PLACING BOLOGNA IN CONTEXT

A Report on the Bologna-Ireland Conference

14 -15 October 2010

The Honorable Society of King’s Inns

Henrietta Street
Dublin

Prepared by

Ireland’s Independent Research Group

www.inquest.ie
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Table of Contents

Summary of Outcomes ............................................................................................................... 3

1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 6
2. Bologna: The Next Steps ................................................................................................................ 8
3. From Passive to Active Citizenship: A role for the Arts .............................................................. 13
4. Building international education partnerships and supporting youth mobility ............................. 15
5. Developing Innovation and Enhancing the Employability of Graduates ...................................... 22
6. Integrating Study Abroad into the Curriculum ............................................................................. 30
7. The Role of Education in tackling the Recession ......................................................................... 33
8. Conclusion: A Turning Point for Bologna? .................................................................................. 35

Annex 1 Conference Programme and Biographies……………………………………………………………………. 38

Annex 2 List of Attendees…………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 47
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Summary of Outcomes

The Placing Bologna in Context conference was held against backdrop of economic crisis.
This reality shaped the Conference discussions and informed its outcomes, which addressed
important general principles about education and mobility to practical learning points on
promoting international partnerships; encouraging student mobility; and developing
innovative thinking in business and education. The following are the key points to emerge
over the course of the two day event.

Overarching Themes

1. The Bologna Process has reached a critical point in its development. The work done
heretofore on structures and frameworks provides the tools needed to make progress,
but there is a need to take action to ensure that real mobility happens. The impressive
progress made in protocols and instruments must be translated into the real world of
higher education practice, innovation and the economy.

2. Education will be critical in helping Europe to face the challenges arising out of the
current economic turmoil and competition from overseas.

3. The progress of Bologna to date has not been as complete as might have been hoped.
Stronger leadership and direction may be needed to make the necessary progress, but
this direction must be balanced with respect for the democratic and voluntary nature
of the project. Focussing on the ultimate goal of producing innovative, mobile
learners should inspire all of the stakeholders to push forward.

Active Citizenship - The Role of the Arts

4. The Arts and arts education can play a key role in imagining and articulating the kind
of society that the citizens of Europe want. Arts education must ensure that art and
artists interact with society, so breaking down the silos between the arts and other
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sectors is crucial. Multidisciplinary studies that combine creative arts with other
subjects are vital to developing truly innovative learners.

Building International Education Partnerships and Supporting Youth Mobility

5. Europe’s future depends on a new generation of highly educated and mobile young
people. The EU aims to promote more quality job placements for students, improve
mobility for workers and learners, and increase transparency, but the onus is also on
individual countries to set ambitious targets to increase higher education attainment
and reduce early school leaving.

6. High-quality, ambitious co-operation between Europe’s educational institutions

creates exactly the kind of graduates that are now needed. Building these kinds of
partnerships is challenging - it requires vision and a shared commitment to cohesive
and joined-up academic progression – but the benefits to both the institution and the
learner are significant.

7. The role of language is crucial in encouraging mobility. While English has a central
role in international education, the use of multiple languages in education is crucial in
developing flexible, culturally competent graduates.

Developing Innovation and Enhancing the Employability of Graduates

8. Promoting innovation is central to the smart economy and developing innovation is a

major focus for educators. However, existing academic programmes are not
necessarily good at producing innovators. Teaching innovation effectively requires
focussed effort and approaches such as systematic ideation methods, application of
models from biology and multidisciplinary study.

9. The capacity to innovate is crucial for business. Building strong partnerships with
educational institutions helps companies to innovate and also produces more
employable graduates. Mobility of learners - inward and outward – creates new links
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between Europe and foreign markets and makes graduates more employable by
fostering new perspectives and ideas.

Integrating Study Abroad into the Curriculum

10. The value of the student experience of study abroad will be limited unless it is rooted
in structured, productive learning that can be applied on return to the student’s home
country. The innovative use of digital technology can encourage students to interact
with the new culture in a more productive way. Service learning, where voluntary
work is used as a basis for academic work, also makes study abroad more valuable.

The Role of Education in tackling the Recession

11. Education cannot be exempted from blame for the current economic crisis given that
many of the people responsible for the crisis were products of Europe’s education
systems. The failure of higher educational institutions is that they did not do enough
to produce graduates who could think for themselves or have the courage to reject
short-sighted thinking.

12. Producing graduates who are creative and innovative is important, but education must
look first to the personal development of the learner and the fostering of values – like
the foresight to act for the long-term good of society. In short, education will be
crucial to rebuilding a sustainable economy. Continued investment in education is
therefore crucial to emerging strongly from the crisis.
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1. Introduction

„Bologna is not an abstract game for academics to devise protocols, guidelines, frameworks
and various instruments. Let‟s not forget that it‟s a hard-nosed ambition to make a better
Europe. And we‟re a long way from that.‟ Tom Boland, Chief Executive, Higher
Education Authority, Ireland

Stakeholders from the worlds of education, business and policy-making gathered in Dublin’s
King’s Inns on the 14th and 15th October, 2010 for a Bologna-Ireland conference on the theme
of Placing Bologna in Context.

The conference was held

at a critical moment in
the development of the
European project and this
fact was reflected
throughout the
proceedings. The sense of
prevailing crisis –
economic and political -
weighed heavily on the
conference and speaker after speaker focussed on the changed context in which discussions
on the Bologna Process and European education generally were taking place. If a consensus
emerged, it was that an important turning point had been reached. Conference discussions
focussed heavily on the need to secure tangible outputs from the Bologna process. Of
necessity, this demanded a radical shift in emphasis, away from the assembling of essential
structures and towards the application of those structures to drive real mobility, learner-
centred education and the other changes needed to transform Europe’s education systems.

The Dublin Conference underlined that this was not simply an academic matter. More than
anything, the backdrop of economic crisis and uncertainty ensured that the debate around
these issues acquired a real urgency. Indeed, with the global context continually changing,
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Europe’s education systems were certain to face

serious challenges – both financial and
philosophical. Opening the conference, Tom
Boland (right), Chief Executive of Ireland’s
Higher Education Authority, stressed the point
that the prevailing economic turmoil had
increased the need for Europe to keep up with
such competitors as the United States and Japan,
as well as emerging economies like China and
India. In order to successfully confront these challenges into the future, Europe will need a
new generation of learners, a generation whose values and innovative capacity can rebuild
our economies in a more sustainable way. The conference underscored the challenge of
change, but it also proposed practical ways and means by which this change might be
effected.
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2. Bologna: The Next Steps

„What we have been losing is the big picture - what does the European Higher Education
Area look like after the Bologna Process? What are we aiming at? What is that dreamy,
pink reality that everybody is chasing? The existence of a qualification framework? Quality
assurance procedures? No, the reality is different and if we don‟t make people dream about
that reality we won‟t motivate them to work towards it.‟ Ligia Deca, Co-ordinator of the
Bologna Secretariat

The fundamental debate at the centre of the conference was addressed directly in the first
session. Reflecting on ten years of work there was general acceptance not only that much of
genuine value had been achieved, but that there was much that had still to be done. In his
introductory remarks, Tom Boland of Ireland‟s Higher Education Authority listed a series
of milestones that had been passed since 1999, but he suggested that the conference would
amount to little more than an exercise in futility if all it did was lavish praise on Bologna.
Setting the agenda for later deliberations, Boland asked: ‘How do we translate the impressive
progress made in protocols and instruments into the real world of higher education practice,
innovation and the economy?’ The concern implicit in Boland’s challenge was shared by
many of those attending the conference and it reflected a general impatience at the pace at
which the big ideas of the Bologna Process were practically impacting on Europe’s learners.

The question as to where to next for the Bologna process was addressed by Ligia Deca, Co-
ordinator of the Bologna Secretariat, who stressed that the focus of the Secretariat was
fixed firmly on the future rather than on past achievements. But what support structures are
required to help move the process forward? The Bologna Secretariat’s key role heretofore has
been in providing neutral support to further the consolidation of the European Higher
Education Area (EHEA) under the authority of the Bologna Follow-Up Group (BFUG). It has
done this through administrative support for the BFUG, creating and maintaining the EHEA
website and electronic archive, acting as a contact point both internally and externally for the
EHEA and organising the 2012 Ministerial Conference and Bologna Policy Forum.
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Ligia Deca (left) emphasised that

priorities and objectives have shifted
as the Bologna process has developed
in recent years. This much was
apparent from the changes in emphasis
in the new post-Leuven work plan for
2009-2012. In areas of ongoing
priority - like mobility, employability,
and lifelong learning – there is now an
increased focus on ensuring that implementation happens. The focus of other priorities has
also been slightly adjusted: the global dimension, for example, is now focussed on
international openness, while the social dimension emphasises equitable access and
completion. New focus is also being placed on the development of multi-dimensional
transparency tools and on the encouragement of student-centred learning and the teaching
mission of higher education. In addressing and promoting these priorities the BFUG has set
up a number of new workgroups and networks.

