Seminar “Development of II and III Cycle Degree Programmes” successfully held in Banja Luka
Banja Luka. WUS Austria organised the Seminar "Development of II and III Cycle Programmes" on 12th March 2009 at the University of Banja Luka.
The seminar Development of II and III Cycle Degree Programmes is one of the accompanying measures foreseen in the implementation of the Degree Development Structure (DDS) project which is being implemented within WUS Austria’s programme “Austrian Support to Higher Education in Bosnia and Herzegovina 2008 – 2011” financed by Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC). Due to the complexity of standards foreseen in the frame of the European higher education reforms, implementation of the reform processes is still an ongoing process in whole Europe, and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is not an exception to this. Consequently, BiH is faced with the need for development of 2nd and 3rd cycle degree programmes, but also the need for development of partnerships and exchanging experience with other higher education institutions.
Within the DDS project there are four study programmes that are being developed:
- PhD in ICT at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Banja Luka
- Master of Mechanical Engineering at the Faculty of Technical Engineering University of Bihać
- Master in Quality Management in Health Care at the School of Economics and Business, University of Sarajevo
- Master in Food Analysis at the Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences University of Sarajevo
The seminar was attended by over 40 participants. They were mostly academic staff from the 3 BiH public universities ( University of Banja Luka, University of Bihać and University of Sarajevo) that are directly involved in implementation of the DDS project, as they were the primary target audience of the seminar. Furthermore, it was attended by professors, teaching assistants and university management representatives from other public universities in BiH since the seminar was also open to the wider academic community in BiH
The main topics covered at the seminar were:
- Recent developments of doctoral studies in Austria - National and international impulses, Mag. Elisabeth Westphal, Policy advisor for the Bologna Process, Higher Education in Europe and Teaching, Universities Austria
- The needs and opportunities for degree internationalization, Mag. Ulrike Krawagna, Office for International Relations, University of Graz
- Quality Assurance in the teaching process - programme validation and evaluation, Dr. Dejan Bokonjić, Faculty of Medicine, University of East Sarajevo
*(The Agenda of the seminar as well as the presentations can be downloaded by clicking on the hyperlink.)
WUS Austria prepared a questionnaire to assess satisfaction of the seminar participants in terms of the seminar organisation, topics and lecturers, and it also used the opportunity to seek the opinion of the participants on a number of issues regarding the newest trends in higher education in BiH context.
In addition to these, the participants were also asked to express their views on what next steps are needed for successful application of the Bologna process in BiH higher education. Majority of the participants think that one of the first steps should be establishment of quality assurance and accreditation system/structures; secondly necessary legislation and regulations in higher education should be adopted, at the state level primarily; the titles received upon completion of the I, II and III cycles should be defined; etc.
