TY - JOUR
T1 - Bologna process, more or less
T2 - Nursing education in the European Economic Area: A discussion paper
AU - Palese, Alvisa
AU - Zabalegui, Adelaida
AU - Sigurdardottir, Arun K.
AU - Bergin, Michael
AU - Dobrowolska, Beata
AU - Gasser, Catherine
AU - Pajnkihar, Majda
AU - Jackson, Christine
N1 - Funding Information:
At European level, the European Commission funded the Tuning Project (2010). This project was conceived to promote the convergence of degrees based on equivalent but not necessarily the same model of education across European countries. Representatives from 14 countries participated in the Tuning Project which also involved non-EHEA countries and the European University Association. The name “tuning” was chosen to reflect the idea that universities do not look for uniformity of their degree programs or any sort of unified, prescribed, standardized European curricula. The protection of the rich diversity of European education has been paramount in the Tuning Project, and the project did not seek to restrict the independence of academic and subject specialists, or damage local and national academic authority (Zabalegui et al., 2006). To better understand and compare curricula primarily, information on the general competencies (Tuning Project, 2008), subject-specific competencies, the role of ECTS as an accumulation system and the role of learning, teaching, assessment and performance in relation to quality assurance and evaluation was collected and updated for each country. This information was then reflected upon and discussed by teams of experts who could provide understanding, context and conclusions. The project conclusion allowed universities to “tune” their curricula, without losing their autonomy and academic freedom (Gonzalez & Wagenaar, 2010). Case studies developed by the Tuning Project demonstrated how nursing programmes could be designed to accommodate the needs of several stakeholder groups (students, employers, academic institutions, regulators and patients) under the Bologna Process are also available (Gobbi, 2009).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014,Walter de Gruyter GmbH. All rights reserved.
PY - 2014/1/1
Y1 - 2014/1/1
N2 - The Bologna Declaration and the subsequent processes is the single most important reform of higher education taking place in Europe in the last 30 years. Signed in 1999, it includes 46 European Union countries and aimed to create, a more coherent, compatible, comparable and competitive European Higher Education Area. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the Bologna Declaration achievements in nursing education at 2010 within eight countries that first signed the Declaration on 1999. Researchers primarily identified national laws, policy statements, guidelines and grey literature; then, a literature review on Bologna Declaration implementation in nursing was conducted on the Medline and CINAHL databases. Critical analyses of these documents were performed by expert nurse educators. Structural, organizational, functional and cultural obstacles are hindering full Bologna Process implementation in nursing education within European Economic Area. A call for action is offered in order to achieve a functionally unified system within nursing.
AB - The Bologna Declaration and the subsequent processes is the single most important reform of higher education taking place in Europe in the last 30 years. Signed in 1999, it includes 46 European Union countries and aimed to create, a more coherent, compatible, comparable and competitive European Higher Education Area. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the Bologna Declaration achievements in nursing education at 2010 within eight countries that first signed the Declaration on 1999. Researchers primarily identified national laws, policy statements, guidelines and grey literature; then, a literature review on Bologna Declaration implementation in nursing was conducted on the Medline and CINAHL databases. Critical analyses of these documents were performed by expert nurse educators. Structural, organizational, functional and cultural obstacles are hindering full Bologna Process implementation in nursing education within European Economic Area. A call for action is offered in order to achieve a functionally unified system within nursing.
KW - Bologna Declaration
KW - European Economic Area
KW - European Union
KW - Nurse education
KW - Nursing
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84908650091&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1515/ijnes-2013-0022
DO - 10.1515/ijnes-2013-0022
M3 - Article
C2 - 24695045
AN - SCOPUS:84908650091
SN - 1548-923X
VL - 11
SP - 63
EP - 73
JO - International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship
JF - International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship
IS - 1
ER -