Deca argued that the progress made under the Bologna process heretofore has created new
areas of debate, many of which were highlighted at the August 2010 meeting of the Bologna
Follow Up Group. New working methods within the EHEA, possible themes of the next
Bologna Policy Forum and the development of the permanent EHEA website were also
considered at this meeting, as were the EHEA mobility benchmark and its links with similar
EU initiatives, and an analysis of progress towards implementation of national qualifications
frameworks in all EHEA countries by 2012.

Drawing all these developments together, Deca suggested that it was possible to discern
certain key trends to the Bologna process. The first is a move from a focus on general policy-
making at European level to a concentration on ensuring implementation actually happens in
institutions. While there has been a lot of progress, there is also a realistic understanding that
the practical implementation of Bologna has not been perfect and may need renewed
attention or new approaches and an acknowledgement of critical voices.
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Secondly, the process is placing an increasing focus on complex, yet more productive
processes like Recognition of Prior Learning, Lifelong Learning and Student-Centred
Learning. Progress on these priorities is nevertheless dependent on the prior completion of a
certain level of structural change. In addition, Deca told the conference that areas previously
perceived as being outside the process, such as funding and transparency mechanisms, must
now be considered as ‘up for debate’ if Europe is to get the meaningful change it needs.
Moving towards the 2012 Bucharest Ministerial Conference and Bologna Policy Forum, it is
too early to tell what the structure and subject matter for the meeting will be. The two events
may be intertwined and a single report on the implementation of the Bologna Process
produced, possibly with input from the research community studying the Bologna Process.

Ligia Deca’s detailed

presentation gave rise to a
discussion the general tenor
of which was encapsulated
in the response by Professor
Bairbre Redmond (right),
Deputy Registrar for
Teaching and Learning at
University College Dublin
and Irish Bologna Expert. Recognising the success of the process so far, Professor
Redmond noted that Ireland’s successful focus on learning outcomes had helped shift the
emphasis towards student-centred learning and recognition of prior learning. The experience
of developing a robust national qualification framework offers a clear, coherent starting point
for ongoing developments in the Bologna Process, and Irish Institutions now understand that
quality control is everybody’s responsibility. This acknowledgement of the value of work
already done was in evidence throughout the conference. Margaret Hynds O‟Flanagan of
the Royal Institute of Architects Ireland cited the example of her own profession. The
benefit of Bologna had already been marked, enabling architects to describe their
professional qualifications in terms of learning outcomes, which in turn facilitated mobility.

There was no escaping the sense that Bologna was still a work in progress. As if to underline
this point, Professor Redmond observed that while the Process had provided us with the tools
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to achieve the change needed, there is still a lot of complex work to be done. She was not
alone in highlighting this fact. It found an echo is several contributions, including that of
Eamonn Nolan, Griffith College, Dublin, who warned that the process could become a box-
ticking exercise. Given the huge challenges of implementation, he argued that it was essential
that we constantly focus on our goal - the kind of mobile, flexible graduates we need. Ligia
Deca agreed on the need to move on, but maintained that there was still a place for debate
and argument on why Bologna is important. A point had been reached, she suggested, where
many systems had made the structural changes that were necessary but had then rested on
their laurels. Unless the vision of the desired Europe is kept to the forefront - the vision of a
mobile, productive Europe - people may not persevere with the hard work that is still needed.

In encouraging the ongoing commitment necessary to drive change, both Tom Boland and
Ligia Deca touched on the possibility of a move away from the purely voluntary engagement
that had been the mark of the Bologna Process to date. It was a proposition that provoked
serious debate. Professor John Scattergood, Trinity College, Dublin argued that though
Irish students had lower levels of mobility than might be desired, they couldn’t be compelled
to go abroad to study. Referring to his own experience of promoting ECTS and learning
outcomes at Trinity College, Professor Scattergood suggested that academics needed to be
persuaded and not forced. Professor Bairbre Redmond agreed that the democratic
foundations of the process should be built upon rather than diluted. To impose a ‘very
didactic, hard system’ played into the hands of those who never bought into the system in the
first place and risked losing many of the gains that had been achieved. For Tom Boland of
the Higher Education Authority, however, the solution lay in the striking of a proper
balance. According to Boland, the democratic approach had taken a lot of time, but in order
to reach a point where the process delivers the type of system needed a better balance had to
be found between democracy and strong leadership.

Declan McGonagle, Director of Ireland’s National College of Art & Design argued that
Higher Education Institutions were recipients of public money and therefore had to be
conscious that they acted for the benefit of society. If academics felt that the Bologna Process
was not the way forward, they needed to articulate an alternative – a mere reliance on
received thinking and the status quo will not function in the world into which we are headed.
Ligia Deca stressed that the language of persuasion for academics is crucial. By maintaining
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a focus on the big ideals – like real, productive mobility for learners – it was reasonable to
expect academics to lead the process and not be dragged along. For Deca, it was not a
question of abandoning the democratic principles but of ensuring that the academic
community are a leading party in the democratic process.
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3. From Passive to Active Citizenship: A role for the Arts

„It is vitally important for the Arts in general, and Art and Design in particular, to speak out
of its own sector, to speak across boundaries, to speak and be heard in the economy and the
society, as well as the culture.‟ - Declan McGonagle, Director, National College of Arts
and Design, Ireland

Declan McGonagle (right), Director of

Ireland’s National College of Arts and
Design, offered the opening session of the
conference an alternative, albeit
complementary, view of how the current
economic and social challenges might be
addressed. He argued forcefully that the arts
and arts education must take an active role
in re-imagining the society. The key
question, McGonagle insisted, was ‘What kind of society do we want?’ It is only in
answering that question that decisions can be made about what kind of economy, culture and
education are needed. McGonagle believed that the balanced society was one which
encompassed both the economy and culture. There can be a tendency to believe that the arts
serve as a mere distraction - an antidote to reality rather than a means of understanding and
changing it. In fact, the reverse is often the case. McGonagle cited by way of example the
move towards peace in Northern Ireland, which started with artists questioning received ideas
and exploring identity. This created a space where politicians and the public could imagine
how peace and agreement might be achieved.

The divide between the cultural process and the social-economic process was a primary cause
of both the current economic crisis and the disconnect between politics and the people.
According to McGonagle, arts and culture had the potential to create a new narrative by
imagining and acting out the society we want and then transferring those ideas to society as a
whole. To do this, it is necessary to break down the silos that separate arts and culture from
the other sectors of education and society, striving to find a language and a voice that is heard
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and understood by all. The new citizenship that is required is one based on an invitation to
exercise responsibilities, not just enjoy rights. What is needed is a ‘fresh imagination of
citizenship’ and the arts can equip people to transform themselves from consumers to
participants – with citizenship as a verb rather than a noun.

Arts and design education must encompass not just pure creativity, but also how creative
people engage with society and educational structures. Arts education has to change as well,
with a greater focus on the qualitative rather than the quantitative. Arts education can and
must develop associative thinking – the key skill for the world we live in - and graduates
must be able to use information, not just acquire and repeat it. Education should not just pass
on received knowledge and values but instead promote imagination and innovation if society
is not to suffocate. It is because mobility is such an important part of this educational
approach that the NCAD has been an enthusiastic supporter of student mobility with high
levels of participation in Erasmus.

McGonagle concluded by emphasising the need for a new relationship between the arts world
and society, one where the artist is challenged to say whether they are trying to create a
relationship with society or trying to disassociate themselves. But he also stressed the need
for a new definition of profit – one based on a fully-articulated cultural sphere which
nourishes a fully-articulated citizenship, as well as a functioning economy. In response,
Professor Bairbre Redmond, Deputy Registrar for Teaching and Learning at University
College Dublin, noted that in the current context of world economic turmoil, there has never
been a greater need to develop the kind of imaginative, critical-thinking leaders who combine
the creativity of the arts and engagement with society. The way to do this was clearly set out
by Declan McGonagle and it found an echo across many conference contributions. Put
simply, it demanded that educational institutions break down the silos that keep different
disciplines apart – this alone would encourage our graduates to combine artistic creativity
with the other disciplines.
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4. Building international education partnerships and

supporting youth mobility

„With these partnerships we are really building the world citizen, the international citizen,
very aware of this capacity to hold an intercultural dialogue. We could call it the European
way, based on the concept of an appreciation of diversity, an appreciation of cultures.‟ Julia
González, Vice Rector for International Relations, University of Duesto, Bilbao

„Europe‟s future depends on its 100 million young people.‟ Julie Fionda “Youth on the
Move Initiative”

(from left) Dr. Julia González, Vice Rector for International Relations, University of Duesto,
Bilbao; Julia Fionda, Directorate General for Education and Culture, European Commission;
Declan McGonagle, Director, National College of Art and Design, Dublin; Ligia Deca, Bologna
Secretariat, Bucharest

The second session of the conference opened with Julia González, Vice Rector for
International Relations at the University of Duesto in Bilbao, outlining her university’s
impressive record in building international partnerships. The university’s success was rooted
in a strong vision of how higher education can work and a belief in the power of co-operation
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between institutions. For Duesto, creating partnerships involves identifying partner

institutions that complement their own strengths. The ultimate aim is to build a world citizen
with a real capacity for intercultural dialogue. As González acknowledged, this is a true
European way, based as it is on an appreciation of diversity and integration.

