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Higher Education Reform In Practice

University of Vienna

Arthur MettingerVice Rector Educational Program Development &

Internationalization

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Founded in 1365 15 faculties and three centres Strong European orientation 8000 staff (> 6.000 academics) 72.700 students Curricula from African Studies to Zoology:

26 bachelors’, 47 masters’, 34 diploma programmes; 24 teacher accreditation programmes; doctoral programmes in more than 80 fields of

study

The University of Vienna

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Legal framework for

HE institution

Organizationalstructure

of HEinstitution

Curriculum Development:

Players

Institutionalstrategy

Institutionalconsensuson centralconcepts

Support Structures

+Project

Management

BolognaImplementation

1. The legal framework of the UoV

University Act 2002: special legal status of universities in Austria:

- organisational autonomy- financial autonomy (global budget; 3-yr.

performance agreement with Ministry)

- personnel autonomy- curricular autonomy- NOT: autonomy to select students

Major instruments:- organisation plan- development plan- system of quality assurance- public accounting & reporting

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3. Curriculum Development: Players

SENATECurriculumCommittee

Subject-specificWorking Group 1

WG2 WG3

Rectorate

University Board

4. Institutional Strategy

Development Plan 2005:- change existing Diploma curricula to Bachelor/Master Structure- exception: teacher training (law)

Major goals:- “European compatibility”- from teacher-centred to student-centred- learning outcome-orientation- modularization (with LO)- student workload based (ECTS)- improve graduates’ chances on European

labour market- improve (European) vertical mobility

5. Institutional consensus

University Act 2002: - very restrictive in duration of study programmes:

BA – 180 ECTS MA – 120 ECTS (min.) PhD – 3 years (min.; as of

2009)

- very clear and rigid in defining ECTS for Austrian HE institutions:

1500 real time working hours = 60 ECTS credits1 ECTS credit = 15 working hours1 term = 30 ECTS credits

Inside the UoV:

Bologna Task Force (2005)

representatives of the relevant University bodies (Rectorate, Senate, etc.) + students & experts; produced

Documents on

- learning outcomes- ECTS rules- modules (size, composition, …)- model curricula

6. Support structures & project management

“Bologna Office” (since January 2006)

6 experts: - clusters of disciplines - special expertise

main tasks: - counselling - coordinating

- information gathering,dissemination

- workshops - glossary - website

(http://bologna.univie.ac.at)

‘project’ management- “basic phase” (overall consensus) (2005)- “development phase” (CD)- “implementation phase”

different speeds for different fields- Business, Informatics, Sports, Sciences

(2006)- Sciences, Philosophy, Education, Social

Sciences (2007)- Humanities (History, Languages)

(2008)- Psychology, Law, Pharmacy,

Theology, Teacher training (???)

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Legal framework for

HE institution

Organizationalstructure

of HEinstitution

Curriculum Development:

Players

Institutionalstrategy

Institutionalconsensuson centralconcepts

Support Structures

+Project

Management

BolognaImplementation

inform – discuss – convince!

Allow for time – establishing new cultures does not happen overnight

Respect diversity of (faculty/scientific)culture(s) – no „one size fits all“-solutions

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION