Bernd WächterDirector, ACA

Fostering student mobility. Bruxelles 29 May 2008

Student mobility.What is the realistic picture in the EHEA today?

A few words on ACA

• A (mainly) European association of national organisations in internationalisation

• Promoting innovation through internationalisation

• Studies and expert opinion on (international) HE developments

- English-taught programmes in Europe- EURODATA (global student mobility stats)- Perceptions of European HE worldwide

• Seminars and conferences, such as Beyond 2010. European HE in the next decade, Tallinn, 15-17 June

Bologna and mobility: differentiation by type

• Need to differentiate by type of mobility• Expectations regarding intra-European

(intra-EHEA) mobility • Expectations regarding mobility into

Europe / EHEA• Expectations regarding ‘degree’ mobility

vs. ‘credit’ (temporary) mobility

Bologna and mobility: frequent expectations

• General expectation (or objective): an increase of mobility.

• Mobility into the EHEA: increase due to enhanced ‘readability’ of degrees (compatible with ‘international’ standard) and QA (selection criteria for destination choice?)

• Intra-European mobility: originally (naïve?) expectation of increase. Later (at least in parts of EHEA) fear of a decrease in short term mobility inside the EHEA, due to shorter duration and higher density of programmes

• Concentration of debate on short-term mobility (in ironical contrast to quantitative importance)

Bologna and mobility: rarely made observations

• Intra-European credit mobility could lose its lustre (competing opportunities of international / intercultural exposure)

• Competitiveness of EHEA might undermine the ‘all are equal’ assumption in European HE, and result in decreased recognition of credits / decreased mobility

• Same phenomenon could (but need not) increase intra-European degree mobility.

Impacts of Bologna on mobility: difficulties

• Early days: even in ‘early EHEA’ countries, hardly any student cohorts have gone through both cycles

• Student mobility influenced by many factors (in parallel/addition to ‘Bologna’): difficulty to isolate the Bologna impact

• Student mobility statistics leave much to be desired and thus hamper impact assessment (for example, no international data collection on credit mobility at all)

Impacts of Bologna on mobility: credit mobility / Erasmus

• Lack of overview of entirety of credit mobility• Assumption that credit mobility equals Erasmus is

doubtful• Steady rise in Erasmus numbers over the

programme’s lifetime• From close to zero to almost 160,000 in 2006/07; rise

since 2000/01 about 40% (Bologna-relevant period)• Flattening of growth curve in recent years• Stagnation / temporary decrease in some countries• Overall: no evidence of negative Bologna

impact.

Impacts of Bologna on mobility:

degree mobility

• Europe has biggest share of foreign students globally (2003: 1.1 of 2.1 million/EURODATA)

• Slightly more than half of these are Europeans (i.e. high intra-European degree mobility)

• Very uneven distribution

Impacts of Bologna on mobility:

degree mobility

Country All students

(in million)

Foreign students (in thousand)

% foreign students of all students

UK 2.29 255 11.2

Germany 2.24 241 10.7

France 2.12 222 10.5

Italy 1.91 36 1.9

Spain 1.84 54 2.9

Poland 1.98 8 0.4

Impacts of Bologna on mobility:

degree mobility / UNESCO Data

• UNESCO Data 2002-2006 for EHEA countries: most countries rise between 20 and 50%, some over 100%, others drop

• Numbers slightly suspect: methodological problems

• Overall impression: EHEA growth, roughly in line with global growth

• No clear indication of positive or negative Bologna effect

Impacts of Bologna on mobility: Surveys and studies

• Astonishingly little research on a hotly debated issue• INCHER/GES 2006 (incoming and outgoing credit mobility in

11 European countries) in institutions ‘in transition’ to Bachelor/Master– 3 and 4% report mobility increase– 61 and 56 % report stability– 35 and 40% report decrease

• But: same respondents expect in the future: – 55% increase– 34% stability– 10% decrease

• Like other studies (DAAD, 2006, HIS 2007): mostly ‘felt mobility’.

That was it.

Thank you for your kind attention.