3. Appendices

Appendix 1: The Bologna Declaration on higher education

The Bologna process refers to the broad European cooperation on higher education initiated by the Bologna Declaration of 19 June 1999. This was approved by the European ministers responsible for higher education.

The aim of the Bologna Process is to create a common European area for higher education by 2010, with free mobility of students, teachers and fully qualified individuals, and to make European higher education attractive for students from other parts of the world. Currently, 40 European countries are participating in the cooperation. So far, ten aims have been established that will lead to the creation of a European area for higher education.

Aim 1: Easily legible and comparable examinations
Mutual recognition of education programmes, whether as a basis for further education or for employment/labour market, is key to the endeavours to achieve free student mobility and the creation of a European labour market.

Aim 2: Higher education at two levels
A study or exam structure that is if not identical then at least transparent is a broad precondition for the optimum functioning of mobility and mutual recognition of qualifications across borders.

Aim 3: A credit system that promotes mobility
Measuring the scope of programmes and their elements has until recently been a confused area. Without a measuring system in place, accreditation of previous education for a new programme is completely arbitrary. The Bologna Declaration demonstrates the necessity of a measuring system and recommends ECTS (European Credit Transfer System).

Aim 4: Promoting mobility
As European higher education is founded in national systems, there are of programme a range of barriers to mobility that need to be overcome.

Aim 5: European cooperation on quality assurance
Cooperation on quality assurance with the aim of developing comparable criteria and methods is a priority of the Bologna Process.

Aim 6: The European dimension of higher education
This target is particularly directed at common content development for programmes, cooperation between educational institutions, exchange schemes and joint programmes.

Aim 7: Lifelong learning
The development of lifelong learning has become an independent element of the Bologna Process. The motivation partly originated from the demands of international competition and partly from the contribution to social cohesion, equal opportunities and better quality of life.

Aim 8: Higher education institutions and students
The Bologna Process builds on the basic assumption of the value of education institutions' autonomy, as expressed in the Magna Carta of European universities. For the Bologna Process, this means that the influence of institutions and students in the process and their contribution to it is of vital necessity.

Aim 9: Promote the attractiveness of European higher education
One of the tenets of the Bologna Declaration was the recognition of the fact that European higher education was no longer attractive in competition with the education offers found in other parts of the world.

Aim 10: Higher education must be more closely linked to research
The European Area for Higher Education must be more closely linked to the European research sector. For this reason, research programmes (PhD level) are included as the third level in the cooperative process.

Relevant links: http://www.bologna.dk/ and http://www.bologna-berlin2003.de/

Appendix 2: Copenhagen Declaration on the vocational education and training sector

On 30 November 2002, education ministers from 30 European countries, consisting of EU member states, EU accession countries and EEA countries, signed the Copenhagen Declaration on enhanced European cooperation in the vocational education and training sector.

The aim was to increase voluntary cooperation in the vocational education and training sector with a view to promoting mutual trust, transparency and the recognition of skills and qualifications, and thus to establish a basis for increased mobility and easier access to lifelong learning. The following four areas are prioritised:

The European dimension

• Strengthening the European dimension of vocational training in order to promote closer cooperation with a view to facilitating and promoting mobility and the development of inter-institutional cooperation, partnerships and other transnational initiatives with the overall aim of raising the profile of the European education sector in an international context, enabling Europe to be recognised as a global reference for applicants to education programmes.

Transparency, information and guidance

• Increasing transparency in the vocational education and training sector by implementing and rationalising information tools and networks, including the integration of existing instruments such as the European CV, supplements to examination and qualification certificates, the common European reference framework for languages and EUROPASS into a single framework.
• Strengthening policies, systems and practices that support information, guidance and advice in member states at all levels of education and employment, namely with a view to queries relating to access to learning, vocational training and the options for transfer and recognition of skills and qualifications in order to support citizens' mobility within Europe in terms of both employment and geography.

