Competitive universities need to internationalize learning: perspectives from three European universities
The process of restructuring European universities in order to harmonize their educational systems is rapidly approaching a key milestone as 2010 looms large on the horizon. This paper describes an approach to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) based on a real case study of students that belo...
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Published in | Journal of industrial engineering and management Vol. 2; no. 1; p. 299 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | Catalan English |
Published |
Barcelona
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
01.01.2009
Vicenc Fernandez |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | The process of restructuring European universities in order to harmonize their
educational systems is rapidly approaching a key milestone as 2010 looms large on the
horizon. This paper describes an approach to the European Higher Education Area
(EHEA) based on a real case study of students that belong to five European Universities
(University of Burgos, Technical University of Valencia, University of Valladolid,
University of Basque Country and University of Applied Sciences Cologne). The objective
of this paper is two-fold: on the one hand, to analyze from the student’s point of view how
they value the restructuring of teaching as a result of the Bologna process and what are the
implications for students with regards to both their academic qualifications and their future
incorporation into the labour market; and, on the other hand, to deduce from the results
obtained recommendations which may help to guide teachers towards successful
internationalization and collaboration between interuniversity networks, as well as
achieving greater standards of quality within university teaching. Only this would permit an
environment in which students are capable of developing the necessary competences, and
put into practice learning outcomes.
The results show that students value communication, innovative proposals and
cooperation between universities; the internationalization of knowledge between universities has been positively accepted and this has motivated research to place a
stronger focus on this aspect; it impacts strongly on scientific productivity, improves the
quality of education offered by the teaching staff, and leads to greater student mobility.
This strategy is intrinsically linked to learning from local experiences shared by members
of the same university as well as from more global experiences made available through
inter-university networks. It implies being willing to listen, to communicate, to engage in
dialogue and means that we must seek to understand the potential contributions from
teachers, staff and students that make up each university. |
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ISSN: | 2013-8423 2013-0953 2013-0953 |
DOI: | 10.3926/jiem.2009.v2n1.p299-318 |