CHANGE OF DEGREES AND DEGREES OF CHANGE COMPARING ADAPTATIONS OF EUROPEAN HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEMS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE BOLOGNA PROCESS
ISBN 90-365-2382-6 © 2006, J.K. Witte Alle rechten voorbehouden. Niets uit deze uitgave mag worden verveelvoudigd, opgeslagen in een geautomatiseerd gegevensbestand, of openbaar gemaakt, in enige vorm of op enige wijze, hetzij elektronisch, mechanisch, door fotokopieën, opnamen of enig andere manier, zonder voorafgaande schriftelijke toestemming van de auteur. Voor zover het maken van kopieën uit deze uitgave is toegestaan op grond van artikel 16B Auteurswet 1912 jo, het besluit van 20 juni 1974, Stb. 351, zoals gewijzigd bij het Besluit van 23 augustus 1985, Stb. 471 en artikel 17 Auteurswet 1912, dient men de daarvoor wettelijk verschuldigde vergoedingen te voldoen aan de Stichting Reprorecht (Postbus 882, 1180 Amstelveen). Voor het overnemen van gedeelte(n) uit deze uitgave in bloemlezingen, readers en andere compilatiewerken (artikel 16 Auteurswet 1912) dient men zich tot de uitgever te wenden. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system of any nature, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying or recording, without prior written permission of the author. Cover design: Anna Witte Printed by UNITISK, Czech Republik. Published by CHEPS/UT, Postbus 217, 7500 AE Enschede,
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CHANGE OF DEGREES AND DEGREES OF CHANGE COMPARING ADAPTATIONS OF EUROPEAN HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEMS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE BOLOGNA PROCESS
DISSERTATION to obtain the doctor’s degree at the University of Twente under the authority of the rector magnificus prof.dr. W.H.M. Zijm on account of the decision of the graduation committee to be publicly defended on Friday 7 July 2006 at 15.00 by Johanna Katharina Witte born on 28 September 1973 in Hamburg, Germany
This dissertation has been approved by the promoters: Prof. Dr. Marijk van der Wende Prof. Dr. Jeroen Huisman
Other members of the graduation committee: Prof. Dr. Nico S. Groenendijk Prof. Dr. Detlef Müller-Böling Dr. Christine Musselin Prof. Dr. Guy Neave Prof. Dr. Ulrich Teichler
Preliminary remarks and acknowledgements This study was written in the context of my work at the Centre for Higher Education Development (CHE) in Germany and academically supervised at the Center for Higher Education Policy Studies at the University of Twente (CHEPS). The CHE is a non-profit think tank and consultancy in higher education (HE) reform jointly set up by the Bertelsmann Foundation and the German rectors’ conference (HRK). That this thesis was undertaken as a CHE project marks the Centre’s acknowledgement of the growing importance of European developments in general, and the Bologna process in particular, for the future of German HE. Researching and writing this dissertation was a great personal experience which allowed me to witness a historical process in the making: the emergence of the European HE area. The more so, as I had studied in three of the four countries included in this project, Germany, the Netherlands, and England, and have been a Francophile for a long time. I felt fortunate to have the opportunity to explore the cultures and politics of these four HE systems in depth. The intercultural ‘translation’ exercise involved in this project was among what I enjoyed most. Writing a ‘work-based’ doctoral thesis in the context of international cooperation between two European HE research and reform centres was an inspiring as well as a challenging experience. It was inspiring as I never suffered from the question facing so many other doctoral students: what