Recognition of skills and qualifications

• Investigating how transparency, comparability, transfer possibilities and recognition of skills and/or qualifications between different countries and at different levels could be furthered by developing reference levels, common certification principles and joint schemes, including a scheme for transferring credits between vocational training programmes.
• Increasing support for the development of skills and qualifications at sector level by strengthening cooperation and coordination, particularly by involving labour market parties. This approach is illustrated by a range of EU initiatives as well as bilateral and multilateral initiatives, including initiatives already in place in various sectors with the aim of mutually recognising qualifications.
• Developing a set of common principles for validating informal learning with a view to ensuring better correspondence between models in various countries and at various levels.

Quality assurance

• Promoting cooperation on quality assurance, paying particular attention to the exchange of models and methods as well as promoting common criteria and principles for quality in vocational training programmes.
• Emphasising the educational needs of teachers within all forms of vocational training.

Relevant link: http://presse.uvm.dk/nyt/pm/deklaration.htm?menuid=0515

Appendix 3: Objective report: Different systems, common aims for 2010

With a view to contributing to the strategic aims for Europe set out at the meeting of the European Council in Lisbon in 2000, EU education ministers approved three strategic aims for the next ten years at the Council meeting of 12 February 2001. The three strategic aims are divided into 13 subsidiary aims:

Aim 1: Improve the quality and efficiency of the education and vocational training systems in the European Union

1.1 Improve the education of teachers and lecturers
1.2 Develop skills for the knowledge society
   – Improve literacy and numeracy skills
   – Adapt the definition of basic skills for the knowledge-based society
   – Maintain the ability to learn
1.3 Ensure access to information and communication technology for all
   – Computers for schools and learning centres
   – Involve teachers and lecturers
   – Use of networks and resources
1.4 Increase access to scientific and technical studies
1.5 Make optimal use of resources
   – Improve quality assurance
   – Ensure efficient use of resources

Aim 2: To facilitate access to the education and vocational training systems for everyone

2.1 Open learning environment
2.2 Making education more attractive
2.3 Support for active citizenship, equal opportunities and social cohesion

Aim 3: To make the education and vocational training systems more open to the outside world

3.1 Strengthening contacts with working life, research and society as a whole
3.2 Development of a spirit of enterprise
3.3 Improving teaching in foreign languages
3.4 Increasing mobility and exchanges
3.5 Strengthening European cooperation

Appendix 4: Lisbon Convention

On 20 March 2003, Denmark ratified the Council of Europe/UNESCO convention of 11 April 1997 on the recognition of qualifications concerning higher education in the Europe Region (Lisbon Convention).

The Lisbon Convention relates to mutual recognition of entrance examinations, study periods and examination certificates within higher education. The Convention is based on the following two overriding considerations:

1) Every applicant must have proper access to having an assessment made of their foreign education.

2) Foreign programmes must be recognised unless significant differences can be shown in their duration, subject content, etc.

As a follow-up to the Lisbon Convention, the signatory countries to the convention approved the recommendation of 6 June 2001 on criteria and procedures for the assessment of foreign qualifications.

The Lisbon Convention, together with the associated recommendation, was implemented in Danish legislation as the Assessment of Foreign Qualifications Act, cf.

Consolidation Act no. 74 of 24 January 2003. The Centre for the Assessment of Foreign Qualifications (CVUU) is designated to fulfil the function of a national information centre, the establishment of which was stipulated in the Convention for each signatory country.

Relevant link: http://cvuu.uvm.dk/vurderinger/aftaler.htm?menuid=2025

Appendix 5: Mobility statistics

The report provides the basis for a general improvement in the internationalisation statistics, making it easier to highlight internationalisation in future.⁶ The existing mobility statistics do not provide an adequate overall picture of mobility. In some cases, data is based on different sources that cannot be directly compared, and in other cases there is no data available for certain sectors. The following tables, which provide an insight into the scope of mobility, are based on statistics from Cirius, the State Educational Grant and Loan Scheme Agency, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, and the Ministry of Education.

Table 1: Danish students completing a full programme abroad with a study grant, 1992-2001

Mobility within higher education programmes
Table 1 gives an overview of the numbers of Danes completing a full programme abroad with the benefit of a study grant. One of the conditions for receiving a study grant for a full programme abroad is that it must be a publicly recognised programme with a vocational orientation.

