Au-delà de Bologne, la question du « comment » financer l'enseignement supérieur européen persiste
The implementation of the Bologna reform, synonymous with degrees and programs harmonization, is now well advanced in most EU countries. However, beyond Bologna, numerous problems continue to haunt higher education. How to share the cost of higher education is one of them. In most European countries, public financing is dominant and is still perceived by many observers as the most legitimate model despite the fact that access remains largely inequitable, and in spite of the model’s growing inability to provide the financial resources needed to preserve quality and maintain Europe’s position in the world league. In this paper, we review the arguments traditionally set forth by economic theory to justify public funding. We try to assess their relevance given the early 21st century context characterizing French-Speaking Belgium and the EU.
Improving Incentives in Tertiary Education in Belgium
The tertiary education system has been transformed from an elite-oriented system to a system providing tertiary education to a much larger share of each new generation. This re-orientation has contributed to raising education attainment in Belgium. However, in many respects the organisation of the tertiary education systems has not been changed fundamentally and economic incentives are only to a minor extent in place for securing the supply and quality of tertiary education. The system has come under strain, as revealed in the high failure rate among first-year students and the high incidence of subject change. There is thus a need for the system to adapt to be able to continue to support the improvement in educational attainment. Ameliorer les systemes d'incitation dans l'enseignement superieur en Belgique Auparavant elitiste, l’enseignement superieur a ete transforme en un systeme devant permettre a une part plus importante de chaque nouvelle generation de faire des etudes superieures. Cette reorientation a contribue a elever le niveau de formation en Belgique. Cela etant, a bien des egards, l’organisation du systeme d’enseignement superieur n’a pas ete fondamentalement modifiee et les conditions economiques permettant d’assurer une offre et une qualite d’enseignement suffisantes sont loin d’etre reunies. Le systeme est en proie a des difficultes, comme en temoigne le taux d’echec eleve des etudiants de premiere annee et les nombreux changements de filiere. Il doit donc faire l’objet d’amenagements si l’on veut qu’il puisse continuer a ameliorer le niveau de formation.
Evaluation of a teacher program in a French-Belgian university: the use of teaching portfolios
The objective of this paper is to analyze how teaching portfolios, when used as an integrated activity in a University teaching and learning program, could be an effective way to evaluate the impact of programs, by measuring the structure of the observed learning outcomes of this program.