The European Masters in Transnational Trade Law and Finance at Duesto offers a perfect
example of how the partnership system works in practice. Students from many countries
begin by taking core courses at Duesto before moving to Tilburg for the second semester. For
their second year they can choose different locations with partner universities in Frankfurt
and Strasbourg adding complementary areas of expertise. A different, but equally successful,
model is the ‘European Masters in Lifelong Learning: Policy and Management’, where
students begin their qualification in Copenhagen or London before coming together as a
group in Duesto in the third semester. Students are then given a choice between the three
institutions about where to conclude their qualification. The partnership system promoted by
Duesto is not confined to Europe, however. Their Masters in Euro Culture underlines the
opportunities for partnerships outside Europe, with six European partners combining with
partners from the United States, Mexico, Japan and India. Similarly, the International
Humanitarian Action qualification involves a partnership between seven European
universities and eight other universities across the world.

What Duesto have learned is that getting the accreditation and legal basis right for the award
of the joint degree is crucial. Their experience has also pointed up the importance of building
a critical mass of support for joint projects in order to persuade Institutions and students that
they are viable. Dr. González told the Conference there has to be a real commitment between
the partners to having a joined-up academic progression from one part of the course to the
next. Even if the partners have different approaches – be they philosophical, financial or
structural - they must all agree on common goals. The return for this effort is that these types
of partnerships develop exactly the kind of globally-aware citizen that society needs. They
also improve the worldwide visibility and relevance of the academic faculties and institutions
taking part, while adding to their capacity to pursue real interdisciplinary programmes and
become centres of excellence in the future. There is no golden rule for building partnerships –
each partnership will be different but each must have a compelling logic to it. Alliances must
be built on the individual strengths of the partners and all of the partners must be actively
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engaged with all aspects of the building process, constantly strengthening the links and
developing programme quality.

In conclusion, Dr. González argued that joint degrees mark the highest kind of co-operation
and make the European Higher Education Area deeper and more productive. Partnerships at
this level can form a text for improved connections in European education and González
argued that a real commitment to these kinds of high-level joint ventures must be a feature of
the future that European Higher Education Institutions are aiming for. The connections
created are symbolic of the kind of connectedness Europe is committed to, both within the
continent and with the wider world.

For Dr. Norma Ryan (left), Director of the Quality Promotion Unit at University College,
Cork and Irish Bologna
Expert there were many
lessons to be drawn from the
type of productive
international partnerships
proposed by Dr. González.
These partnerships also
provided a great blueprint for
co-operation between HEIs
within countries. Ryan argued
that the ambition should be to build some mobility into every single course and she stressed
the importance of having successful models available that recognise the value of work
placements and which give credit for different types of learning. She also argued that while
European education may now be looked to as an example by the world, Europe also has
much to learn from the rest of the world, especially in terms of commitment and enthusiasm
to make progress. June Hosford (above first left), Director of St Nicholas Montessori
College in Dublin and Irish Bologna Expert, made the distinction between simple physical
mobility and the more crucial mobility of mind. There is a need, she said, to make learners -
especially Irish learners who can be slow to study abroad - much more open to the benefits
and opportunities of the kind of high-quality mobility represented by the programmes
described by Dr. González. Developing and promoting consistent, high-quality learning
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outcomes and ensuring educators and employers share a common view of them is an essential
part of making that kind of mobility accessible to learners.

This linkage of the worlds of education and employment was also at the core of the
Conference presentation by Julie Fionda of the European Commission‟s Directorate
General for Education and Culture. Fionda provided an overview of the „Youth on the
Move Initiative‟, an EU flagship programme aimed at promoting economic growth by
helping Europe’s youth succeed in the knowledge and innovation-based economy. It is an
integrated strategy, adopted in September 2010, involving the areas of education, training and
employment. It is also part of the Europe 2020 plan for Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive
Growth.

Underpinning the project is the belief that Europe’s future well-being is dependent on young
people with high-level qualifications and high-tech skills. However, Europe still has too
many early school leavers and not enough higher education graduates compared to rivals like
Japan and USA. Youth unemployment is also too high. Europe 2020, the European Union’s
growth strategy for the next decade, has set as headline goals the reduction of early school
leaving to a maximum of 10% and the increase of higher education attainment to 40%. There
will obviously be variation between European countries, but the aim is for every country to
set ambitious but achievable goals. The ‘Youth on the Move’ initiative will be the main
vehicle at the European level for achieving progress on these education benchmarks. While
promoting both learning and employment mobility is a key focus of the initiative, it also goes
beyond mobility to all aspects of improving education and employment opportunities for
Europe’s young people.

The initiative will move on four broad action lines: Modern Education and Training Systems;
Higher Education; Learning and Employment Mobility; and a Youth Employment
Framework, with 28 key actions identified across the four areas. Fionda highlighted four of
these actions, starting with the Quality Framework for Traineeships, which will encourage
employers to provide more high-quality work placements for students. In the area of higher
education, the focus of the initiative will be on modernisation and defining the priorities for
Europe’s funding instruments in terms of employability, mobility, transparency and
internationalisation. The emphasis in mobility will be on both learning and employment
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mobility. The ‘Youth on the Move’ website has been developed to promote educational
mobility for students and there is also a forthcoming Council Recommendation on Learning
Mobility, which will tackle some of the barriers to mobility in the member states. There are
also practical tools in development - a mobility scoreboard that will make it easy to assess
each country’s approach to mobility, as well as guidance on the legal rights of mobile
students, and the European Skills Passport - Europass. In employment mobility, there will be
a focus on getting more from public employment services in the member states and ensuring
they use the tools available at European level to support transnational job seekers. Training
for people who are not currently in employment or education and encouraging labour market
reforms will also be key priorities.

A review of all EU programmes in education and training is underway, and Fionda

encouraged input through the public consultation, especially as that review will make an
argument for significantly-increased funding at a European level post 2013. Programmes that
they are looking at in that regard include a system for EU Student Loans to promote mobility
and an Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme. The ‘Youth on the Move’ initiative is
not a funding programme, but it will set the context for the EU’s approach to youth
employment, education and mobility and for funding at European level in the future.
However, while the EU has an important role to play in influencing, supporting and providing
focussed funding, it will, in the end, be up to the member states to make the change happen.

But how best can member states do this? The question of how to encourage and facilitate
mobility attracted much debate. In the Irish context, problems certainly existed. For instance,
Professor Jim Gosling, retired Director of Quality at NUI Galway, remarked upon the low
uptake of Diploma Supplements. Picking up on this point, Dr. Frank McMahon, former
Director of Academic Affairs at Dublin Institute of Technology and Irish Bologna Expert,
commented on both the mixed approach of institutions to the issuing of such Supplements
and the continued preference of many employers for academic transcripts over the diploma
supplement. Denis McGrath of Engineering Ireland commented that they rarely had call to
view a diploma supplement. Because of the EU Directive on recognition of professional
qualifications, Engineering Ireland has been content to accept graduates from other EU
countries and accord similar status to their qualifications, without reference to diploma
supplements. Julia González maintained that diploma supplements still had their uses, but a
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major problem remained their improper use, with only skeleton information being provided
rather than details on learning outcomes and competences. Their acceptance and usefulness
will increase, González believes, once students start seeing them as the norm. Dr. Anne
Murphy of Dublin Institute of Technology noted that the Diploma Supplement has had a
bigger impact and more take-up from students in other parts of Europe because it gives them
all their qualification details in English on one form, and is therefore a big aid to mobility.

The conference heard of a number of practical initiatives intended to promote mobility.

Seamus McLoughlin of the International Section of Ireland’s Department of Education
and Science told of a plan, soon to be introduced, whereby Erasmus alumni are used as
ambassadors to promote the benefits of mobility to students in Irish second-level schools.
Supporting the idea, Ligia Deca claimed that there is a need for more and more voices to
publicly comment on how the mobility brought about by Bologna has been a positive, life-
changing experience. Deca also emphasised the need to listen more generally to what
students themselves were saying – this would enable a better assessment as to whether
students felt that the Bologna Process had delivered all the benefits of mobility that had been
promised. This point was later picked up by Dave Kilmartin of the Career’s Service at the
Dublin Institute of Technology, who pointed out that though the curriculum is meant to be
about developing knowledge and skills, students often found the process unrewarding.
Kilmartin also stressed the importance of feedback from students on whether they feel they
are getting what they want.

The issue of mobility in Europe is intimately bound up with that of language. Speaking on the
Irish experience, Eamonn Nolan of Griffith College, Dublin suggested that the fact that
Ireland received more students from overseas (who come to develop their English language
capabilities) than it sent out to other countries was indicative of a need to include more
language support elements in Irish programmes so as to make students more enthusiastic
about studying abroad. Alex Metcalfe, Head of the International Office at University
College Dublin, suggested that Ireland was not unique and that the same imbalance is true of
other English speaking systems. Indeed, within that group, Metcalfe suggested that Ireland
compared relatively well, adding that with more engagement on the part of academic staff to
reassure students that they weren’t going to be disadvantaged academically by travelling
abroad, very significant gains in the mobility of students might be achieved.
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Julie Fionda addressed the sensitivities around the dominance of the English language.
Acknowledging that English is becoming the de facto international language of higher
education, there is, she believes, a need to guard against any loss of national traditions which
are crucial to Europe’s distinctiveness. Language ability is certainly important in facilitating
mobility, but more important, Fionda believes, is the creation of awareness among learners of
the opportunities that exist and convincing them of the benefits of mobility. The crucial role
of multiple language use was developed further by Dr. Julia González, who argued that
while English is often the dominant language in international education, the use of multiple
languages in academic co-operation results in advantages for graduates’ employability.
Learners who are sympathetic to the idea of multiple-language use are more equipped to be
effective global citizens. According to González, Spanish-speaking countries were waking up
to the opportunities for mobility and co-operation presented by the Spanish-speaking
population worldwide.

