I've been reading about the Bologna Process recently. It is an initiative which aims "to create the European higher education area by harmonising academic degree standards and quality assurance standards throughout Europe by the end of 2010" http://www.wg.aegee.org/ewg/bologna.htm).
A good source of information on the basics of the Bologna Process is at http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/highereducation/ehea2010/bolognapedestrians_en.asp
This website states the by 2010 higher education systems in European countries should be organised in such a way that:
47 countries are part of this initiative, including non European nations. This standardization of degrees and outcomes among member nations is meant increase Europe's competitiveness in attracting international students, and help employers understand the skills and learning graduates will bring to the workplace.
I ran across an interesting article on the attempt to ensure that higher education degrees are relevant in the job market by a process named "tuning." Lawrence, Lee (2010, June 2). Fine-tuning college degrees to the job market; US institutions of higher learning are adapting aspects of "Tuning," a European program to give college degrees more job market relevance. The Christian Science Monitor.
Tuning is a product of the Bologna Process. It is described as "a bottom-up process that has implications for the way professors teach and the how students explain what they've learned." European policymakers realized that they would need to understand "what students need to know, understand and do with any given credential." This led to tuning, which has faculty members meeting with employers and administrators to determine what students in each discipline actually need to know. In the US, credits measure hours spent in the classroom rather than what is learned. This kind of reform would increase transparency about what higher education is actually delivering.
The implications for library instruction and information literacy are huge here. Is there a standardized library curriculum as well? What would the nuances and implications of that kind of policy be?
"We found no matter where students are enrolled, no matter what information resources they have at their disposal, and no matter how much time they have, the abundance of information technology and the proliferation of digital information resources have made research uniquely paradoxical.
Information is now as infinite as the universe, but finding the answers needed is harder than ever.
Our ongoing research confirms proficiency in information problem solving is urgent, given the dauntingly vast and complex wilderness of information available digitally. As one student in humanities said during one of our focus groups, "What's so frustrating to me about conducting research is the more you know, the more you realize how little you know -- it's depressing, frustrating and suffocating."
When we surveyed undergraduates last spring in a large-scale survey, eight in 10 of our 8,353 respondents reported having overwhelming difficulty even starting research assignments and determining the nature and scope of what was expected of them.
As one engineering student explained, "None of the old-timers -- the old professors -- can really give us much advice on sorting through and evaluating resources ... we're kind of one of the first generations to have too much information, as opposed to too little."
We argue evaluation, interpretation and synthesis are the key competencies of the 21st century. These information-literacy skills allow us to find what we need, filter out what we do not and chart a course in an ever-expanding frontier of information. Information literacy is the essential skill set that cuts across all disciplines and professions.
It is time for many educators to stop lamenting about "these kids today" and retool and prioritize the learning of skills for solving information problems if students are to learn and master critical thinking at all. Or, as one student in social sciences we interviewed told us, "College is about knowing how to look at a problem in multiple ways and how to think about it analytically -- now, that's something I'll use in my life."
read more: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2015227485_guest05head.html
I can imagine using these in instruction...maybe having students agree or disagree--a way to start the conversation about the skills that are needed today? What do you think?
