BOLOGNA-PROCESS
Man or Tomato: Students under EU Norms
06.02.2008
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Katia Backhaus
Photo by Boris Schrage
I
say no to this future! Can it be that students are being treated like EU-regulated glasshouse tomatoes? Can it be that they are pressed into a faceless scheme and that they are standardized only to make them internationally interchangeable?
Interchangeable – the faux-pas-word in this whole Bologna affair. Since when do we want to be like everyone else? If no one can set his or her own focus, follow his or her personal interests and hobbies, ergo absolve his own individual course of studies, what will remain of the Humboldtian university ideal? The education for the purpose of developing and forming the person and his or her personality? Nothing – exactly. Niente. Nichts. Rien de tout.
At least one thing are the new generations of first-semesters supposed to learn: European competences, to be acquired in an unproblematic exchange of reciprocally acceptable “credits.” But is this correct after all? Who can guarantee that the nice French uni where we want to spend our fifth bachelor semester in two years from now will acknowledge all our courses? Exactly: no one.
And this is supposed to be the oh! so magnificent new order? We are giving up our university system, which has grown, been tested, and pugnaciously defended against all imaginable attacks for centuries. We do so only because the world of politics is as eager as a toddler to grab anything labeled “Europe.”
Preserving our national sovereignty in the university sector is absolutely necessary and means above all else also the preservation of the student spirit and the soul embodied in it. Studying is not only supposed to be the striving for degrees but moreover the formation of one’s personality. Maybe combinations of subjects as were possible for the Magister degree were not always especially job-related (prehistoric studies as a major, zoology and Islamic studies as minors – this job is yet to be created!), but they were all but individual. In my opinion a recruiter will prefer deciding between two individuals with different qualifications than between bachelor extras who neck-up can merely present a certain variation of hairstyles.
And this is why – ironically – not less but more of a burden is looming for the new bachelor generation: Those who do not want to perish in the vast uniform mass of norm students have to find other ways and options to prove individuality. Volunteer engagement is called upon aside of their studies, whether it be student workshops, university groups or sports clubs. But: Regulated, cramped schedules leave little time for spontaneous assignments. Besides, those who only want to pimp up their CVs will not please any university group by signing up.
‘Tis going to be difficult being a bachelor and finding a way through that jungle the university education has become. Acquiring sufficient education and qualification on this short three-year trip, making European experiences along the way, and still finding possibilities to set personal emphases – all this is a lot to ask for. Those who do not find time for a voluntarily chosen engagement, who get stuck in the modular and credit bushes, well, they also are of course bachelors.
But is this the bachelor Europe really wants?
Interchangeable – the faux-pas-word in this whole Bologna affair. Since when do we want to be like everyone else? If no one can set his or her own focus, follow his or her personal interests and hobbies, ergo absolve his own individual course of studies, what will remain of the Humboldtian university ideal? The education for the purpose of developing and forming the person and his or her personality? Nothing – exactly. Niente. Nichts. Rien de tout.
At least one thing are the new generations of first-semesters supposed to learn: European competences, to be acquired in an unproblematic exchange of reciprocally acceptable “credits.” But is this correct after all? Who can guarantee that the nice French uni where we want to spend our fifth bachelor semester in two years from now will acknowledge all our courses? Exactly: no one.
And this is supposed to be the oh! so magnificent new order? We are giving up our university system, which has grown, been tested, and pugnaciously defended against all imaginable attacks for centuries. We do so only because the world of politics is as eager as a toddler to grab anything labeled “Europe.”
Preserving our national sovereignty in the university sector is absolutely necessary and means above all else also the preservation of the student spirit and the soul embodied in it. Studying is not only supposed to be the striving for degrees but moreover the formation of one’s personality. Maybe combinations of subjects as were possible for the Magister degree were not always especially job-related (prehistoric studies as a major, zoology and Islamic studies as minors – this job is yet to be created!), but they were all but individual. In my opinion a recruiter will prefer deciding between two individuals with different qualifications than between bachelor extras who neck-up can merely present a certain variation of hairstyles.
And this is why – ironically – not less but more of a burden is looming for the new bachelor generation: Those who do not want to perish in the vast uniform mass of norm students have to find other ways and options to prove individuality. Volunteer engagement is called upon aside of their studies, whether it be student workshops, university groups or sports clubs. But: Regulated, cramped schedules leave little time for spontaneous assignments. Besides, those who only want to pimp up their CVs will not please any university group by signing up.
‘Tis going to be difficult being a bachelor and finding a way through that jungle the university education has become. Acquiring sufficient education and qualification on this short three-year trip, making European experiences along the way, and still finding possibilities to set personal emphases – all this is a lot to ask for. Those who do not find time for a voluntarily chosen engagement, who get stuck in the modular and credit bushes, well, they also are of course bachelors.
But is this the bachelor Europe really wants?
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INFORMATIONS ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Katia H. Backhaus
Katia (22) ist im 5. Semester Politikstudentin in Kiel und schreibt gern offen ihre Meinung: bei campusradiokiel.de, Kieler AStA-Info und EFORS.eu.
