

The Teacher Training Subject Committee met in the southwestern point of the CE network: in Aveiro on the 15th and 16th of December. The agenda for the meeting was both comprehensive and ambitious, main points of  the discussion pertained  to the monitoring of the exchanges, promotional strategies and activities, recognition procedures, the impact of the Bologna Process in Teacher Training study programmes and implications for student mobility.
Particularly worthy of note was the initiative to invite CE exchange students to participate at the meeting where they shared their impressions and experiences, adding considerable depth to the discussion on how the programme can be improved further.

Alongside the subject committee meeting, Prof. Nilza Costa organized an information session on Campus Europae.  It was attended by all the participants and by quite a few first cycle students of basic education who had the opportunity to learn about the mobility possibilities that are within their reach and engage in conversation directly with the Professors of their University of choice for their year abroad.

The following universities were represented at the meeting:

• University of Hamburg, Prof. Wilfried Hartmann, Chair of the Subject Committee
• University of Alcalá, Prof. Carmen Santamaria
• Ankara University, Prof. Çağlayan Dinçer
• Gazi University, Prof. Iskender Hakki Sarigöz
• University of Aveiro, Prof. Nilza Costa
• University of Joenssu, Ms Helena Hulmi 
• Vytautas Magnus University, Prof. Margarita Tereseviciene
• University of Lodz, Prof. Eleonora Bielawska-Batorowicz
• University of Luxembourg, Mr. Erik Lautenschlager
• University of Novi Sad, Prof. Olivera Gajic 
• St. Petersburg University, Prof. Galina Molodtsova 
• University of Vienna, Mr. Gerhard Wagner

Fast facts

Student Council plenary meeting in Lodz

The CE Student Council held its second annual meeting in Lodz on the 13th and 14th of December. It was the last meeting for the outgoing presidency which had shaped the work of the Student Council for the last thirteen months. Indeed, 2008 has been a remarkable year for the Student Council whose first and foremost objective was to improve and strengthen its own structure. In this respect, it was noted that 2008 was the first year since the Council’s creation that CE specific student groups were active in all of the member universities. While reviewing what had been accomplished in their other areas of activity, notably with regards to promotion of CE, assistance and monitoring of mobile students and participation in the CE organs, a critical view was taken on how the Student Council’s contributions may be continuously improved both in terms of quantity and quality.

The meeting served also to elect the Presidency for 2009:  Mr. Bernd Justin Jütte , from the University of Luxembourg, was reelected for President. He will be assisted by Vice-President Nikola Lakovic from the University of Novi Sad.

The strategic goals and conceptual approaches envisaged for the next year will be published shortly in the presidency’s 2009 Action Plan.

Upcoming events

Business Subject Committee Meeting

Luxembourg, 22nd of March

Engineering Subject Committee Meeting

Luxembourg, 22nd of March

Humanities Subject Committee Meeting

Luxembourg, 22nd of March

Natural Sciences Subject Committee Meeting

Luxembourg, 22nd of March

Teacher Training Subject Committee Meeting

Luxembourg, 22nd of March

Joint Meeting of the Board of Directors and Subject Committees

Luxembourg, morning of the 23rd of March

Board of Directors Meeting

Luxembourg, afternoon of the 23rd of March

Subject Committees Chairs Meeting

Luxembourg, 24th of March

Student Council Plenary Meeting

Vilnius, 24th to 26th April

The December 2008 edition of the CE newsletter was not published due to technical difficulties. The next Campus Europae newsletter is due for the 16th of February. To unsubscribe please visit this link.