INTRODUCTION OF ECTS AND DIPLOMA SUPPLEMENTS (DS) IN LATVIA:

DIFFICULTIES AND PROGRESS

Prof. Mara JURE, National Academic Contact Point of LATVIAFaculty of Material Science and Applied ChemistryRiga Technical University

International Seminar “DEVELOPING ECTS AS A NATIONAL CREDIT SYSTEM: EXPERIENCES AND CHALLENGES AT INSTITUTIONAL AND NATIONAL LEVELS”. Yerevan, Armenia, 4-6 May 2006

3 cycles ECTS/DS Grading Quality AssuranceQualification frameworks Learning outcomes

Signatory countries of the Bologna Declaration

Bologna, 1999:AustriaBelgiumBulgariaCzech RepublicDenmarkEstoniaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIcelandIrelandItalyLatviaLithuaniaLuxembourg

MaltaNetherlandsNorwayPolandPortugalRomaniaSlovak RepublicSloveniaSpainSwedenSwiss ConfederationUnited Kingdom

Prague, 2001:CroatiaCyprusLiechtensteinTurkey

Berlin, 2003:AlbaniaAndorraBosnia-HerzegovinaHoly See Russian Federation Serbia-MontenegroMacedonia

Bergen, 2005:ArmeniaAzerbaijanGeorgiaMoldovaUkraine

Initial moves to reform the Latvian higher education system got underway well before the Bologna Declaration. The first major development was the Education Law of 1991. In accordance with this law, a degree structure based on two main cycles (Bachelor’s/Master’s) was introduced in most disciplines but only in academic programmes.

The 1995 Law on Higher Educational Establishments (LHEE) led to further strengthening of this structure but also underlined the division between academic and professional programmes. The amendments to the LHEE in 2000 established professional Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees which replaced the former five-year programmes, introducing the Bachelor’s/Master’s structure into the whole system and thus facilitating the transfer from one type of education to the other. The total period of study for a Master’s degree should be no less than five years.

Amendments to the LHEE introduced doctoral studies as part of academic education (previously, doctoral degree candidates were research workers not involved in education). A degree structure based on three main cycles is thus fully established.

The procedure and criteria for awarding the doctoral degree in accordance with the Law on Scientific Activities (LoSA) are further set out in the regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers. Doctoral study programmes are developed by the higher education institution, and contain the list of compulsory and optional subjects along with the corresponding number of credit points, the content of research, the previous level of education necessary to embark on studies, and other provisions for implementing the programme. A doctorate is obtained only after fulfilling the requirements for the doctoral study programme and after the public defence of the doctoral thesis.

PROBLEMS

• Professional and academic education – obstacles for transfer between cycles;

• Professional programmes of 5 years still exist;

• Employment of bachelors’ degree holders

• Language of education and joint degrees; difference between privat and state HEI

Since 1998, the majority of higher education institutions have introduced a Latvian credit point system compatible with ECTS, which has been used for both accumulation and transfer since it was first implemented. A Latvian credit point is defined as the full-time workload of a student in one week. As the academic year lasts 40 weeks, this corresponds to 40 Latvian credits per year and, on this basis, one Latvian credit is worth 1.5 ECTS credits. So far, the ECTS grading scale is used only in the case of credit transfer.As of 1 January 2004, all graduates receive the Diploma Supplement automatically and free of charge, in accordance with the Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers on the order concerned with the issuing of state-recognised education documents testifying to the completion of higher education, and the awarding of degrees. The Supplement is issued in Latvian and English.

Austria 3Azerbaidjan 1Belgium 13Bulgaria 1Cyprus 1Estonia 1Germany 1Finland 6France 5Greece 1Hungary 1Italy 2Latvia 1Macedonia 1The Netherlands 1Norway 3Poland 2Portugal 3Spain 2Sweden 2Turkey 2United Kingdom 2

”ECTS Label” 55 48 3 applied 01.11.2004.

(9111 applied 01.11.2003.).

