snejana slantcheva-durst, asst. prof. department of educational foundations and leadership

The Role of Short-Cycle Higher Education Programs and Qualifications in the Knowledge-Based Economies: Emerging Trends from the

United States and Europe

Snejana Slantcheva-Durst, Asst. Prof.Department of Educational Foundations and Leadership

University of ToledoToledo, Ohio, USA

The Judith HerbCollege of Education

June 15-16, 20091st International Conference: Recognition and Quality Assurance of Short-Cycle Higher EducationGolden Sands, Bulgaria

Presentation Overview

Evolving Parameters of SCHE

European and US Developments

Challenges to SCHE in Europe and the US

Innovative approaches

Goals for us…


The Evolving Parameters of SCHE

“…post-secondary education of mainly terminal character designed to train students for middle-level manpower positions...” provided in institutions established outside universities (SCIs)… in a few countries the universities offer a certain number of such short-cycle programs, while in others this training is the responsibility of secondary level establishments (technical training in Sweden, teacher training in France) (OECD, 1973)


The Evolving Parameters of SCHECentral concern: structure of higher education systems


1. Integrated comprehensive university model

German GesamthochschuleDanish University Center

2. Binary model

U.K.Ontario, Canada

The Evolving Parameters of SCHE


3. Combined development model

Norway, France, Yugoslavia, Belgium, USA to some extent

4. First cycle multi-purpose colleges

Quebec, CanadaUSA to some extent

(Ross, 1972; OECD, 1973)

European Developments

Evolution of Perspectives Regarding SCHE:

Institutions (SCIs) Program Degree Learning

StagesOutcomes



• 1960s – a wider diversification according to types of higher education institutions

• Development of a extra or non-university institutions and programs originally created to provide terminal and vocationally oriented post-secondary education– The British polytechnics - established in the early 1960s

– The French Instituts universitaires de technologie (IUT) - 1960s as a third type, beside the university and the Grandes Écoles

– The German Fachhochschulen – 1971

– The regional colleges of Norway (Bienaymé, 1991; Teichler, 1996, 2008; Kyvik 1981; Vangsnes and Jordell 1992)



• 1980s-90s - in some countries - academic drift and “upgrading” of non-university institutions

– Britain’s polytechnics (complete upgrading)

– German Fachhochschulen (gradual upgrading); replaced by new “upgraded” vocational institutions (Berufsakadmien)

• Creation of two-type structures in others (Austria, Finland, Switzerland)



• 1999 – the Bologna Process emphasis on the stages of study programs

• Degrees as the single most important mode of diversification in higher education - intra-institutional diversity is in the forefront (Teichler, 2008)

• 2003 study of Tertiary SCHE (Kirsch et al., 2003)

“…a level or stage of studies beyond secondary education which can lead to a qualification recognized on the labor market…,” undertaken in formal tertiary education institutions – universities, polytechnics, colleges; public and private – but also in a wide variety of other settings, including secondary schools, at work sites, via free-standing information technology-based offerings and a host of private public entities (OECD)”



• 2008 EQF – SCHE through the prism of student outcomes

• The 2005 Bergen Conference of European Ministers endorsed the “broader framework for qualifications for lifelong learning encompassing general education as well as vocational education and training”

• Short-cycle higher education programs (seen as intermediate qualifications linked to the first cycle) have found a place in the European Qualifications Framework as programs offered within the first (bachelor’s) level of higher education (level 5)

• Contribute to the social dimension of higher education and to expansion of lifelong and life-wide learning opportunities

(Communiqué of the Conference of European Ministers,

Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve, 28-29 April 2009)


American Developments

Evolution of Perspectives Regarding SCHE:

Program Degree Institutions

Stages



• Junior colleges – founded as transfer institutions – seen not so much as alternatives to universities but as “mechanism for relieving senior institutions from the burden of teaching first- and second-year students” (Bragg and Townsend, 2006)

• Associate degree (Harper) – seen as an academic credential for completed first two years of college

• The vocational mission was added later – preparing students for immediate employment in semi-professional occupations

• Third mission: continuing education and workforce training – late 1950s (26% in terminal occupational programs in 1960; 1975 – 35%; now – over 50%)

• Community service, remedial service and developmental education



• Currently, community colleges are seen as multi-purpose, multi-functional institutions:

• Open access

• Widely distributed

• Affordable

• Rooted in their communities

• Tightly-linked to labor markets – workforce training, adult courses




Community Colleges:

• Certify nearly 80 percent of first responders in the United States (police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians);

• Produce more than 50% of new nurses and other health-care workers;

• Account for nearly 40% of all foreign undergraduates in America;

• Enroll 46% of all U.S. undergraduates, including 47% of undergraduates who are African American, 47% - Asian or Pacific Islander, 55% - Hispanic, and 57% - Native American;

• Award more than 800,000 associate degrees and certificates annually;

• Nationally, half of all baccalaureate degree recipients have attended community colleges prior to earning their degrees.

(College Board, 2008)

Challenges Facing European SCHE


Articulation of SCHE amongst countries within countries, with Bologna cycles and Bologna aims for intermediary

qualifications

SCHE and the “social dimension” SCHE and Lifelong Learning

“More than two-thirds of countries have not found it necessary to modernize vocational education at ISCED 5B level as a part of the Bologna reforms.”

“In most countries, the issue of developing bridges between the ISCED 5B level and the newly Bologna organized ISCED 5A level programs is a matter of concern and attention” (Higher Education in Europe 2009)

Innovative European Approaches


France: Diplome Universitaire de Technology (DUT) (1966)• 2-year programs

• Not open-access

• Offered by 100 Instituts universitaire de technologie (IUTs), all attached to a French university, often on the same campus

• Competencies embedded in the program qualifications

• Seamless transitions - fully articulated with the first cycle licence and licence professionelle degrees offered across the street

• Most of their traditional students have passed the French Baccalaureat• Around 2-3rds of their graduates continue their education in the

university across the street (80% in 2005; 57% of them earned their degree within 1 year of receiving their DUT) (Adelman, 2009)

Innovative European Approaches


UK: The Foundation Degree (2001)• 2-year full-time, 3-year part-time

• A transfer degree devoted to a “foundation” in a field (23 fields)

• All course modules are “validated” (reviewed and approved) by a university, and delivered either by the validating university or (in most cases) by Colleges of Further Education – open-access, “bridge” institutions

• Half of enrolled earned credentials on time, and roughly another 30% were still enrolled; in 2003/04, 54% of those who earned a FD continued in a 1st cycle honors program and of them, 71% earned the honors degree

• Serves the social dimension agenda

• “Second chance” function for adults

Challenges Facing American SCHE


SCHE and Degree attainment Community colleges seen as critical institutions in closing the “degree

gap” and raising the educational level of the population

SCHE and the Workforce (jumpstart the economy) Community colleges seen as central in upgrading skills and qualifications

and training the workforce needed to support a knowledge-based economy

Challenges Facing US Community Colleges


Low transfer and degree completion rates (culture traditionally emphasizing access, not success):

• just over half of full- and part-time freshmen return for a second year

• 36% earn a certificate or degree within 6 years (compared to more than 60% of students at 4-year institutions)

• only 26% of their students transfer to four-year institutions

• 42 percent of first-year students at community colleges enroll in at least one developmental education class

• challenge of monitoring student outcomes


Loosing edge in educating adults (the “new majority) :

• Declining adult credit student numbers, between 1995-2004:

25-39 olds – down by 11%

incrased by 254% in private, for-profit colleges

40 and older – increased by 3.6% increased by 376% in private, for-profit inst.

(Dept. of Ed.)

• work-force programs and continuing education – the “non-credit side of the house”

Challenges Facing US Community Colleges

8th

12th

assoc. degree

bachelor

INTO the higher ed. system

ACADEMIC PATHWAYS

Partnership initiatives between K-12, 2-year

and 4-year institutions

WITHIN the higher ed. system


Innovative US Approaches

AP,Tech Prep,Dual Cr./Enrollment,Virtual School,Bridge Programs,CLEP, IB,GED, Senior-to-Sophomore…

Transfer and articulation agreements, dual enrollment


CAREER PATHWAYS

The partnership initiatives between community colleges and the world of work (workforce training programs):

•Partnerships with the Workforce and Social Service Systems•Partnerships with Community-Based Organizations•Partnerships with Adult Basic Education Providers•Partnerships with Employers•From Strategic Partnerships to a Regional Approach

(WSC, 2006)

Snejana Slantcheva-Durst, Asst. Prof.Judith Herb College of EducationUniversity of ToledoToledo, Ohio, [email protected]

Thank you!


snejana slantcheva-durst, asst. prof. department of educational foundations and leadership

Documents

shortcycle programs

study of tertiary sche

teacher training

france oecd

role of short

universities scis

quality assurance of

wider diversification