22.06.2022

Debating the future of education beyond the Bologna Process

How can universities manage the tensions and expectations regarding international orientation and local embeddedness, where has the Bologna Process brought us, and what should be the next phase? These were some of the key themes discussed in our virtual seminar, hosted by the University of Tübingen.

Held on 3 June 2022, the event marked the end of the seminar series organised around The Guild’s insight paper “Reimaging Research-led Education in a Digital Age”. The final, fifth seminar brought together over 100 participants to debate how research-intensive universities can embrace the educational and pedagogical changes the sector is facing.

“Our seminar series has centered around the question how universities can stay true to their values and what they are good at, while at the same time being open to the economical and societal transformations around them,” Jan Palmowski, Secretary-General of The Guild explained.

Setting the scene for the panel discussions, Karin Amos, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs at the University of Tübingen, walked the participants through how the role of universities, and the expectations set to them, have developed throughout the 21st century: “Universities are multi-layered institutions that are simultaneously embedded in different contexts of space and time. Another characteristic of universities is the links between national and international, making them complex interrelationship networks, especially when it comes to teaching.” From viewing universities as a public good to commodifying higher education, Amos reminded us of contradictions by quoting Stefan Collini (2017) “what societies have wanted from their universities has been historically variable, internally contradictory, and only ever partly attainable.”

Text: The Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities