FUTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION - BOLOGNA PROCESS RESEARCHERS' CONFERENCE (FOHE-BPRC)
17-19 October 2011, Hotel Intercontinental, Bucharest, Romania
Background
Romania is the host country for the 2012 Bologna / European Higher Education Area Ministerial Conference and the Third Bologna Policy Forum. In preparation of these ministerial meetings and as a premiere, it will also hold a conference in Bucharest on 17-19 October 2011, aimed at bringing the researchers voice into higher education international level policy making. The results of the FOHE-BPRC will be presented to the participants attending the 2012 ministerial events both in written format, as well as via a presentation made by the General Rapporteur.
The innovative character of this event is given by the unprecedented opportunity for researchers dealing with higher education to interact and contribute to the political process shaping the European Higher Education Area, as well as national policy agendas in more than 100 participant countries in the 2012 ministerial events.
The Bologna Process Researchers Conference (BPRC) focuses on
- (i) the Bologna Process and its effects on the European higher education landscape, and
- (ii) the efforts made to define the national policy frameworks under which the EHEA tools could be implemented. The latter are illustrated by several major Romanian structural projects seeking to reform the higher education system. These projects are focused on themes of major interest at European level, such as: higher education leadership, institutional quality assurance, university rankings and higher education management.
Empirical evidence to support policies and reforms in higher education has often been a matter of local or regional focus. With the development of a pan-European process in higher education, there is a need to explore wider research topic areas, on which to base policies. In this context, the Bologna Process Researchers Conference is dedicated to collect evidence-based research, which has often been lacking during the last ten years, and to create a setting for bridging the gap between policy and research within the EHEA context.
The conference will enable discussion on key issues between various actors that don't usually interact (such as policy makers and researchers on HE) and draw on different approaches on the nature of European higher education.
Target groups:
Higher education researchers, leading academics and policy makers.
The General Rapporteur
Conference themes
Two main tracks have been identified.
The first thematic track is focused on specific Bologna developments and includes four topics that will be led by four thematic coordinators as follows:
- - European Higher Education Area principles
- - Teaching and learning (student-centred learning, employability, access to Higher Education)
- - Quality assurance
- - Mobility
The second thematic track is focused on additional Bologna developments while linking them to changes in the legal higher education system in Romania and includes four topics that will be led by four coordinators as follows:
- - Higher Education Governance in the European Higher Education Area
- - Higher Education Financing
- - Diversification of higher education institutions missions as a response to global challenges
- - Foresight/Futures of Higher Education Institutions
Each track will produce six research papers, each of them accompanied by reaction contributions that will be presented at the conference during the parallel sessions discussions.
Deliverables
The FOHE-BPRC conference will have as an outcome two volumes of Outcome of proceedings, corresponding to each thematic track to be part of the official documentation for the 2012 Bucharest Ministerial Conference and Third Bologna Policy Forum, as well as a possible input of the General Rapporteurs into the Conference proceedings. The Editorial Board for the two volumes will include the FOHE-BPRC General Rapporteurs and the thematic coordinators.
Romanian legal reform
A new higher education law was recently adopted in Romania. In brief, it seeks to bring about the following changes to institutions:
- - increased autonomy and increased public accountability;
- - university classification (see below);
- - concentration of resources;
- - entrepreneurship;
- - human resources policy reform;
- - student-centred universities.
A new university classification is being introduced that distinguishes three types of institutions:
- - Education-centred (bachelor)
- - Education- and research-centred (bachelor and master)
- - Advanced research and education-centred (plus doctoral)
A university can move from one category to another. Further flexibility is provided to the extent that, e.g., a university classified as education-centred can offer master or doctoral studies in certain fields, provided that the specific programme has been evaluated to be of high quality. Funding will be dependent on the type of university and the results of a ranking of study programmes.