Summing up the importance of mobility Dr. González added: ‘When we talk about mobility,
sometimes we mean for very short periods and yet they have a huge impact on the people.
And when the periods are a little bit longer, then the learning may be very deep and very
strong and the learner comes back to the home country with great enrichment.’ June Hosford
agreed, arguing that mobility has effects that go beyond the individual students who travel,
because those students bring back culture and ideas that affect their fellow students and
connect the Institutions they attend to the wider world. Concluding the session, Dr. Norma
Ryan made the point that in modern education, two-way mobility of staff and students was a
key performance indicator of the health and vitality of any Higher Education Institution.
 22 | P a g e

5. Developing Innovation and Enhancing the Employability

of Graduates

“But fundamentally we are here to innovate - to better our existence on earth – all of us.”
Gul Kremer, Pennsylvania State University

“We will always look to collaborate, to optimise the strengths that are available both in the
public and in the private sectors. This to me is the Smart Economy in action. It is creating
competitive advantages; it‟s creating value; and it‟s creating sustainable employment.”
Michael Fitzgerald, Managing Director, Abtran Ltd

The Dublin Conference provided an

opportunity not only for discussion among
those working within the Bologna Process; it
also allowed for the perspectives of those
operating beyond the Bologna territory, in
both the academic and business spheres. One
such perspective was offered by Dr. Gul
Kremer (right) of Pennsylvania State
University and current Fulbright Scholar at
Dublin Institute of Technology. Kremer opened the third session of the conference with a
provocative assessment of the failures of modern education in its attempts to develop
innovative capacity in students. Given that innovation was ‘the single most important
ingredient in any modern economy’, the significance of this could not be underestimated.

Drawing on both her own experience in the engineering field and the evidence of research
carried out in the United States, Kremer expressed the belief that educators were failing to
properly nurture innovation in students. And yet, the cultivation of innovation in students is
an imperative for both the United States and Europe. As Kremer made clear, the American
and European economic models are based on an ability to pay high labour costs, and in order
to pay high labour costs it is necessary to produce innovative products. That means producing
graduates who can innovate. While a view had been expressed at the Conference that Europe
 23 | P a g e

was lagging behind the likes of the United States and Japan in terms of innovation promotion,
the situation in the United States was, as Kremer pointed out, by no means healthy. The US
Secretary of Commerce had recently voiced a commonly-held concern that the innovation
process in the United States was ‘broken’ and in need of urgent ‘retooling’.

This re-tooling, Kremer asserts, is necessary to sustain existing living standards. The question
it has raised for educators in engineering, for example, is what are the Knowledge, Skills and
Abilities that engineering students need to become innovators? Programmes in the U.S. tend
to weighted towards domain-specific knowledge and design skills, which, while necessary,
aren’t enough to create innovators. Other necessary attributes are really inherent to the
person, such as having an open and confident personality or being thick skinned. That really
leaves three areas where education should really develop innovation ability - divergent
thinking ability, analogical ability, and associational ability - but it doesn’t.

While there is a big focus on nurturing innovation, the evidence from the U.S. is that students
and graduates have less creative potential than their peers 20 years ago. More worrying still,
Kremer believes, are the results from a survey of almost forty institutions in the United States
which found that students, faculty and administrators all believed that their programmes were
strongly focussed on creativity and innovation, whereas the scientific evidence told
otherwise. It suggested that engineering education tended to stifle creativity rather than
encourage it. Research has shown that the novelty and creativity of students’ solutions to
problems actually declines the longer they’ve been in engineering education.

Dr. Kremer argued that teaching innovation, especially to engineering students, requires a
much more carefully tailored approach, including Systematic Ideation Methods, which are
methodologies that help students to come up with creative solutions to engineering problems.
One good example is the TRIZ system, pioneered by the Russian polymath Genrich
Altshuller, which is based on the simple idea that innovative solutions can be applied from
one work area to another. The process focuses attention on the key contradictions of the
problem being investigated and then uses a matrix to examine how innovators have solved
similar problems in the past. A second productive Systematic Ideation Method is the study of
nature to analyse how biology has solved similar problems to those being faced by engineers.
In many areas, engineers find that the most innovative solution to a problem is one that
 24 | P a g e

already exists in the natural world. Lessons from biology can be integrated into our
engineering teaching to encourage more sustainable designs.

The encouragement of multidisciplinary work is another way to foster innovative graduates.

By exposing students to different ways of thinking and learning, they become more open to
innovation. According to Kremer, engineering education must find more ways to get students
involved with other disciplines. Picking up on the argument of Declan McGonagle in the first
session of the conference, he also urged the need to reverse the disconnection between
engineering and the arts. There is good reason for this: because consumers often look at new
products for their style and artistic design before they consider their utility, innovators need
to have a foot in both the engineering and artistic worlds.

Dr. Kremer concluded by insisting that innovation is not optional. It remains difficult to
cultivate the knowledge, skills and abilities needed for innovation, but it can be done, Kremer
believes, with the introduction of Systematic Ideation Methods, the encouragement of
multidisciplinary studies and the improvement of the interaction between engineering and the
creative arts.

Michael Fitzgerald (left), Managing

Director of Abtran Ltd - one of
Ireland’s most innovative service
providers and a major employer of
graduates – was in a position to give an
expert view on both the importance of
innovation and what can be done to
improve graduate employability in a
smart economy based on the idea of
‘smart integration’. Fitzgerald told the conference: ‘If you want to win business and be
successful, you have to innovate. It’s always about looking for new ways to add value and
improve your services for your customers’ customers.’ Fitzgerald reinforced Dr. Gul
Kremer’s argument by suggesting that his own capacity for innovation was somewhat stifled
by his undergraduate and graduate education, whereas a recent, carefully-tailored programme
 25 | P a g e

for entrepreneurs at Stanford University in California had yielded huge benefits in terms of
developing innovation, leadership and a new network of contacts.

In building a business based on innovation, Abtran has learned the key lesson that you have
to learn from others – like the big multinationals – and analyse how they have solved
problems and found creative solutions. Fitzgerald stated that in business, there is a need to
innovate quickly and test whether the innovations are productive in a safe way before rolling
them out. Productive partnerships are also a key way of ensuring continued innovation.
Through their Learning and Innovation Centre, conducted in partnership with higher
education Institutions, suppliers, customers and Enterprise Ireland, Abtran apply new
developments in research and development to the area of service delivery. With University
College Cork they are working on service innovations based on artificial intelligence and aim
to develop a pipeline for patented innovations. The ongoing aim is the development of a
cluster of excellence around their key area of smart integration. Building strong, purposeful
relationships with educational Institutions is an important way for employers and educators to
work together to ensure that graduates are coming to the job market with skills that are
valuable in the real world.

Fitzgerald argued that since higher education plays a key role in ensuring that innovative
talent is available to employers - and innovation is the only way to escape the current
economic difficulties – it follows that money must be spent on education now, rather than
cutting funding. Education must also find ways to be more efficient and attract more outside
students. One much-needed innovation in this area would be the use of smart integration
techniques to make it easier for overseas students to find out about courses and visas required
for studying here. Foreign students coming to study in Ireland help create new links between
Ireland and areas with fast-growing, dynamic economies. They also bring new ideas and
perspectives to Irish graduates, which makes them more employable. In the face of economic
turmoil and challenges from overseas, the key message from Fitzgerald was urgency: ‘We
need ambition’ he insisted. ‘We need to work together in a smart, integrated way. But we
need to make this happen now.’

The presentations of Gul Kremer and Michael Fitzgerald asked serious questions of the
higher education sector. Tom Boland of the Higher Education Authority acknowledged
 26 | P a g e

that the promotion of multidisciplinary study of the kind where the barriers between art and
science are broken would help in shifting the emphasis of education away from the filling of
students heads with facts and knowledge and towards an emphasis on curiosity and the
principle of ‘learning to learn’. However, this presented a ‘radical challenge’ to the entire
education system and Boland voiced scepticism as to how well equipped the system was to
meet it. Gul Kremer insisted that multidisciplinary education was necessarily challenging as
it demanded that students must first know and understand the fundamental information of
their own discipline and then find time to broaden their minds as well. In the United States,
where fees are so high, there is huge pressure to get everything done in four years, but
Kremer believed that in Ireland and elsewhere there may be more scope and flexibility to
embrace multidisciplinary study.

Moving in this direction meant shedding institutional conservatism. And yet, despite the
desire of staff in many academic departments to develop new ways of improving the
education process, Professor Jim Gosling, retired Director of Quality, NUI Galway,
suggested that there is often an institutional reluctance to experiment. Gosling impressed the
need to encourage this kind of innovation and suggested introducing a competition that
recognises the kind of highly innovative programmes that are needed.

