Verification that the framework for qualifications of higher education institutions in Scotland is compatible with the European Higher Education Area (EHEA)

 

Scotland has become one of the first 2 countries signed up to the Bologna Process  to verify that its national higher education framework is compatible with that of the EHEA. 

The EHEA

The EHEA is proposed as a means of facilitating integration and mobility in higher education in Europe and, in 2005, the Bologna working group on qualifications frameworks published its criteria and procedures to be used to verify that national frameworks across Europe are compatible with the overarching EHEA.  Scotland and Ireland volunteered to pilot the first verification processes in 2006, with the aim that the experience in these two countries will inform the verification procedures in the remainder of countries committed to the goals of Bologna.  The aim is that all Bologna countries will complete verification by 2010.

The Scottish verification process

QAA Scotland convened a working group under the auspices of SACCA to advance and complete the process to ‘self-certify’ compatibility of the frameworks.

The SACCA working group met 3 times between May and August 2006.  Consisting of experts from the Scottish higher education sector, a student and two international contributors from Hungary and Estonia, the group examined such issues as the links between the qualifications of the Scottish framework and the Bologna qualification cycle descriptors; the links between SCQF credit and the European Credit Transfer System; and the consistency of national quality assurance arrangements with the communiques issued by European Ministers as part of the Bologna process. 

The broader implications of the Scottish verification exercise were reflected in a workshop held in August for a varied group of stakeholders with an interest in the outcomes of the process, such as the Scottish Funding Council and the Sector Skills Development Agency.  Among those present was Martin Hunter, member of the Scottish policy unit of the Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland, who comments that “Scottish businesses will benefit in understanding the compatibility of the Scottish national higher education system with the European higher education system, this compatibility contributing to placing Scottish business in the forefront in using the European skill set for the benefit of the economy.”

The implications of self-certification

On one level the verification process was a technical exercise; yet on another it was much more than that, implying as it did a major social and political step towards improving the transparency and clarity of European systems of higher education, and the associated ability to move across these systems for staff and students alike.

The successful completion of the Scottish verification process is significant, and signals an ongoing national commitment to engagement with the needs and demands of students, staff, employees and employers in the wider European context.

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