Institutions awarded the ECTS Label 2004/05 - 2006/07AT TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITÄT GRAZBE FACULTÉ UNIVERSITAIRE DES SCIENCES AGRONOMIQUES DE GEMBLOUXBE UNIVERSITEIT ANTWERPENBE UNIVERSITEIT GENTES UNIVERSIDAD DE DEUSTOFI ARCADE NYLANDS SVENSKA YRKEHOGSKOLAFI LAPPEENRANTA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGYPL AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY OF WROCLAWPT UNIVERSITY OF AVEIROPT UNIVERSIDAD DE MINHONO HÖGSKOLEN I AGDER

Institutions awarded the ECTS Label 2005/06 - 2007/08AT FACHHOCHSCHULE VORARLBERG GMBHBE KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVENNL WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITEIT

ASSESSMENT RESULTS FOR THE ECTS LABEL                   

Country

Very Good

Very Good

Good

Very Good

Fair

Fair

Fair

Weak

Weak

Weak

Not eligible:

basiccriteria

notfulfilled

Noteligible:

dossierincomplet

ECTSTotal

LV            1    1 

AT 1         2   3

AZ             1 1

BE   1 1   1 8 2 13

BG     1         1

CY           1   1

CZ                

DE           1   1

DK                

EE           1   1

ES           2   2

FI     3 2   1   6

FR           3 2 5

GR           1   1

HU           1   1

IE                

IS                

IT     1     1   2

MK             1 1

NL   1           1

NO     1     2   3

PL     1     1   2

PT           2 1 3

SE           2   2

TR     1     1   2

UK     1     1   2

Grand Total

1 2 10 2 1 32 7 55

ECTS Label requirementsInformation Package and Course Catalogue

(IP/CC) of ALL I and II cycle programms in national language and English (published on Web); see Checklist of ECTS User’s Guide)

ECTS credits = student workloadAcademic recognition of studies periodsComplete ECTS documentation (Learning

agreement, Transcript of Records)

Label is awarded for 3 years

Grades

Achievement level Grade MeaningApprox. ECTS

grade

very high

10 izcili (with distinction) A

9 teicami (excellent) A

high

8 ļoti labi (very good) B

7 labi (good) C

medium

6 gandrīz labi (almost good) D

5 viduvēji (satisfactory) E

4 gandrīz viduvēji(almost satisfactory)

E/FX

low3–1 negatīvs vērtējums

(unsatisfactory)Fail

Austria 5Belgium 4Czech Republic 1Cyprus 1Denmark 8Estonia 1Finland 14France

2Greece

1Ireland 1Iceland 1Latvia 2The Netherlands 1Norway 11Portugal 3Sweden 11Turkey 3United Kingdom 2

“DS Label” 72 6330

applied 01.11.2004.

(85 28 applied 01.11.2003.)

DS in Latvia

Institutions awarded the DS Label 2004/05 - 2006/07

AT PADAGOGISCHE AKADEMIE DES BUNDES IN NÖDE FACHHOCHSCHULE IN STRALSUNDDE HANDELSHOCHSCHULE LEIPZIG GMBHDK SYDDANSK UNIVERSITETDK DANMARKS PAEDAGOGISKE UNIVERSITETEE ESTONIAN BUSINESS SCHOOLFI OULUN SEDUN AMMATTIKORKEAKOULUFI TAMPEEREN YLIOPISTOFI LAUREA AMMATTIKORKEAKOULUNO HÖGSKOLEN I BODÖNO HÖGSKOLEN I LILLEHAMMERNO HÖGSKOLEN I NARVIKNO UNIVERSITETET I BERGENNO HÖGSKOLEN I AGDERNO NORGES VETERINAERHOGSKOLENO HÖGSKOLEN I NORD-TRÖNDELAGNO HÖGSKOLEN I TROMSÖNO HÖGSKOLEN I SÖR-TRÖNDELAGNO UNIVERSITETET I OSLONO UNIVERSITETET I TROMSÖNO HÖGSKOLEN I MOLDENO HÖGSKOLEN I GJÖVIKNO HÖGSKOLEN I ALESUNDPL WYZSZA SZKOLA HUMANISTYCZNO-EKONOMICZNA W LODZPT UNIVERSIDAD DE MINHOSE UPPSALA UNIVERSITETSE MALARDALENS HÖGSKOLASE VAXJÖ UNIVERSITET

