All entries for Wednesday 08 August 2007

More Bologna

I now finished reading the official Bologna documents and their corresponding national reports for Germany. Now I start to appreciate to have acquired some knowledge of the historical debate which the most recent reforms are only a part of. Phase two is therefore also quite advanced, in the sense that I am planning to stop researching for it by tomorrow midday and start to summarise my impressions of the German implementation of the Bologna-Process.
The reports themselves were, like the communiqués, very similar in their nature; however, even though some sections appeared like mere repetitions of previous reports, I still think that they are essential for my research. What I found most surprising was that, especially the second national report, was that all higher education reform was mentioned as an integer part of the Bologna-Process. Despite the fact that the Bologna documents do not include topics such as tuition fees or competitive salaries for academics. For me this is good news, because it provides some evidence for Dan’s and my thesis that the Bologna process has, in some way, led to a commoditisation of the higher education sector.
Also, I found a very good website on the current debate on higher education reform in Germany. The weekly newspaper Die Zeit has set up a section in their Website, in which all articles they published on the topic are assembled. Contributers such as Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens have given their view on the debate in Germany; this is gold for me (or at least I hope it is), because especially Giddens seem to resemble what I identify to be the main current ideology on higher education. Since for him it is illusionary to still use it as a national social policy tool, instead social policy should work at different level and universities shoul be allowed to go their independent way; still serving the public good, but no longer as part of the state.
All this fits very well into first year Politics.

: 08 Aug 2007 23:43 |  Tags: Max |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem