ADAPTING TO BOLOGNA: DIFFERENT ELEMENTS IN THE DESIGN OF A COURSE AT TERTIARY LEVEL

In 1999, Ministers of Education from 29 European countries signed a declaration to create the European Higher Education Area by making academic degrees comparable and compatible throughout Europe and setting standards for quality assurance. This was opened up to other countries that are signatories to the European Cultural Convention of the Council of Europe; further governmental meetings were held in Prague (2001), Berlin (2003), Bergen (2005) and London (2007).

Some of the first commitments of the Bologna Declaration were the establishment of a credit system, the promotion of mobility by making courses compatible, the promotion of European cooperation, and the promotion of the necessary European dimensions in higher education. The Prague Declaration emphasized lifelong learning education and the complete involvement of both institutions and students in the whole process. This last objective implies not only the presence of students as an active part of the entire process, but also the pedagogic dimension of making them adopt an active role in their own learning process. By 2010, the European space for higher education should be completed for all european countries involved in the process.

The adaptation to the Bologna Process has brought about radical changes in university teaching as far as methodologies and assessment are concerned and also in the outcomes of learning that are now not stated in terms of goals, as they have traditionally been, but in terms of competencies to be acquired. The roles of teachers and students have also drastically shifted from the teacher-centred lectures schema to the ECTS student-centred schema. The credits allocated to each module were previously measured in terms of the contact hours between teachers and students in the classroom. At present, the assignment of credits is awarded in terms of the workload the student must carry out to successfully pass the module, which includes both the contact hours and the independent study hours. Similarly, evaluation does not only depend on the final exam but on the control of attendance and participation in the different programmed activities.

In Spain, as in other European countries, the Bologna Declaration is having a profound impact on the structure of degree programmes and consequently on teaching and learning. This new credit system is radically transforming the philosophy of university teaching as well as changing the role of teachers and students at tertiary level. There are several key elements in the new teaching schema, such as students participation, tutorials considered as a compulsory element and formative evaluation.

In this paper we will describe how different modules were planned and carried out as part of an innovative teaching scheme of adaptation to the ECTS credit system at the University of Murcia.