Institutions awarded the DS Label 2005/06 - 2007/08AT FACHHOCHSCHULE VORARLBERG GMBHAT FACHHOCHSCHULE TECHNIKUM KÄRNTENAT FACHHOCHSCHULE DES BFI WIENCZ VYSOKA SKOLA BANSKA - TECHNICKA UNIVERZITA OSTRAVAFI HELSINGIN AMMATTIKORKEAKOULUFI PIRKANMAAN AMMATTIKORKEAKOULUFI TAMPEREEN AMMATTIKORKEAKOULUFI KAJAANIN AMMATTIKORKEAKOULUFI POHJOIS-KARJALAN AMMATTIKORKEAKOULUFI KYMENLAAKSON AMMATTIKORKEAKOULUFI SATAKUNNAN AMMATTIKORKEAKOULUFI HANKEN SVENSKA HANDELSHÖGSKOLANFR ECOLE INTERNATIONALE DES SCIENCES DU TRAITEMENT DE L'INFORMATIONIE LETTERKENNY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGYIS HASKOLINN I REYKJAVIKLV LATVIJAS UNIVERSITATELV TRANSPORTA UN SAKARU INSTITUTSNO HÖGSKOLEN I BERGENNO NORGES IDRETTSHÖGSKOLENO HÖGSKOLEN I HARSTADNO HÖGSKOLEN STORD/HAUGESUNDNO HÖGSKOLEN I BUSKERUDNO HÖGSKOLEN I HEDMARKNO HÖGSKOLEN I TELEMARKPT UNIVERSIDADE DE TRÁS-OS-MONTES E ALTO DOUROPT UNIVERSIDADE DA BEIRA INTERIORSE KUNGL TEKNISKA HÖGSKOLANSE ÖREBRO UNIVERSITETTR EGE ÜNIVERSITESITR GAZIANTEP UNIVERSITESI

DS Label requirementsDS issued to all students: Automatically (without special request)Free of charge2 languages (national and widely spoken

foreign language)

Avarded for 3 years

The national Higher Education Quality Evaluation Centre, or HEQEC (Augstākās izglītības kvalitātes novērtēšanas centrs: http://www.aiknc.lv/en/), was established in December 1994. The Centre does not participate in the evaluation of a higher education institution or study programme itself, but assists higher education institutions in preparing their internal assessment reports, and appoints Evaluation Commissions (expert teams) which include one Latvian and at least two foreign experts. The continuous quality assurance process consists of self-evaluation and evaluation by external experts, and ends with accreditation.Both the higher education institution as a whole and the programme in question have to be accredited before a state-recognised higher education credential can be issued. The first step in the process is the self-assessment report that representatives of the administration, academic staff and students at higher education institutions have to prepare in English. Experts evaluate it and other documents, and arrange for an evaluation visit to the higher education institution, submitting a common statement as well as written individual opinions. Institutions are accredited by the Council of Higher Education (Augstākās izglītības padome), and study programmes are accredited by the Accreditation Commission established by the Ministry of Education and Science.

Students are represented in both these national bodies. The accreditation process began in 1996 and the first round of accreditation was completed in 2002. Accreditation proceeds in accordance with the regulations entitled “On accreditation of Higher Education Institutions and Study Programmes” approved in October 2001. Foreign experts are involved in each evaluation. Study programmes are accredited once every six years. In exceptional cases, the Accreditation Commission grants only temporary accreditation, implying a repeated assessment after two years. The self-assessment reports and reports by expert teams are made publicly available via the Internet and the educational newspaper Izglītība un Kultūra (Education and Culture). The quality assurance system is also used for quality improvement and as a means to reforms in higher education. In order to start implementing higher education programmes, a higher education institution has to receive a licence from the Ministry of Education and Science both for the institution itself and for each particular study programme. Licensing is a kind of preliminary quality assurance, in that within three years after getting a licence, a higher education institution has to submit the study programme for accreditation. The HEQEC has been a member of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) since 2003, and of the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) since 1997.

How far has Latvia progressed in elaboratingqualifications frameworks?

