Times Higher Education: Bologna Process and UK: The long and the short of it October 5, 2008
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : delicious links , add a commentThe Bologna gap between universities in the UK and much of Europe:
At the heart of the debate is the British one-year masters degree. The accord does not require a two-year masters degree, but most European universities offer a qualification of this type as standard. Across continental Europe, the masters is a research-intensive course aimed at preparing students for a PhD and a career in academia. In the UK, it performs a quite different function – offering the high-level professional skills required by the workplace.
As such, the one-year masters offered by UK universities could be seen as minimalist, even lazy. According to the Hepi report: "If the Bologna brand were to become well established, and if the UK was seen not to be 'Bologna-compliant' – and there are undoubtedly a number of our competitors who would like to create that impression – then that could damage the UK's attractiveness to international students.
