Joint study programmes: the most integrated form for internationalisation

By Annika Sundback-Lindroos. As Europe struggles with unemployment and economic downturn, the focus of the higher education sector should be on creating new knowledge to support innovation and growth. Why, then, is there so much emphasis being put on developing and implementing time- and resource-consuming joint academic programmes? Could it be that academic added value and student learning outcomes can be reached through a joint international curriculum with integrated mobility, ie, through joint study programmes?
Joint study programmes have long been both academically and politically prioritised within the European Higher Education Arena (EHEA). They were first mentioned in relation to the inter-ministerial Bologna Process in 2001, since joint study programmes are directly linked to Bologna action lines of mobility, joint curriculum development and quality assurance. Today, the Bologna Process is one of the main voluntary processes at European level, and is implemented in the 47 EHEA states. The latest Bologna meeting resulted in the Bucharest Communiqué, stating: “We encourage higher education institutions to further develop joint programmes and degrees as part of a wider EHEA approach. We will examine national practices as a way to dismantle obstacles to cooperation and mobility.” More...