General issues

• working group was established in October 2004,• The level of Latvian qualifications in the Bologna 3-

cycle system has been clarified,• The issue of “academic” and “professional” bachelor

and master degrees has been discussed • Known examples of qualifications frameworks: Irish,

UK (E,W,NI), Scottish and Danish have been discussed

• Danish model has been chosen as a prototype

Progress

Descriptions have been created for • Short-cycle (college) higher education • Bachelor (academic and professional profile)• Master (academic and professional profile)• Doctor

They have been discussed at a national seminar on Jan 28, 2005

Next steps:• Giving the descriptions a legal status,• Starting work at inter-institutional and programme level

http://www.aic.lv/LO/index.htm

Learning outcomes and Workload: their relationship

Learning outcomes: Statements of what a learner is expected to know, understand and/or be able to demonstrate after completion of learning. They can refer to a single course unit or module or else to a period of studies, for example, a first or a second cycle programme. Learning outcomes specify the minimum requirements for award of credit.

Workload: The estimated time required to complete the activities foreseen for each course unit / module. Workload includes all learning activities, i.e. lectures, practical work, information retrieval, private study, placements, fieldwork, preparation of examinations, etc.

Learning outcomes defined for a unit / programme should match the available workload required by a typical student.

Institutions involved Number of students

Adoption of the modelbased essentially on twocycles

All institutions (33) 99 416

Inclusion of doctoralstudies as a third cycle

11 institutions 1 425 students (1 % of total number of students)

Adoption of ECTS All institutions. 48 (including thoseproviding short-cycle highereducation programmes only)

125 992

Adoption of the Diploma Supplement

All institutions (33) All 2004 graduates exceptthose from short-cycle higher

education programmes

Quality Assurance/Evaluation

42 accredited HEI and institutionsproviding short-cycle highereducation programmes(1 January 2004)Total accredited programmes: 598(11 November 2004)

(:)

LATVIA in BOLOGNA PROCESS (2005)http://www.bologna-bergen2005.no/Docs/Latvia/LATVIA.PDF

Quo vadis?

http://www.aic.lv/ace/ace_disk/Bologna/Reports/index.htm

Riga Technical Universityhttp://www.rtu.lv

Faculty of Material Science and Applied Chemistry

http://www.ktf.rtu.lv

Exchange students within ERASMUS

23 40 48 45 70153

246166 182 209 232

308

607

693

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

1999/00 2000/01 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06

Incoming students Outgoing students

ERASMUS STUDENTS BY COUNTRIES

Valsts LV students 1999./00-2004./05.

Foreign students 1999./00.-2004./05.

Germany 546 97

Finland 235 32

Sweden 186 23

Belgium 124 18

Netherlands85 30

France 83 26

UK 77 20

Denmark 71 2

Spain 57 9

Italy 56 23

Austria 49 16

Portugal 34 20

Lithuania 29 22

Ireland 20 0

546

235

186

12485 83 77 71 57 56 49

20 12 11 4 4 3 2 1 1

97

32 23 18 30 26 202 9 23 16 20

0 0 1 6 1 0 2 8 0142934

1122

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

Germ

any

Finla

nd

Sweden

Belgium

Nethe

rland

s

Fran

ce UK

Denm

ark

Spain

Italy

Austri

a

Portu

gal

Lithu

ania

Irelan

d

Poland

Norway

Greec

e

Estonia

Slovak

ia

Cypru

s

Czech

Rep

ublic

Icelan

d

Sloven

ia

LV students 1999./00-2004./05. Foreign students 1999./00.-2004./05.

ERASMUS in Latvia: http://www.socrates.lv

Latvian Academic Information Centre: http://www.aic.lv/Ministry of Education and Science: http://www.izm.lv/Higher Education Quality Evaluation Centre Ltd. http://www.aiknc.lv/en/index.php#The Council of Higher Education http://www.aip.lv/

Prof. Māra JureNational Academic Contact PointECTS/DS counsellorVice Dean of Faculty of Materials Science and Applied Chemistry, Riga Technical UniversityAzenes Str. 14/24, Riga, Latvia, LV-1048

E-mail: mara@ktf.rtu.lvPhone: 371 7089220Fax: 371 7615765http://www.lza.lv/scientists/JureM.htm

Bologna process in Latvia should not be seen as the beginning of higher education reforms. Like in many central and eastern European countries, the

beginning of reforms in Latvia’s higher education started with the political changes in Europe at the end of 1980’s - beginning of 1990’s.

