Diploma Supplements and HEAR Dr Anthony Vickers, FIET, MInstP, CEng, CPhys UK Bologna Expert

Diploma Supplement History The European Diploma Supplement was initiated by UNESCO, the European Commission and the Council of Europe and ratified as part of the Bologna Declaration at the Convention for the Recognition of Qualifications Concerning Higher Education in the European Region (Lisbon 1997), (Section IX. Article IX.3).

What is it? It is designed as a supplement to the degree certificate and to provide a description of the nature, level, context, content and status of the studies that were pursued by graduates. It aims to: – Promote transparency in higher education – Facilitate the academic and professional recognition of qualifications – Explain the contents of the qualifications delivered by higher education institutions in an internationally understandable form – Accommodate rapid changes in qualifications – Aid mobility, access and lifelong learning – Promote fair and informed judgements about qualifications

DS/HEAR Common Ground Over the past year work has been undertaken to ensure that the DS and the HEAR have considerable common ground.

Student Mobility There are a couple of points that need to be considered regarding student mobility – Use of ECTS credits on DS/HEAR It would be beneficial to record ECTS for transparency within the European Higher Education Area. – Recording of credits/grades from Host to Home Problems with Management Information Systems which can also occur with RPL.

2009 UK HE Europe Unit survey UK HEIs engagement in European HE developments Indicates widespread acceptance of UK qualifications in Europe 66% of HEIs that responded were not aware of any difficulties experienced by their Bachelor and Masters graduates The rest mentioned half-a-dozen countries (headed by Spain and Greece) where difficulties were reported EuropeUnitSurveyResultsUK.pdf One (out of 9) Scottish HEI said that its graduates had difficulties getting their qualifications recognised in the Middle East and North America EuropeUnitSurveyResultsScotland.pdf

European student perspective Do students from other countries taking courses or modules in the UK have problems getting these recognised by their home HEIs on their return? – UK is one of nearly 30 countries where some or many students returning from a period of study abroad encountered recognition problems; 85% of the ESUs respondents reported that their students had recognition problems (ESU, Bologna With Student Eyes, 2009) WSE2009-final.pdf WSE2009-final.pdf – Only two thirds of Erasmus students receive full recognition of their studies abroad (Erasmus Student Network survey, 2009) – Lack of recognition remains a major deterrent to going abroad, for those aiming at academically meaningful mobility (ESU, Bologna at the Finish Line, 2010) pdf pdf

EUA perspective According to Trends 2010 report, – 56% of HEIs responding said that some or many of their students returning from study abroad encountered problems with the recognition of their credits; particularly the case with the larger institutions, since these tend to devolve such decisions to faculty or departmental level – HEIs should centralise responsibility for handling such claims, since the more centralised the recognition of the period of study abroad is, the more likely students will not encounter problems...probably because centralisation provides a consistent and coherent way of dealing with credit transfer. /EUA_Trends_2010.pdf

International Section Section 8: Information on the National Higher Education System – England, Wales, and Northern Ireland National Description England, Wales, and Northern Ireland National Description – E,W, and NI Diagram E,W, and NI Diagram – Diagram for Norway Diagram for Norway – Diagram for Turkey Diagram for Turkey

DS Label The DS label is issued to Institutions who meet all the criteria set out by the Commission. Guidelines and application forms can be found here ( bologna-process.htm ) bologna-process.htm Currently there are 3 UK Diploma Supplement Label holders (Swansea, Kent, and Bournemouth)

Transparency = Employability Qualifications are global