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The 2nd half of the 1990s has been a pivot point for starting a period of reform of the European higher education sector which is still continuing. It resulted in far reaching reforms, such as the introduction of the Bachelor-Master structure, but also in a revolutionary change of the learning paradigm from expert driven to student-centred education. As a result, the quality of higher education programmes has significantly improved. However, the process has also led to a lot of red tape showing a serious decline of trust in academia and its academics. This downturn can be related to the introduction of the concept of ‘new governance’ and as a follow-up the 21st century ‘modern university’ governance model in particular in Anglo-Saxon countries, but also in the Netherlands. As a consequence, the philosophy ‘profit-for-people’ has taken hold in society, including universities. This has resulted in the administrative culture crisis, which is now widely acknowledged, and has also influenced higher education institutions. Was the transfer of an industrial society to a knowledge-based economy (digital revolution) an important cause for the 1990s pivot point, the fourth industrial revolution (Artificial Intelligence) is expected to have a substantial impact on the role of the university again. This next pivot point will change this role in society fundamentally. It will also impact its governance model again, forced to give more credit to its professionals to allow for strengthening ‘academic freedom’, which has suffered as an effect of the reforms, and to open up higher education also to those who are already active in the workplace. This implies enhancing flexibility of educational programmes, the integration of the relative new phenomenon of micro-credentials (topics of specialized learning to upgrade knowledge and skills) and better alignment between higher education and society, including the world of work. It will also ask for further international cooperation at the

Robert Wagenaar is werkzaam als directeur van de International Tuning Academy en als hoogleraar Geschiedenis en Politiek in het hoger onderwijs. Tijdens zijn oratie gaat Wagenaar in op de maatschappelijke veranderingen die elkaar in hoge snelheid opvolgen en de uitdagingen die academici aan moeten gaan voor het leveren van een waardevolle bijdrage in zowel onderzoek als onderwijs. De maatschappelijke veranderingen die voor Wagenaar’s oratie van belang zijn, werden in de tweede helft van de jaren negentig in gang gezet. Een periode van hervorming van het Europees hoger onderwijssector ging van start. Voorbeelden hiervan zijn de introductie van de bachelor-masterstructuur en de revolutionaire verandering van het leerparadigma dat verschoof van expertgestuurd naar studentgericht onderwijs. Deze substantiële verandering vereiste een hoge mate van betrokkenheid en inzet van academici. Als gevolg hiervan is de kwaliteit van de opleidingen in het hoger onderwijs aanzienlijk verbeterd. De verschuiving heeft echter ook geleid tot veel bureaucratie, waardoor het vertrouwen in de academische wereld is afgenomen. De bureaucratie heeft bijgedragen aan het 21-eeuwse ‘moderne universiteit’ bestuursmodel in met name Angelsaksische landen, maar ook in Nederland. De filosofie ‘profit-for-people’ heeft daardoor niet alleen voet aan de grond gekregen in de samenleving, maar tevens in universiteiten. De algemeen erkende bestuurlijke cultuurcrisis die uit de filosofie voortvloeide heeft daarom ook invloed gehad op de instellingen voor hoger onderwijs. Met de komst van de vierde industriële revolutie zal, naar verwachting, de rol van de universiteit opnieuw fundamenteel veranderen. In het nieuwe bestuursmodel zullen professionals weer een grotere rol moeten krijgen toegekend. De ‘academische vrijheid’, die als gevolg van de hervorming afnam, wordt hierdoor versterkt. Ook zal het hoger onderwijs open moeten worden gesteld voor degenen die al actief zijn op de arb, The 2nd half of the 1990s has been a pivot point for starting a period of reform of the European higher education sector which is still continuing. It resulted in far reaching reforms, such as the introduction of the Bachelor-Master structure, but also in a revolutionary change of the learning paradigm from expert driven to student-centred education. As a result, the quality of higher education programmes has significantly improved. However, the process has also led to a lot of red tape showing a serious decline of trust in academia and its academics. This downturn can be related to the introduction of the concept of ‘new governance’ and as a follow-up the 21st century ‘modern university’ governance model in particular in Anglo-Saxon countries, but also in the Netherlands. As a consequence, the philosophy ‘profit-for-people’ has taken hold in society, including universities. This has resulted in the administrative culture crisis, which is now widely acknowledged, and has also influenced higher education institutions. Was the transfer of an industrial society to a knowledge-based economy (digital revolution) an important cause for the 1990s pivot point, the fourth industrial revolution (Artificial Intelligence) is expected to have a substantial impact on the role of the university again. This next pivot point will change this role in society fundamentally. It will also impact its governance model again, forced to give more credit to its professionals to allow for strengthening ‘academic freedom’, which has suffered as an effect of the reforms, and to open up higher education also to those who are already active in the workplace. This implies enhancing flexibility of educational programmes, the integration of the relative new phenomenon of micro-credentials (topics of specialized learning to upgrade knowledge and skills) and better alignment between higher education and society, including the world of work. It will also ask for furt