Transition to bachelor/master structure in Latvia’s academic higher education started already in the beginning of 1990s. In this respect Latvia is ahead of quite a

number of other countries engaged in the Bologna process.Since the beginning of introduction of national credit system in early 1990s, it is

used for credit accumulation. Credit point system has been endorsed by the Law on Higher Education Establishments (1995) and by the standards of academic

and professional higher education. Similarly to other Baltic states and some Nordic countries, Latvian credit point system is based upon the definition of credit point as workload of one week of full-time studies, thus leading to 40 credits per

year; both the duration of programmes and of individual courses is being expressed in credit points. This system is compatible with ECTS - a simple

multiplication by 1.5 allows to recalculate Latvian credits. Now Latvia considers a transition to ECTS.

Latvia started implementation of the Joint European DS earlier than several other European countries; since 2004 every HEI should issue DS automatically, in both

languages Latvian and English and to all graduates.

http://www.eua.be

Significant growth in membership, now 764 members:

689 full individual members, 45 countries, 17 associate individual members (Polytechnics, Colleges, etc.)34 full collective members (Rectors Conferences)6 associate collective members 18 affiliate members (networks, specialised associations)

ECTS: http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/socrates/ects/index_en.htmlDS: http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/policies/rec_qual/recognition/diploma_en.htmlEUA: http://www.eua.be/eua/en/projects_ects.jspx

ECTS Users’ Guide: http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/socrates/ects/doc/guide_en.pdf

University of Latvia (Erasmus Intensive Language Courses)Riga Technical UniversityRezeknes augstskola

Vidzemes augstskola

https://luis.lanet.lv/pls/pub/kursi.startup?l=2

ECTS Atzinības zīmes pieteikumu izvērtējums – biežākās kļūdas

IP/CC: Trūkst informācijas, kas prasīta Checklist of ECTS User’s

Guide Informācija nav dota abās - apmācību un angļu - valodās Nav kursu struktūras diagrammas ar KP (60 ECTS KP

gadā) Web lapa nav izveidota ērtai lietošanaiDokumenti (LA un ToR): Studentu lietas nesatur visus prasītos dokumentus LA nav norādīti KP Nav izskaidrojuma par mācību iestādes atzīmju sistēmu Trūkst zīmogu un parakstu; datumi neatbilst studiju

periodam Nav ievērota prasība par 30/60 KP studiju periodā

ECTS Atzinības zīmes pieteikumu izvērtējums – biežākās kļūdas

Atzīšana: Nav skaidrs, kā KP un atzīmes tikuši atzīti Akadēmiskās atzīšanas dokumenti bez parakstiem un

zīmogiem Nav skaidrs, kāds studiju periods (kursi) vietējā

universitātē ticis aizstāts ar studijām ārzemēs

ECTS ieviešana: KP balstīti uz kontaktstundām vai arī nav informācijas kā

tie veidoti Nav inform ācijas par akadēmiskās atzīšanas procedūru Trūkst informācijas par LO (?!)

DS Atzinības zīmes pieteikumu izvērtējums - biežākās kļūdas

Atsūtīts diploma pielikuma oriģināls Trūkst parakstu Nav izpildīta pieteikuma prasība par 2 dažādiem

cikliem un 2 dažādām studiju programmām katrā ciklā

Izmainīta DS galvas daļa (preamble) Nav skaidrs, kādi KP tiek lietoti Nav dota atzīmju statistika Nav pierādījumu, ka diploma pielikums tiek

izdots automātiski bez maksas visiem studentiem

Underlying principles• While striving for unitary HE system in Latvia,

a more professional and a more academic profile of degrees will be kept,

• academic profile degrees should include competencies that ensure employability using transversal skills and knowledge in the academic field

• professional profile degrees should include competencies that ensure ability of holders to research and innovation

• In any profile or level competencies should include skills for further learning and self-development to ensure sustainable employability over the whole life

• the competencies should address work and science ethics

Working group methodology

1. Description of the generic qualifications is based on:• profile • three groups of competencies:

– intellectual– academic and professional,– practical

• formal issues: access requirements and further study/ work options

Working group methodology (II)

2. Formulating of competencies was• as much as possible based on wording of existing legal

texts:– Academic education standard (Cabinet regulation) – Professional HE Standard (Cabinet regulation)

but re-shaped and adapted according to the recent developments

• Where there was no appropriate wording in the legal texts, the wording was formulated, adapting wording of Dublin descriptors and Danish QF to Latvian situation