Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Bologna Plan

No, this is not another travel adventure, but an educational one. The Bologna Plan was created as the name suggests in Bologna, Italy on June 19, 1999. The basic principle is that there will be a standard for higher education throughout the countries who sign on and commit to this plan. This makes it possible for students to go from one country to another to study without losing credits or time in earning their degrees. Forty-four countries have signed this agreement. It is due to start being implemented in Fall 2006. Start is the key word here. We had a faculty meeting today re: The Bologna Plan. The rector estimates it will take 15 years to fully implement it. By Hungarian law, any student that is currently in the system has the right to continue in the same type of system (credit or non-credit) that they are currently enrolled in. Since they are allowed to take a year or two off from their studies, they will have to be offered the same choices when they return. We were told that as of September, we will be running three different systems of education concurrently. What this means for me is that I will have to offer more classes, but not necessarily hold them. For example, I will continue to offer Language Practice 1 next semester, but if only a few students enroll, I can combine them into another class. In some ways, I am looking forward to this as I can offer classes now that I am really interested in and have students who really want to take the courses. We will see how it all pans out over time.

We also learned that we will be moving to our new campus in January 2007. This will be great for me, as it is only three blocks from where I live now. I can walk to school and back and no longer have to depend on the bus.

Change is good. Change is good. Change is good.

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