How does one effectively reform higher education systems and structures in a transnational context? This is the key question countries have struggled with since their signing of the Bologna Declaration in 1999, which launched the Bologna Process and the development of a European Higher Education Area. Although, initiated by EU( Candidate) countries, a voluntary governing model was opted for positioning the reform process independently of the EU decision making structures. Over time the national representatives stressed that national authorities should be responsible for (organizing) (higher) education. Now, after the twentieth anniversary of the Bologna Declaration, is a good moment to look back at the choices made thus far and the extent to which they have appropriate considering the ambition and scope of the Bologna agenda.

This policy paper offers the main messages resulting from the Erasmus+ Knowledge Alliance project Integrating Entrepreneurship and Work Experience in Higher Education (WEXHE). The key observation is that in most countries in Europe the integration of WBL in HE programmes is at an initial stage. This is the case for all three modes of learning covered by WEXHE, work placements, traineeships and entrepreneurship. The project shows obvious added value for all stakeholders. HE institutions will benefit from better aligning their curriculum to the demands of practice, from opportunities to improve accreditation of informal learning, better positioning with students recruitments and improved relationship with industry. HE staff will obtain access to validated work experience models, which can be adapted to their needs in the given University. Staff will enhance their professional capability, gain recognition and obtain formal accreditation. Students will obtain greater access to high quality work experience. Elaborated models will increase their chances for obtaining access to work experience integrated with their studies, better accredited and better supported and organized. Graduates will benefit through greater access to high quality internships, closely related to their career paths. Internships would provide them with appropriate specialized and generic competences and would facilitate their employment. By applying WBL enterprises will obtain high quality staff, with practical experience, which would significantly cut adaptation and training costs of employed graduates. Enterprises staff would gain guidance and quality tools, designated to support their role in providing work experience for students and graduates. Enterprises will be involved in training to improve the quality of work placements. Policy makers are expected to benefit from the outcomes of the WEXHE, which should lead to a better understanding how work experience can contribute to the modernization of

Setting up a placement, traineeship or entrepreneurship modules or learning units require a clear procedure. This paper offers a step-by-step approach to define, validate and evaluate both the design and its implementation. It offers insight how to select the set of competences and to formulate these as measurable learning outcomes for a specific mode of work-based learning (WBL), to relate these to the set of activities available and required in a practical setting, e.g. the work place, to validate / check the match between learning outcomes and assignments and to evaluate the experience. Key in this process is the need to design the experience in such a way that students can achieve the intended learning outcomes in the time reserved for this mode of learning expressed in ECTS credits. The focus in this guideline paper is on the work placement and in particular the integrated approach. The integrated approach is the most advanced form of a placement model, because it makes the WBL experience a regulated part of a degree programme. This tool should be read as an introduction of the much more comprehensive WEXHE work package report on work placements / integrated approach.3 This document and other relevant ones have been published on the WEXHE website and can be downloaded at https://wexhe.eu. In particular the full work package report offers the detail which is absent in this short guideline.