Professor Sarah Moore (right),

Dean of Teaching and Learning
at the University of Limerick
and Irish Bologna Expert (with
Dr. Frank McMahon, Irish
Bologna Expert) agreed on the
need for higher education to not
alone ensure that it encourages
curiosity, but to ensure that it
does nothing to stifle innovation
and risk taking. Moore warned, however, that risk-taking without responsibility is dangerous.
She suggested that ‘what we need to be teaching in collaboration with our innovators and our
employers is courage, and courage is risk with wisdom and with social responsibility.’
Today’s students can get information quickly and from a huge variety of sources, so there is a
 27 | P a g e

need to develop students who can solve problems rather than regurgitate information. This
also means bringing together primary, secondary and third level education in a more seamless
progression. Even in the current period of higher unemployment employers are struggling to
find graduates with the innovation skills they need. Solving that problem requires a much
closer relationship between educational Institutions and employers so that there is agreement
on the skills and attributes that make for employable graduates.

Dr. Frank McMahon (left),

former Director of Academic
Affairs at Dublin Institute of
Technology argued that Ireland
needed to move on from
congratulating itself on the
progress made in Bologna and
engage with the key areas that
need more work – productive
mobility and promoting innovation. There is a need to go beyond aspiration and do the
practical work of setting up effective links between education, business and government,
using positive examples like Abtran’s Learning and Innovation Centre.

Work placement, he said, is a crucial tool in developing links between employers and
educators and keeping students in touch with the skills needed in the real world. It should be
embedded in higher education programmes as an integral part of students’ educational
experiences. Developing employable graduates also involves having better career guidance,
so there is a need to protect investment in this area. More students need to study abroad as
this makes them more employable and McMahon supported Michael Fitzgerald’s call for
more international education. In the case of Ireland, McMahon stressed the value that derived
from the attraction into the country of foreign students from different parts of the world. As
well as the short-term financial benefit and the long-term benefit from the creation of links to
these countries, there are also the many unforeseen benefits that come from interaction with a
different culture.
 28 | P a g e

The Conference discussion on innovation brought into sharp focus the link between academia
and employers. The relationship between the two was, Professor John Scattergood of
Trinity College Dublin pointed out, complicated by differing attitudes to time. Educators
need to think about how their time structures work - do four-year PhD programmes lead to
more innovation and stronger connections than one-year courses that allow people to move
easily between education and the workforce, bringing knowledge back and forth between the
two worlds? The idea of conflicting attitudes to time was also taken up by Professor Conleth
Hussey of the University of Limerick, who suggested that innovation and creativity often
required space and time to develop. Hussey remarked upon the need to avoid overcrowding
students at all levels and allow them space for creativity.

Professor Sarah Moore concurred. Although learning breakthroughs and creativity don’t
necessarily correspond to set time inputs, Moore admitted that much of the education system
is based on just such time inputs. ‘Hurried student syndrome’ is a real problem and the
education sector has to be encouraged to innovate in this area too. Employability for
graduates moves so fast and is hard to predict, Professor Moore argued, and the current
systems place a lot of weight on degree class, subject studied and test taking. If we’re serious
about developing our students fully, Moore stated that there is a need to develop a system that
accredits the other things we want in our graduates – multidisciplinary activity, job
placements, and community involvement.

Different attitudes to time were not the only barrier to better relations between academia and
employers. Irene Sheridan, Head of the Strategic Innovation Projects Unit at Cork
Institute of Technology referred to research indicating that relationships between employers
and educators were often affected by poor communication between educators and employers
on the learning outcomes expected from placements, and wide variation in academic credit
assigned. Avoiding these obstacles involved communicating with employers in a common
language, explaining qualifications to employers and students and actively promoting
internships and work placements.

Dr. Frank McMahon added that the relationship could also be strengthened by a new
common understanding that learning can take place just as easily in the workplace as in the
academy. To ensure this happens, universities need to become more innovative in looking for
 29 | P a g e

work placements during the current economic downturn and focus on finding innovative
replacement programmes where job placements aren’t available.

Michael Fitzgerald agreed that universities needed to be more customer-focussed and to

listen to what the businesses who employ their graduates want. Equally, students should be
focussed on adding skills and experience that differentiate them from the crowd and thus
make them a more valuable and creative employee. A big part of that is looking for
opportunities to take part in work or education placements abroad as part of their education.
Fitzgerald acknowledged, however, that responsibility for the business-education relationship
was a shared one: ‘The onus is not just on the universities and what can they do differently.
The onus is on business as well, and leaders in business, to contribute back into universities,
to see what we can do and look to provide a different experience.’
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6. Integrating Study Abroad into the Curriculum

„It‟s a false assumption to believe that just by going away students will become more
critically observant of where they are. We think young people will naturally explore but
that‟s not necessarily the case. So what we‟ve tried to develop is a kind of pedagogy, a
curriculum that encourages students to be self-reflexive in their engagement with their host
environments, and then to give that academic credit.‟ Dr. Darren Kelly, St Patrick‟s
College, Dublin

The issues of innovation and

mobility combined in the
presentation of Dr. Darren
Kelly (left with Colleen
Dube, Executive Director,
Fulbright Commission,
Ireland and Dr. Gul
Kremer), a lecturer in
cultural theory and
comparative literature at St
Patrick‟s College, Dublin.
Addressing the final session of the conference, Kelly observed that while mobility for
learners may be a key feature of the Bologna Process, mobility of itself was not the ultimate
goal. Preferring to focus on the quality of the learning experience generated by study abroad,
Dr. Kelly outlined to the conference an innovative, practical approach that he had adopted in
his teaching to ensure that this is what is actually delivered.

Kelly began his presentation by challenging some of the assumptions that underpin the idea
of study abroad. While there is a general consensus among education policy makers and
employers that study and work abroad makes for more valuable graduates, Kelly observed
that there still existed ‘divergent views’ on the precise benefits of the study abroad
experience. On the one hand, students and parents are usually positive, but often see study
abroad as about personal, rather than educational development – a way of developing inter-
 31 | P a g e

cultural confidence, language skills and global awareness. However, as Kelly pointed out,
these are really just functions of travel, rather than study abroad. On the other hand,
academics and faculty sometimes view study abroad as a hiatus, a break from the real
educational experience and as such they still need to be persuaded of its merits. In this regard,
there is the obvious point that such study brings a new perspective to the student’s individual
discipline. Students are given a new context in which to apply their knowledge and a new
subject matter – the country they’ve chosen to visit. This in itself is hugely valuable, as
today’s students will work in a globalised, interconnected world and must be comfortable in
adapting their knowledge and skills to new contexts.

Dr. Kelly stressed that the mere fact of travelling abroad does not necessarily make students
more insightful or observant. It is therefore crucial that students’ experiences on their travels
are used as a platform for actual, productive learning. Study abroad has to be integrated to
become a seamless and valuable part of the continuum of education and faculty need to be
assured that the study abroad is of equal, or greater, value than that pursued at home. Higher
education institutions need to ensure the experience is a genuinely educational one.

In a parallel with Gul Kremer’s earlier advocacy for introducing structured methods to
promote innovation, Dr. Kelly considered it important that structures be put in place to ensure
that students widen their horizons while studying abroad, and get credit for doing so. Leaving
the development of cross-cultural competence to chance is a major mistake, because students
all too often stay in their comfort zone and don’t engage meaningfully with the city or
country they are visiting. One approach is to encourage students to limit communications
with their home country through completing a communications diary that challenges their
tendency to travel physically but remain mentally immersed in their world at home through
phone, email and the internet. At the same time, programmes should be designed to use these
same tools to productively contrast and compare their learning back home with their new
environment.

While technology can make it difficult to sever ties with the world back home, it can also be
used to enhance the experience of study abroad. One productive project undertaken by Dr.
Kelly’s students involved the use of digital technology to make a mental map of Dublin,
pushing them to really engage with the culture and history of the city. The mapping exercise
 32 | P a g e

combines artistic creativity with academic learning, such as taking photographs of city
landmarks and then using them as a base for cultural and historical investigations. Students
are encouraged to apply their learning directly by, for example, giving a walking tour of the
city to their classmates. Through this personal application, they are learning more about the
places they visit and finding new perspectives about their society back home.

Another idea suggested by Dr. Kelly was that of service learning, where visiting students
volunteer in disadvantaged areas of the city and then learn about the contexts of this kind of
work. To ensure the learning is acted upon, the students write a research project based on
their experience – transferring their cultural and personal experience into an academic one.
Dr. Kelly gave the example of interviewing elderly residents of the Liberties area in Dublin
about childhood games. Arising from that, he said, ‘like a piece of cultural DNA, is encoded
a whole history of time and space. So in this sense we’re seeing the city as a classroom and
the testing ground for academic work.’

Dr. Kelly concluded by emphasising the importance of students bringing their learning
experience home with them. Much of the learning in relation to study abroad actually
happens when the student returns home and applies their new cultural contexts and
experiences to look afresh at their own society and education. To encourage this, students
should present a report or attend a colloquium on their return to integrate their experience
abroad into their home school curriculum and thus bring new excitement to their own
education and that of their peers. Overall, there needs to be much more emphasis on the
careful design of programmes for studying abroad to make sure that meaningful cross-
cultural experiences happen.
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7. The Role of Education in tackling the Recession

„I think we‟re in a space that fails to understand how important investment in education is at
this time, how important it is in rebuilding the economy. And not only resolving our own
internal problems here, but helping to rebuild Europe.‟ – Professor Ray Kinsella, Smurfit
Graduate Business School, University College Dublin

The final presentation of the seminar by Professor

Ray Kinsella (right) of the Smurfit Graduate
Business School, University College Dublin
examined how higher education can help in tackling
the recession, but broadened to encompass the theme
of values – what type of graduates do we want to
develop and what kind of society and economy we
want? Together with the ideas on the quality of mobility advanced by Dr. Darren Kelly, the
final session of the conference posed major questions about the future development of the
Bologna Process.

Professor Kinsella argued that education needed to bear in mind that its principal objective is
the personal development of the learner. Building from that basis, education can make
Europe more competitive and help maintain a high standard of living. Indeed, Kinsella made
the point that investment in education is more important than ever as Ireland and the rest of
Europe seek to rebuild their economies. While acknowledging the role of the Bologna
Process and study abroad to the development of learners, Kinsella was critical of the failings
of the European education system. The current economic crisis has cast a dim light on the
quality of education being given. ‘I think that we have to ask questions about why we, as
educators, didn’t critique the false philosophy in corporate capitalism whose undoing has
caused such catastrophic damage’ he said. ‘Why wasn’t it critiqued? Where did we fail?’ As
far as Kinsella is concerned, the failure was one of ‘mindset’. The mindset was wrong and
yet the people who had that mindset were largely the product of our higher education
institutions. Kinsella argued that higher education did not create the kind of graduates who
were equipped to think for themselves, to disagree with the status quo, or to say no.
 34 | P a g e

Professor Kinsella suggested that it was a simple fact that there were ethical roots to the
current economic crisis – an essential failure of the philosophical system underlying our
economy. The financial economy lost touch with the idea that the economy is there to serve
society. This spread out from the business world to the general population and the
government, and everyone bought into it. The current crisis is proof positive that philosophy
in education is important – for objective standards for right and wrong are required if trust is
to be rebuilt in our financial system.

As Kinsella argued, there are real implications for education in the way the financial system
lost its bearings. Finance lost touch with its basic purpose and principles – creating wealth for
a purpose, not just wealth creation as a goal in itself. Higher education faces the danger of
losing its bearings in a similar way. Education is about the personal development of learners
and creating an environment where people can be creative and fulfilled. Global change is
happening on a vast scale and at great speed, but there are universal truths to the kind of
graduates employers need. They need people who they can trust, who have the ability work
as part of a team and to be creative. Education needs to produce graduates who have not just
skills, but virtues; it must produce leaders who have ‘humility with fierce resolve.’

Addressing the specifics of the Irish financial crisis, Kinsella claimed that the importance of
educational investment to the project of rebuilding the country had yet to be grasped, a fact
apparent in the funding cuts in education aimed at tackling the deficit. In following this
course of action, Ireland was, he believed, propelling itself ‘down a cul-de-sac that is shutting
people out of employment, the people who have the gifts and capabilities to rebuild.’ Kinsella
pointed up the contradiction that the scale of Irish retrenchment – which he felt would
inevitably thwart recovery - was being dictated by Europe, a Europe that, at the same time,
was pointing the way forward for what should be done in areas such as education. The
progress made under Bologna and its goal of transforming European education over a
generation stood as an example of the type of long-term thinking that is needed in other areas.
 35 | P a g e

8. Conclusion: A Turning Point for Bologna?

As the discussion of the closing session of the conference began, the words of Gerry
O‟Sullivan (left) of the Irish Higher
Education Authority in his welcome of the
day before seemed even more valid.
O’Sullivan had suggested that a debate after
ten years of Bologna was crucial to plotting
our future path because there is real discussion
out there in relation to what Europe’s core
values actually are.

Irish Bologna expert Dr. Brendan McCormack (right)

captured the flavour of that debate: ‘I think that over the last
two days we’ve heard and probably felt uncertainty, frankness,
openness, frustration. We’ve heard a lot of good ideas, new
ideas and that’s very much to be applauded. The fact that we
don’t have all the answers here, that we’re teasing things out,
that’s the innovative process, because we don’t know what the
end point is yet, we’re trying to get there.’

Dr. McCormack agreed that modern children are often over structured and we need to give
them time to be more reflective on their educational journey, not unlike the way Dr. Darren
Kelly’s students were encouraged to be reflective of their study abroad. Ireland faces real
individual challenges, such as the need to create roughly 10,000 new places in higher
education each year over the next ten years. That can only be achieved through real
partnership. Firstly, we must listen to our students, because the feedback they can give us is a
huge asset in making education better. Secondly, the interaction with employers needs to be
better. In his institution, the Sligo Institute of Technology, many of their best courses had
been developed by close co-operation with employers, and the resulting education is more
relevant, more flexible, and more accessible. It’s not just up to academia - employers need to
do more to drive good connections. We also need more seamless movement from training to
 36 | P a g e

higher education and back, and to ensure our Higher Education Institutions offer students and
employers more choice by branching out to do different things rather than having
unnecessary overlaps.

Irish Bologna Expert and former Education Officer with the Union of Students of Ireland
Bartley Rock (below) took up the idea that the process had reached an important tipping
point. ‘There’s been a very strong sense that we’ve come to a certain point now, that we’ve
put a lot of framework in place and that what we need to
do now is start to change the way that our entire
education system functions and how the principles hang
on that framework.’ The conference had really focussed
on four big areas – space, time, questions and experience,
underpinned by the acceptance that education must
continue to change in fundamental ways to cater to the
needs of learners and our society.

The idea of foreign study would nevertheless remain a core feature of any future educational
system. After all, study abroad gave students space and time to explore their learning
environment and compare societies and approaches to learning. Developing the capacity for
questioning and curiosity in learners was obviously a key outcome for education, especially
in the context of needing to do things differently to get out of the current economic turmoil,
and from a students’ point of view, Bartley Rock believed, this is great. Students, he said,
want to be challenged and are open to this kind of personal development. Education is about
being given something and then working out for yourself how to use it productively.

The ultimate goal, Rock insisted, must be the creation of an education system that’s more
reflective, more responsive and more open. The Bologna Process gives Europe a space to
explore how to design education and how it relates outside of the academy. The debt crisis
had only underlined the necessity for change, but the scale of the challenge facing educators
and society as a whole needed to be acknowledged. However, in closing the conference, Dr.
Brendan McCormack and Irish Bologna Expert offered an optimistic assessment of
Europe’s ability to resolve its problems. He stressed that in doing so, it was important that
Europe shouldn’t become isolated from the rest of the world. Our future success depends on
 37 | P a g e

promoting increased mobility for students both to and from the rest of the world. ‘We’ve
highlighted the importance to European students of going abroad, going to other countries
and learning’ he said. ‘So I think we need to work with other countries...I think that itself
will promote and encourage greater mobility.’
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Annex 1 Conference Programme

Bologna Ireland Conference: “Placing Bologna in Context”

14-15 October 2010

The Honorable Society of King‟s Inns

Henrietta Street
Dublin

Thursday 14 October

13.30 Welcome: Tom Boland, HEA Chief Executive

14.00 From Passive to Active Citizenship: A role for the Arts

Declan McGonagle, Director, National College of Art and Design, Dublin

14.30 Bologna Process: The Next Steps

Ligia Deca, Co-ordinator Bologna Secretariat, Bucharest
Reaction: Bologna Expert: Professor Bairbre Redmond

15.30 Comfort Break

16.00 Building International Higher Education Partnerships

Dr. Julia González, Vice-Rector for International Relations at the University of

Deusto, Bilbao, Spain

16.30 Julie Fionda, “Youth on the Move Initiative” Higher Education and 'Erasmus'
Directorate General for Education and Culture, European Commission
Reaction: Bologna Expert: Dr. Norma Ryan
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Friday 15 October

09.15 Innovation
Dr. Gul Kremer, Pennsylvania State University and Fulbright Scholar at Dublin
Institute of Technology

09.45 Enhancing the Employability of Graduates: Smart Economy needs Smart

Integration
Michael Fitzgerald, Managing Director, Abtran Ltd., Cork
Reaction: Bologna Experts: Dr. Frank McMahon and Professor Sarah Moore

10.15 Discussion

11.00 Comfort Break

11.30 Student Mobility “Integrating Study Abroad into the Curriculum”,

Dr. Darren Kelly, St Patrick’s College Dublin

12.00 The Role of Higher Education in tackling the recession

Professor Ray Kinsella, Smurfit Graduate Business School, University College

Dublin

Reaction: Bologna Experts: Dr. Brendan McCormack and Bartley Rock

12.30 Discussion

13.15 Conclusion
 40 | P a g e

Biographies

Ligia Deca is the newly appointed Head of the Bologna Secretariat. She was previously the
Chairperson (2008-2010) of the European Students’ Union (ESU). As a Chairperson, she was
the main policy and organisational coordinator of ESU, while being the official ESU
representative in the Bologna Follow-Up Group, the European Union Lisbon higher
education setting and UNESCO. Her professional experience includes working in the Quality
Assurance field by being active as a consultant in the development of quality management
systems in various institutions (higher education institutions, public institutions and private
companies) and by taking part in both internal and external institutional Quality Assurance
evaluations (such as the EUA Institutional Evaluation Programme). She was also the
coordinator of the Coalition for Clean Universities - a campaign aimed at fostering academic
integrity and fighting corruption in the Romanian educational sector.