Table 2: Number of Danish students abroad by host country, 2001

Table 2 shows that in 2001, a total of 7,189 Danes attended foreign higher educational institutions. This corresponds to 3.9 per cent of the total number of Danish students. The figures for shorter periods of study abroad are categorised by subject area, which is not recorded for full educational programmes abroad, and are therefore shown under “No data”.

The table shows that the majority of Danish students studying abroad went to other EU countries, a total of 65 per cent. It should be noted that for shorter periods of study, only stays in European countries are recorded, while for full educational programmes it is not possible to distinguish countries that are signatories to the Bologna Declaration. The programmes are not categorised by cycle length, as these figures are not available.

Table 3 (p. 43) shows the number of foreign students at Danish educational institutions by country of origin. The groupings of Nordic, EU, Bologna and other countries should not be interpreted as mutually exclusive categories, as a given country (e.g. Sweden) might well appear in all four groups. The Bologna column covers the 32 countries that had signed the Bologna Declaration at the time in 2001.

In 2001, a total of 11,498 foreign students were studying at Danish higher educational institutions. This figure corresponds to 5.9 per cent of the total and includes both shorter study periods and full programmes. On Danish short-cycle higher education programmes (KVU), foreign students represented
7.7 per cent of the total. On medium-cycle higher education programmes (MVU), the proportion was 4.2 per cent, and for university programmes (LVU) it was 6.7 per cent.

With respect to the exchange of researchers, under the fifth EU framework programme for research in the period 1999-2002, the following mobility grants were awarded:

Table 3: Number of foreign students at Danish educational institutions in 2001 by cycle length (KVU, MVU and LVU)

• Individual grants: A total of 37 Danish researchers have received grants relating to stays abroad, and 71 grants were awarded to foreign researchers with a view to spending time in Denmark. By far the majority of these individual grants were awarded to young researchers with a PhD degree or similar research experience.
• Host-based grants with selected university institutes and companies being hosts to primarily PhD students, but also more experienced researchers: Denmark is a net importer here as well, with 43 Danish PhD students/researchers having spent time abroad, while Danish host institutions have opened their doors to 132 foreign students/researchers.
• Grants linked to what is known as the research education network: The individual networks, typically consisting of 5-10 European research environments, select the grant recipients themselves, including both PhD students and slightly more experienced young researchers. There is no easily available information about the number of grants and mobility patterns. However, it is estimated that the degree of mobility corresponds approximately to the individual and host-based grants put together.

It is worth adding that the EU research framework- programmes also support short-term mobility in connection with access to the large European research institutions, participation in summer programmes, etc.

Comparison with other countries
Denmark is above the OECD average for the proportion of foreign students attending higher education – see Table 4
(p. 45). In 2000, a total of 12,900 foreign citizens were enrolled in a higher education programme in Denmark, corresponding to 6.8 per cent of the total number of students.

The highest proportions of foreign students are found in Switzerland (16.6 per cent), Australia (12.5 per cent), Great Britain (11.0 per cent), Austria (11.6 per cent) and Belgium
(10.9 per cent). Despite the USA having by far the highest number of foreign students, the number of national students is also high, so the proportion falls to 3.6 per cent.

The actual number of students abroad is probably somewhat higher, as many of the short stays abroad are not registered. Students who are not citizens of a given country but are permanently resident there count the opposite way, as they are not considered to be foreign students.

In 2000 there were 1.52 million foreigners (foreign citizens) enrolled at higher education institutions in the OECD countries. A total of 70 per cent of these students were studying in only five countries. The USA hosted 28 per cent, by far the biggest number of foreign students hosted by any one country. The UK hosted 14 per cent, Germany 12 per cent, France 8 per cent and Australia 7 per cent.

Table 4: Exchange of students in higher education (2000) – selected countries

The last column in the table gives an impression of student exchange within a group of countries consisting of OECD and a few non-OECD countries, cf. note 1 to the table above. The difference between 6.8 per cent and 2.6 per cent shows that Denmark hosts many foreign students from non- OECD countries and that it is not possible to determine the nationality of a large number of the foreign students in Denmark.

Subtracting the number of foreign students in a country from the proportion of that country's citizens studying abroad gives a measure of the exchange of students. The number is positive if the country is a net recipient of students, i.e. more students enter the country than leave it.

