Europe will in the coming years switch to the Anglo-Saxon model with bachelor and master programmes, with the intention of making the situation more transparent. But achieving transparency will take at least five years.
This is said by Robert Warmenhoven of the Nuffic, the Dutch organisation for the internationalisation of education. Warmenhoven works in the department of diploma rating and education comparison. Because each EU-country will introduce the bachelor-master model according to their own views, his department does not expect their work-load to lessen. 'One bachelor is not like another. For master programmes the same is true, whether you are talking about Britain, Spain, Greece, or any other EU-member state. Take the shining example America: they have master programmes with different starting levels - these can also differ greatly in content. One has to look at them case by case.'
The bachelor programmes will not be the biggest problem, Warmenhoven thinks. It is much more difficult to determine the correct value and content of master programmes. These can differ significantly. Not only per country but also per university or 'hogeschool'.
Warmenhoven: 'In Britain and the USA there are universities offering high-quality and lower-quality masters, but also master programmes at our 'hbo'-level. And they all award the master's title. Shortly this will be true for the whole of Europe.
After approximately five years, when the first students will graduate in the new model, the situation in European higher education will become clearer. 'It is not impossible that it will take a complete student generation before the actual ratification of bachelor and master degrees will become easier', the Nuffic-employee thinks.
Students who would like to work abroad will continue to face a large number of hurdles. It will not become easier for physiotherapists, for example, or engineers, according to Warmenhoven: 'In many countries they first have to go to the professional organisation. Only if agreement comes from there, they can start their work. Those organisations are usually very careful, not to say nationalistic. They will not let go of their resistance and cautiousness from one day to the next, it will take years before we can reap the rewards of the Anglo-Saxon system.