She holds a Masters degree in Maritime and Port Management, after finishing a Bachelor
degree in Maritime Engineering at the University of Constanta. Her experience regarding
educational policies started while being General Secretary of the National Alliance of
Students' Organisations in Romania (ANOSR) from 2005-2006 and President of ANOSR
from 2006-2007. Before being elected as Chairperson, she was a member of the Gender
Equality Committee within ESU.

Julie Fionda is a British official, working in the European Commission since 2002. She is
currently responsible for higher education policy within the Directorate General for
Education and Culture, and focuses in particular on the themes of: the funding of higher
education; graduate employability and the HE labour market; and peer learning amongst
member states on the modernisation of higher education. Prior to this she worked as a Desk
Officer in the Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal opportunities,
and was responsible for negotiation and oversight of European Social Fund programmes for
the United Kingdom and then as policy analyst and co-ordinator for Employment and Social
Inclusion policy. Before joining the Commission, she worked for the United Kingdom civil
service, working primarily on regeneration strategies, spatial targeting and indices of
deprivation. Julie has an educational background in economics and business studies and
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began her career at one of Europe's largest further and higher education colleges, working on
corporate strategy.

Michael Fitzgerald is the managing director of Abtran Ltd., Cork, a business process
outsourcing company which he established in 1997. A chartered accountant by profession,
he has previously worked for Smithkline Beecham. Abtran Ltd. is headquartered in Cork and
currently employs in excess of 1,000 staff across multiple business sites. Abtran focuses on
strategic, mutually beneficial partnerships with major corporate and government clients in
domestic and international markets. The processes that clients choose to outsource to Abtran
include sales and customer service, administration, claims and financial processing.

Julia González is Vice-Rector for International Relations at the University of Deusto,

Bilbao, Spain. She studied History and Geography at University College Dublin, Cultural
Anthropology in Italy and Urban Geography at Oxford where she received a D. Phil in
Migration Studies. She teaches in two main areas: Migration and Intercultural
Communication and specialised issues in Higher Education at Masters and Doctoral levels.
Julia has co-ordinated several international networks and educational and research projects
and was involved in particular in the Thematic Network on Humanitarian Development
Studies, NOHA Association, Erasmus Mundus External Co-operation Window project, ECTS
Counsellors Group, European Joint Doctoral Programme on Migration, Identities and
Diversity (UCD is also a partner institution), European Doctorate Enhancement of
researchers and Tempus Projects.

Together with Robert Wagenaar, Dr. González elaborated, designed and co-ordinated the
European Tuning Higher Education Project focusing on degrees designed by competences
and learning outcomes which is now developed by 94 academic networks involving hundreds
of universities in 58 countries. This was followed by Tuning Latin America, Tuning Russia,
Tuning Georgia. At present it extends to several world regions and is translated into more
than 13 languages.

Darren Kelly obtained his interdisciplinary PhD in Geography from St. Patrick’s College
(DCU), where he teaches cultural theory and comparative literature. He has developed and
teaches Irish studies and intercultural learning courses for two American study abroad
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organisations in Dublin, and has designed customised summer programmes for the university
of Iowa, Notre Dame and Temple University. He currently advises on International Education
to Beloit College and the College of William and Mary. Darren has a background in youth
and community development work in Dublin’s inner city. Based on his PhD research on
immigration and integration in Dublin, he was selected by the HEA to attend the American
College of Achievement’s International Achievement Summit in 2002. In 2007-2008 he was
Fulbright Scholar in Residence at Beloit College, Wisconsin. At Beloit, he facilitated a
faculty seminar on International Education, lectured and helped to develop Beloit study
abroad programmes in China, Ecuador, Russia and Senegal. Central to his course
development and pedagogy is the creation of an interdisciplinary research toolkit that enables
students to fully engage with, and better understand their host countries. He has published on
Curriculum Development and International Education and has presented at numerous
colleges and conferences across Europe and America.

Ray Kinsella received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. (Econ.) from the University of Hull. He
completed further Post-Graduate work at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), where he was
awarded his PhD for his thesis on ‘Structure, Conduct and Performance in Irish Banking’. He
worked as an Economist in the Central Bank of Ireland, and was nominated to attend the IMF
Institute in Washington D.C., where he received a Diploma in Financial Analysis and Policy.
He was appointed Economic Advisor to the Department of Industry and Commerce. He was
subsequently appointed Professor of Banking and Financial Services at the University of
Ulster, where he was appointed as a member of the University Senate.

He served two terms on the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and served as the first
Chairman of the Board at the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT). He was a member of the
Northern Ireland Economic Council and is a member of the Irish Bishop’s Conference for
Justice and Peace.

Ray is Visiting Professor at the School of Banking, Accountancy and Finance at the
University of Wales Bangor, is on the Faculty of the Management Institute of Paris, and is
adjunct Professor at the University of Bryansk.
 43 | P a g e

He has published, researched and broadcast extensively in the fields Banking and Financial
Services, including Regulation Governance and Ethics. His books include ‘New Issues in
Financial Services’ (Basil Blackwell, Oxford), ‘Internal Controls in Banking’ (London,
Wiley), ‘Ireland and the Knowledge Economy’ (with Professor Vincent McBrierty) (Oaktree
Press, Dublin) and in 2009, ‘Rebuilding Trust in Banking: Regulation, Corporate Governance
and Ethics’ (Veritas, Dublin). He is currently researching (with Maurice Kinsella) a new
analysis on ‘The Family’ (for publication by Veritas) in 2011.

Gül Kremer is an Associate Professor of Engineering Design and Industrial Engineering at

the Pennsylvania State University. She received her Ph.D. from University of Missouri-Rolla
in Engineering Management and Systems Engineering. Her research interests include multi-
criteria decision analysis methods applied to improvement of products and systems and
enhancing creativity in engineering design settings. Her published work appears in journals
such as Journal of Mechanical Design, Journal of Engineering Design, Journal of Intelligent
Manufacturing, Journal of Engineering Education, European Journal of Engineering
Education and Technovation. She is a member of IIE, ASME, and ASEE. She is also a
National Research Council-US AFRL Summer Faculty Fellow for the Human Effectiveness
Directorate (2002-2004), an invited participant of the National Academy of Engineering
(NAE) Frontiers in Engineering Education Symposium (2009), and a Fulbright Scholar to
Ireland (2010). Currently, she is the PI or Co-PI of several engineering education focused
research projects totaling $3.5 million.

Declan McGonagle exhibited as an artist for a period after graduating from Belfast College
of Art in 1976. His practice as a curator has included the Orchard Gallery in Derry (1978)
and the ICA Exhibitions programme in London (1984-86). He was the first Director of the
Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin (1990-2001) and has initiated innovative public Art
and Community and Education Programmes here and in the U.K.

He was shortlisted for the Turner Prize (1987) and has also served on the Turner Prize Jury
(1993) and other national and international Award Juries and has been External Examiner in a
number of U.K. third-level Institutions in Glasgow, Manchester and London. He speaks and
writes regularly on relations between the artist/art, the institution and communities and is a
contributing Editor of Artforum (New York) and a member of the editorial Panel of Engage
 44 | P a g e

(U.K.). He was Irish Commissioner for the 1993 Venice and 1994 Sao Paulo Biennales, has
served on many Boards and Irish government cultural bodies and, in 2004, completed the
City Arts Centre’s Civil Arts Inquiry in Dublin. He has served on the BBC’s Broadcasting
Council for Northern Ireland and has been a mentor on the Clore Leadership Programme
(London) and is a member of the Board of the Liverpool Biennial, City Arts, Dublin and
Projectbase in Cornwall. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, London
and was a member of the Museum Working Group of the Healing Through Remembering
Project, Belfast (2004-2008). He is also a member of the Advisory Group of Tate Connects,
Tate Gallery, London and a Board Member of the Irish Architecture Foundation and Interim
Chair of U.K. City of Culture 2013/Derry.

He was the founding Director of Interface, a practice based research centre in the School of
Art and Design at the University of Ulster in Belfast (2004-2008).

Frank McMahon was in Dublin and has worked for over thirty years in higher education, as
lecturer, Head of School, Deputy Principal, College Director and as Director of Academic
Affairs from 2000 to 2010 for the Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland’s largest higher
education institute. All this experience was in Ireland apart from a three-year spell as Head of
School at Bulawayo Polytechnic, Zimbabwe. Qualifications include MBA and a Doctorate in
Education from the University of Sheffield. Has served as external examiner at five
universities (four British, and one Hong Kong) and three Indian institutes, and has frequently
chaired validation committees for Dutch Professional Universities. He has served as chair of
the International Education Board of Ireland and of the Irish Higher Education Quality
Network and was for ten years a member of the Board of Directors of the Central
Applications Office. He is a member of the National Bologna Committee of Ireland and is
one of Ireland’s designated Bologna Experts.

