Clifford Adelman
Institute for Higher Education Policy
July 2008
The Institute for Higher Education Policy's (IHEP) new report takes a look at American standards for higher education and finds them wanting. What, for example, does a bachelor's degree truly mean? According to IHEP, we might benefit from understanding and perhaps emulating the Bologna Process, an agreement among 29 European education ministers in 1999 to set national standards for higher-education program requirements. The accord pegged the definition of a bachelor's degree to the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) such that one year of study anywhere is now equal to 60 ECTS credits in all signatory countries. By endowing associate's, bachelor's, and master's degrees from American public universities with greater transparency, value and uniform meaning, IHEP suggests, U.S. college students and graduates would become more attractive to global universities and employers. It will be time consuming and difficult, warns the author, veteran higher ed analyst Cliff Adelman, to hash out these standards and requirements, but if a few states take the lead, the advantage they will garner for their students will be a powerful incentive for their neighbors to follow suit. If that reasoning sounds familiar, it's because it's also the likeliest route the U.S. could take toward common national standards for K-12 education. Both projects are daunting but worth trying. Find the report here.
