Implementation of the Bologna process is making good progress in Germany, according to a new government report. The transformation of courses into bachelor and masters programmes is said to have been largely completed – with positive impacts including greater mobility, access and graduate employment. The Bologna process is intended to make academic degree and quality assurance standards more compatible across Europe while boosting performance, the desired result of the process being a European Higher Education Area (EHEA) with greater mobility and better achievement, also on an international scale.
The Bologna Declaration was signed in Bologna, Italy, in 1999 by ministers of education from 29 European countries.
According to the latest government report, 85% of the more than 15,000 degree courses in Germany have now been transformed into the new bachelors and masters programmes that the Bologna reforms require. This compares to 75% three years ago.
Mobility appears to be on the increase, with every third graduate now having been abroad to study for a certain period, more than a quarter of these graduates for over three months.
Also, access to higher education has improved. Now, master craftsmen, technicians and business administrators can enrol for a university course without an abitur, the certificate of higher secondary education normally required.
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Martina Schmieder
