First, a new Eurobarometer survey of over 15,000 university students from all 27 EU member states (plus Norway, Iceland, Croatia and Turkey). This is a rare opportunity to assess students' views and experiences with higher education.
The objectives of this special target survey were:
- to identify opinions about access and equity in the higher education system
- to identify the purposes of higher education according to students within the system
- to assess opinions on the quality and transparency of the higher education institutions (HEIs)
- to identify students’ plans for - and obstacles to - studying abroad
- to discuss issues such as recognition of short study periods abroad and ECTS credit points
- to identify opinions about the greater cooperation of universities and businesses, and the need
- to foster an entrepreneurship mindset as part of higher education programmes
- to identify the post-graduation plans of Bachelor and Masters level students.
Third, the Institute for International Education published results from a survey of US Universities' response to 3-year Bologna-Compliant degrees.
Finally, the Economist published a brief essay called Bolognese Sauce which provides a fairly pessimistic view of the future of European higher education. One cause for concern -- European countries still struggle to meet target spending (as a percent of GDP) in higher education.
Take a look at the article, and the comments that follow.
The graph below illustrates:
