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Several years after it first started, the European Commission has just relaunched its ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) and DS (Diploma Supplement) labels for higher education insitutions.
According to the Commission, 65 higher education institutions from 16 countries have been awarded with special European quality labels in recognition of their efforts to make it easier for students to study abroad. These labels have been given to universities which have shown excellence in applying the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) and the Diploma Supplement (DS), two European instruments that make teaching and learning more transparent and facilitate the recognition of studies and qualifications.
ESU wholeheartedly supports measures to ensure the full implementation of the ECTS and Diploma Supplement, but remains concerned about the effectiveness of label allocation. Firstly, there is considerable flexibility in much of the criteria which makes the system rather subjective on the level of the assessor. Secondly, there is a real danger of insitutions receiving a label for achievements in credit transfers for mobile students, and not for accumulation by all students, which is a vital part of the ECTS.
In terms of the Diploma Supplement, concerns centre on the fact that, in order to receive the award, institutions have to follow a template which some member states have adopted and others have not. This differentiation explains why DS labels have been awarded to institutions emanating from a small number of countries, and leads to questions about how accurately they are reflecting the real situation on the ground.
These specific concerns are accompanied by broader issues relating to the whole labelling system. Whilst mechanisms to assess ECTS and DS implementation are very much required, as highlighted by our Bologna With Student Eyes 2009 report, the labels do not reflect, in some cases, wider issues such as the consideration of student workload in the ECTS implementation, nor do they provide an analysis of current implementation faults with improvement recommendations for the future. Instead, they offer a simplistic indication of whether an institution is perceived to be doing well in this respect or not at a given moment, without highlighting areas for improvement or giving institutions an incentive to go further. It is also noteworthy that the labels are awarded for 5 years time (2009-2013), which is a rather lengthy period of time if we look again at the relative subjectivity of the assessment made.
ESU believes that a much more effective way of enhancing ECTS and DS implementation would be to carry out study visits to assess their implementation in a comprehensive way, something which the Commission used, in fact, to do. Whilst not doubting the benefit of labels for recognising the progress that has been made by some higher education institutions, the Commission needs to go much further if the implementation gap highlighted by European students in our BWSE report are to be addressed for the future.
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