The large host countries are Great Britain (4.6 per cent), Germany (1.9 per cent) and the USA (1.5 per cent). The fact that these countries are large host countries is due to the number of people speaking the language of those countries, the size of their markets and the reputation of their educational institutions. As the table shows, Denmark sends out more students than it hosts (-0.9), but we are closer to achieving a balance than e.g. Norway (-4.8), Finland (-2.9) or the OECD as a whole (-1.2). We are not as close to achieving a balance as Sweden, however, (-0.1).

Mobility programmes
Most of the programmes coordinated within Cirius comprise contributions to the mobility of pupils, students and teachers in various areas of education. A total of 4,993 pupils, students, teachers and workers spent time abroad for education or work experience in the 2000/2001 academic year. A more detailed description of the purposes, target groups, etc., of these programmes can be found at http://www.ciriusonline.dk/

Table 5: Outbound mobility from Denmark, 2000-2001. The statistics comprise stays of at least five days for the purpose of teaching or receiving education or work experience

Table 6: Inbound mobility to Denmark, 2000-2001. The statistics comprise stays of at least five days for the purpose of teaching or receiving education or work experience

Appendix 6: Enhanced Internationalisation of Education – Summary of strategy and actions

Strategy
Overall, the internationalisation of education must help to ensure that:

• Danish programmes can measure up to the best in the world, and Danish research programmes can meet the highest international standards;
• Danish programmes are up-to-date and attractive enough to avoid a brain drain;
• Europe by 2010 will be the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world, with Danish enterprises in the vanguard of this development.

The main points in the Government's strategy for enhanced internationalisation of education are as follows:

• to ensure that programmes provide Danish pupils, students and workers with the qualifications to succeed in international environments;
• to support Danes studying, researching and working abroad;
• to attract qualified foreign students, researchers, teachers and workers;
• to give both students and educational institutions more and better ways of taking part in international cooperation and competing on the global education market;
• to ensure the quality of the Danish education system through participation in transnational cooperation and international comparisons.

Action

The international dimension in the content of education must be enhanced

• The Government will ensure that the international dimension is taken into account when the statutory basis for an area of education is amended and implemented, as happened with upper secondary school reform and the Universities Act.
• Educational institutions, local authorities and county councils will be encouraged to include the international dimension in their objectives and planning, and to publicise their work on the international dimension in tuition.
• The Government wishes to focus on increased use of English as the teaching language in higher education with a view to, among other things, attracting highly qualified foreign students and researchers.
• The Government is supporting a pilot project entitled "Min første Sprogportfolio" (My First Language Portfolio) as part of its focus on language skills.

The mobility of pupils, students and teachers must be enhanced

• The Government will establish an internationalisation taximeter for short programmes of higher education and vocational training.
• The Government will take the initiative to implement a targeted campaign for heads and tutors.
• The Government will promote the development of strategic partnerships, among other things with a view to joint degrees.
• The Government will maintain the option for students to use their student grant to study abroad.
• The Government will increase access to work experience abroad.
• The Government will enhance the international dimension in educational and vocational guidance.
• The Government will ensure that Denmark continues to play an active role in developing the EU's new education programmes from 2007 onwards.
• The Government will encourage institutions to set objectives and quantitative targets for the balance between Danish and foreign students on programmes.

The use of IT as an internationalisation tool must be enhanced

• With a view to further integration of IT at primary and lower secondary education level, the Government has set aside DKK 495 million for the purchase of computers, supplementary training for teachers and the development of new methods and materials.
• The Government will work to ensure that Denmark takes part actively in and gains the greatest possible benefit from the EU's e-learning programme.
• The Government will work to ensure that Denmark plays an active role in the European SchoolNet (EUN) and ICT League cooperation organisations.
• The Government will investigate the possibilities for establishing an electronic teaching and education platform.
• The Government will encourage educational institutions to involve themselves either individually or in consortia in the market for electronic education services.

