Construction of the European Higher Education Area and ‘Re’creation of Undergraduate Programs

Its Implications for Undergraduate Reform in Japan

Abstract

　 Since the ‘Bologna Declaration’ in 1999 many actions have been taken to create a ‘European Higher Education Area (EHEA)’ by 2010, that would enable students to move across the borders more easily and to make European higher education more attractive and competitive internationally.

　 There is a broad consensus on the convergence of the national higher education system into two cycles with of undergraduates and graduates among the signatory nations in order to make the degree structure more readable and comparable. The first cycle lasts three or four years leading to Bachelor’s degree and the second one to a Master’s degree. Many doubted the possibility of convergence, because of the diversity of the first degree structures among signatory nations. But significant progress has been made by the nations, including France which introduced new legislation to accommodate the new structure.

　 In order to make the higher education system more transparent, efforts such as the ‘Dublin Descriptor’, the ‘Tuning Project’ and the ‘European Higher Education Qualifications Framework’, are now in progress. These define the qualifications in terms of learning outcomes and competences.

　 In Japan, while the government is rigorously driving toward deregulation and diversification of higher education institutions, discussion and consultation about the quality and competence of Bachelor’s degree is does not exist. We cannot create internationally competitive and recognizable Bachelor’s degree without an attempt to define the quality of the degree in terms of learning outcomes and competences.