This papers offers insight in developing the outcomes of the Erasmus+ Knowledge Alliance project Integrating Entrepreneurship and Work Experience in Higher Education (WEXHE) The project concentrated on identifying good cases in developing Work Based Learning (WBL), followed up by describing those cases. It resulted in 77 cases which could actually be prepared. Identifying and preparing the cases offered an excellent way to get into contact with informed experts in WBL as well as the world of work, enterprises as well as organisations, governmental and others, to discuss the relevance of WBL. It also allowed to establish (intensive) contacts with those working in the field of entrepreneurship. These activities proved a first and important step to create a network of stakeholders of WBL and potential users of the WEXHE outcomes foreseen. All further activities built on these cases, that is the preparation of the nine WEXHE Packages, the three Summary Reports and the many strategic papers resulting from the project, as well as the International Workshops, the National Workshops, the Policy Workshop and the participation in a Round Table, workshops and conferences organize partly by others. As a result of the products prepared and the activities that have taken place already, a robust basis has been created for further capacity building activities.

In 2019 the Bologna Process for the modernization of higher education in Europe celebrates its 20th anniversary. The three main objectives of this Process are the international recognition of credit points and diplomas, the implementation of a consistent three cycle structure (Bachelor, Master, Doctorate) and the creation of a quality culture and quality assurance system. All are instrumental to create a European Higher Educational Area. At present 48 countries have signed up to the Process. Earlier, exactly 30 years ago, a start was made with the development of one European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) to facilitate and ensure the recognition of study results taken at a foreign higher education institution in the framework of the ERASMUS programme launched in 1986. Without ECTS and ERASMUS it is difficult to imagine the Bologna Process. Bologna Process and ECTS lead to the project Tuning Educational Structures in Europe (2000 –), which was initiated as a grass-root initiative to offer academics a voice in the intergovernmental reform process. Both the Bologna Process and Tuning have drawn global attention. This study takes stock of these three closely related initiatives. It concludes that ECTS and TUNING – a methodology to reform individual degree programmes and a reference to determine high quality and relevant education – have over time become norm-setting globally. Although the Bologna Process has contributed considerably to the development of a single European Higher Education Area, it cannot perceived as a tremendous success. The study poses that realizing the Bologna objectives has halted due to two reasons: the lack of political will, and insufficient interaction between the actors involved and between the different decision-making and implementation levels.

A History of ECTS, 1989 - 2019 celebrates the 30th anniversary of the European credit system for higher education. It is the first publication that documents the origin and the development of ECTS over time. Papers that have been published about ECTS cover aspects of it, but its full and remarkable history has not yet been told. This book intends to fill this void. Today, the use of ECTS credit points in higher education in Europe is routinely perceived as a day-to-day reality. Its underpinning concept – workload – has also been picked-up in other world regions. The development of ECTS had to start from scratch because worldwide there was no experience in setting up and running a national and/or international student workload-based transfer system that applied credit points. A Pilot Scheme (1989-1995) was set up to define ECTS. It involved five subject areas, and 145 higher education institutions in total, and set out to develop a sustainable, robust and reliable tool to facilitate international student mobility. Based on the notions of trust and confidence and the concept of ‘relative’ student workload, it was unique. It opted for 60 credit points to represent one academic year. Around 2000 it was concluded that ECTS in its present form was no longer sustainable and that action was required. There were concerns about a lack of flexibility and the level of recognition. It was thought necessary to transform the European Credit Transfer System into a European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System. This implied an adjustment of the ECTS principles: not only student workload but also the outcomes of the learning process should be decisive for awarding credit points. This linked ECTS to the paradigm change that was embraced in 2009 by the Bologna Process: from the expertise-driven approach to the so-called student-centred approach -; that is to make what students need to operate successfully in society after graduation the focal point of educational programme