Sarah Moore is Dean of Teaching and Learning at the University of Limerick and an Irish
Bologna Expert. Her current role is focused on the active enhancement of the teaching and
learning environment within the University of Limerick. Her academic discipline is
organisational behaviour and theory, the principles of which she has used to develop research
in learning and teaching at third level. Specific research interests include cognitive styles,
team learning, supporting academic writing, formative professional development in
 45 | P a g e

educational and academic settings, and issues of engagement and motivation in teaching and
learning in higher education. She has been active in developing strategies for teaching
enhancement and innovation including the pedagogically sound use of teaching technologies,
and has developed a framework for the analysis of teaching and learning effectiveness in
higher education.

Prof Moore leads UL’s Department of Education and Science/Higher Education Authority
Strategic Innovation Fund Strand 2 projects under which a series of pedagogical interventions
have been established across Ireland’s Shannon region. These interventions include the
development of an enhanced teaching award system, the use of diagnostic learning tools, the
establishment and development of regional learner support centres, the initiation of the new
Regional Teaching and Learning Incubation Centre and the establishment of Ireland’s first
Centre for Academic writing.

Bairbre Redmond is Deputy Registrar for Teaching and Learning at University College
Dublin with responsibility for enhancing teaching, learning and assessment across all UCD
educational programmes. In the last three years her work has been particularly focused on
the semesterisation and modularisation of both undergraduate and post-graduate degrees and
diplomas across the three cycles of the Bologna Process. Professor Redmond is also an Irish
Bologna Expert.

At present, she is working with the Vice Principals for Teaching and Learning on projects
exploring new approaches towards effective engagement and retention of vulnerable first
year students by maximising the opportunities offered under Bologna structures. She is also
leading a project on the review of module descriptors, supporting the development of sound
learning outcomes, underpinned by effective and responsive assessment approaches.

Professor Redmond also leads a Department of Education and Science/Higher Education

Authority Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) project - a Fellowship Programme in Teaching and
Academic Development - that aims to create a community of teaching scholars providing
leadership and enthusiasm for raising teaching standards within their own Schools and
Colleges. These Fellows are also focusing on areas of strategic educational importance for the
University. Current Fellows are engaged in researching and developing new approaches for
 46 | P a g e

effective student engagement and for alternative assessment approaches within a modularised
structure. The Fellowship scheme also has collaborative links with the University of
Limerick.

In her capacity as an Irish Bologna Expert, Bairbre has presented a number of papers to
different national bodies in regard to Learning Objectives, ECTS, Accreditation for Prior
Learning and the challenges of introducing and developing a fully modular and semesterised
structure at undergraduate and post-graduate level. She is currently a member of the Working
Group reviewing education and training in An Garda Síochána.

Norma Ryan is Director of the Quality Promotion Unit at University College Cork and an
Irish Bologna Expert. A Biochemistry graduate of UCC, she is a former Secretary and
member of the University’s Steering Committee charged with responsibility for preparing the
Self-Assessment Report of the University for the EUA (European University Association)
review of quality in Irish universities. This review of the quality assurance procedures and
their effectiveness in UCC was commissioned jointly by the HEA and the IUQB in early
2004. Norma is currently a member of the Academic Council and Governing Body of UCC
and is also a member of the Senate of the National University of Ireland.

Norma is a past Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Science and has been a Bologna
Promoter/Expert since 2005. She is the present Chair of the Irish Higher Education Quality
Network. She has extensive experience in the area of curriculum design and has assisted in
the European University Association in the Bologna Information Project.
 47 | P a g e

Annex 2 List of Attendees

Boland Tom Higher Education Authority

Bourke Stephanie Dublin Institute of Technology
Bree Olivia St. Patrick's College Drumcondra
Brophy Helen Montessori College AMI
Byrne Edel Irish Management Institute
Byrne Clive National Association of Principals/Deputy Principals
Callinan Maria Laois County Enterprise Board Limited
Campbell Veronica Trinity College Dublin
Canning Mary Higher Education Authority Member
Casey Laura Department of Education and Skills
Cepurite Berzina Valda State Education Development Agency, Latvia
Collins Rita University College Dublin
Connolly Shane Dublin Institute of Design
Cooper Rosemary Institute of Technology, Tallaght
Corkery Stephen St. Nicholas Montessori College Ireland
Courell Declan St. Angela's College, Sligo
Courtney Averil St. Nicholas Montessori College Ireland
Courtney Damien Cork Institute of Technology
Crowley Una National University of Ireland, Maynooth
Cullinane Tim Department of Education and Skills
Cummins Caitriona Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology
Deca Ligia Bologna Secretariat
Dempsey Shane St. Patrick's College Thurles
Domanska Monika Bologna Expert, Poland
Dube Colleen The Fulbright Commission
Dunne Mary Higher Education Authority
Egerton Caroline Council for the Curriculum Examination & Assessment
Elkeries Anja University of Mannheim
Elliott Áine Montessori College AMI
Farr Fiona University of Limerick
Fionda Julie European Commission
Fitzgerald Gerard Abtran Limited
Fitzgerald Michael Abtran Limited
Galletti Sara Dublin Institute of Technology
Gannon Sean Trinity College Dublin
Gibbons Carol Enterprise Ireland
Gonzalez Julia University of Deusto
Gosling James National University of Ireland, Galway
Grech Veronica University of Malta
Griffith Hadyn Independent Colleges
Guomundsdottir Anna University of Iceland
Healy Michael Mary Immaculate College
Heelan Ann AHEAD
Heeley David University of Abertay Dundee
Higgins Marcella The Honorable Society of King's Inns
Hosford June St. Nicholas Montessori College Ireland
 48 | P a g e

Hunt Nuala National College of Art and Design

Hussey Conleth University of Limerick
Hynds O'Flanagan Margaret Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland
Jackson Naomi Hibernia College
Judge Miriam Dublin City University
Judge Bernie Teachers Union of Ireland
Kelly John University College Dublin
Kelly Darren St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra
Kerr Mary Higher Education Authority
Kilmartin Dave Dublin Institute of Technology
Kinsella Ray University College Dublin
Kirwan Gloria Trinity College Dublin
Kremer Gul Pennsylvania State University
Lasota Katarzyna LLP National Agency, Poland
Lauritsen Johny Bologna Expert, Denmark
Lawlor Aine The Teaching Council
Leahy Valerie National University of Ireland, Galway
McCormack Brendan Bologna Expert
McCullough Dominic Department for Employment & Learning, Belfast
McDermott Louise Dublin City University
McEvoy Seamus University College Cork
McGonagle Declan National College of Art and Design
McGrath Denis Engineers Ireland
McLean Colin Limerick Institute of Technology
McLoughlin Seamus Department of Education and Skills
McMahon Frank Bologna Expert
McMorrow Phylomena Dublin City University
Mehlman Shira FÁS
Metcalfe Alex University College Dublin
Molony Bronwyn University College Dublin
Moore Sarah University of Limerick and Bologna Expert
Morton Frances QAA Scotland
Moynes Keith Department of Education and Skills
Muldowney Gerry Dublin Business School
Mulhall Caoimhe Dublin Institute of Technology
Murphy Anne Dublin Institute of Technology
Ni Dhuigneain Muireann Dublin City University
Nic an Ghaill Natalie University of Limerick
Nic Giolla Mhichíl Mairead Dublin City University
Nolan Eamonn Griffith College Dublin
Noonan Elizabeth University College Dublin
O'Byrne Derek Waterford Institute of Technology
O'Connell Eileen Higher Education Authority
O'Donnell Julie Higher Education & Training Awards Council
O'Leary Colm The Teaching Council
O'Malley Sean Fáilte Ireland
O'Malley Grace National College of Ireland
O'Shea Helen NUS Scotland
O'Sullivan Gerry Higher Education Authority
 49 | P a g e

Paraskevas Dimitrios Trinity College Dublin

Pidgeon Maura Letterkenny Institute of Technology
Purser Lewis Irish Universities Association
Rami Justin Dublin City University
Redmond Bairbre Bologna Expert
Redmond David National University of Ireland, Maynooth
Ricci Alessia LLP National Agency, Italy
Rock Bartley Bologna Expert
Ryan Anne-Marie An Bord Altranais
Ryan Norma Bologna Expert
Sadowska Ewa Trinity College Dublin
Saia-Merkel Filomena University of Mannheim
Saunders Nicky National College of Art and Design
Scattergood John Trinity College Dublin
Sherlock Roger Dublin Institute of Technology
Silina Solvita Latvian ENIC/NARIC
Tooher Michelle National University of Ireland, Galway
von Brockdorff Philip National Commission for Higher Education Malta
von Schuttenbach Claudia University of Mannheim
Walsh Padraig Irish Universities Quality Board
Walsh Sylvie Letterkenny Institute of Technology
Watson Mark Molecular Medicine Ireland
Watters Brian Institute of Technology, Blanchardstown
White Anthony Milltown Institute
Williams Catherine Trinity College Dublin