Opportunities for institutions to cooperate and compete internationally must be increased

• The Government will discontinue taximeter contributions for students from countries outside the EU/EEA and establish a payment scheme (tuition fees) for such students.
• The government will, at the same time, establish a grant scheme targeting highly qualified students from third countries within Danish priority areas (e.g. high-technology areas, including natural sciences).
• The Government will establish a grant scheme in the university sector when the current cultural agreement programmes are renewed.
• The Government will work to extend university cooperation outside Europe, focusing on countries such as Canada.
• The Government will take the initiative to implement a professional marketing campaign for Danish programmes.
• The Government will, in collaboration with Rektorkollegiet (the Danish Rectors' Conference), investigate the possibilities of using the new adult and continuing education portal (http://www.unev.dk/) for marketing Danish higher education programmes.
• The Government will support participation by Danish institutions in international cooperation programmes relating to innovation and methodology development.
• The Government will create increased flexibility in the administration of international education programmes to ensure that Danish activities derive the best possible benefit from the programme resources.

Danish involvement in international cooperation forums for education, including international comparisons of education systems, must be enhanced

• The Government will ensure that Denmark continues to play an active role in international comparisons, surveys and qualitative assessments of the education system.
• The Government will ensure that Denmark continues to
• play an active role in the expert groups supporting the work on the Objective Report within the European Commission's framework. Recommendations will be formulated and benchmarks defined.
• The Government will ensure that Denmark continues to make an active contribution towards the implementation of the objectives of the Copenhagen and Bologna Declarations, including: – continued development and extended utilisation of the qualification key for higher education programmes; – follow-up of the recommendations on the establishment of "joint" and "double degrees"; – enhancement and further development of education quality assurance; – enhancement of mobility and mutual recognition, including the recognition of practical skills.
• The Government will take the initiative to establish cooperation agreements to further the possibilities for establishing research cooperation with governments, businesses, universities and research institutions outside Europe.
• The Government will initialise pilot projects in which two or three universities form a network with a university outside Europe.
• The Government will consider the possibilities for modernising the Danish marking scale.

Internationalisation initiatives must be followed up and assessed
With this report, the Government is setting the focus on internationalisation of programmes and setting out a strategy for future work. The Government will ensure that the strategy is realised and that the necessary steps are taken in this regard. Work connected with the administration of and information on Denmark's participation in international education programmes and the assessment of foreign programmes must be further enhanced. This will be achieved by gathering all problem solving into a new national/- international education administration. The Government will also follow international development with a view to taking further necessary initiatives.

• The Government will take the initiative to develop methods for following up and discussing the long-term effects of internationalisation. For example, the Government will improve the statistics to make it easier to highlight internationalisation, including mobility. In the long term, it will be possible to establish concrete quantitative targets for internationalisation.
• The government will ensure that the work on internationalisation forms part of both national and international quality assessments, and by summer 2007 at the latest, an assessment of the internationalisation work across the entire education sector will be carried out in order to provide a basis for further work. For example, external assessments can be carried out, as EVA has just done in the primary and lower secondary education sector and the OECD in the university sector.
• A national/international education administration will be established when Cirius, CVUU, etc. are merged. The administration will contribute to the enhancement of internationalisation in programmes in general.
• As part of the implementation of the Government's strategy, a framework over and above the grant schemes and IT resources will be allocated for use in special initiatives.

Fodnoter

6 A working group has been set up under the auspices of Cirius to analyse the scope of current mobility statistics and suggest improvements. The European Commission has also appointed a working group to make recommendations for improving European mobility statistics.

7 The total from abroad covers students included in the three subsequent columns (Nordic countries, EU and signatories to the Bologna Declaration) as well as students from other countries such as the USA, Canada, Brazil, China, Japan and Australia.

8 Reported directly by the individual countries, includes all countries.

9 These figures were calculated on the basis of the OECD and non-OECD countries that have specified citizenship in their reported education system intake. The following OECD countries submitted no report: Luxembourg and Slovakia. The following non-OECD countries submitted a report: Argentina, Chile, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Jordan, Malaysia, The Philippines, Russia, Tunisia and Uruguay. Source. The table is an extract of Table C3.1 Exchange of students in tertiary education (2000), Education at a Glance, pp. 243, OECD, 2002.

This page is included in the publication "Enhanced Internationalisation of Danish Education and Training" as chapter 3 of 3
© The Ministry of Education 2004