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THE IMPLEMENTATION OFTHE BOLOGNA PROCESS REFORMS

INTO PHYSICS PROGRAMMES IN EUROPE

Report of the EPS

THE IMPLEMENTATION OFTHE BOLOGNA PROCESS REFORMS

INTO PHYSICS PROGRAMMES IN EUROPE

Report of the EPS

This study was carried out in 2008/09Results were published in July 2009

Submitted to the European Physical Society by

Prof. Dr. Barbara M. KehmAchim Eckhardt

In cooperation with Ahmed Tubail and Zhaoheng XuInternational Centre for Higher Education Research

University of KasselMönchebergstr. 17D – 34109 Kassel

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

03EPS PHYSICS EDUCATION STUDY

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE BOLOGNA PROCESS REFORMS

04 Executive Summary

06 1. Introduction: Description of Project2. Design of the Study

07 3. Bologna Reforms and Physics Programmes3.1 The Bologna Process: Structures and Elements of Bachelor and Master Programmes3.2 Previous Analyses

08 3.3 Sample Size, Responses, Specificities of the Curriculum Analysis10 3.4 Sample Size, Responses, Specificities of the Online Survey11 4. Results of the Curriculum Analysis and the Survey

4.1 Duration of Bachelor Programmes in Physics12 4.2 Use of Credit Points Systems, StudentWorkload Calculations, and Modularisation14 4.3 Diploma Supplement

4.4 Degree of Specialisation4.5 TimeWindows for Mobility and Degree of Internationalisation

15 4.6 Assessment and Examinations4.7 Employability: Key Skills and Competences

16 4.8 Transitions17 4.9 Accreditation, Evaluation, and Quality Assurance18 5. Conclusions: Physics Studies in Europe Today

19 Literature

20 Appendix 1: Definition of Key Terms andModel Curriculum21 Appendix 2: Selected Information on Country Specificities25 Appendix 3: Questionnaires

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04 EPS PHYSICS EDUCATION STUDY

(1) The study on the implementation ofthe Bologna reforms into Physicsprogrammes at European universi-ties was carried out on behalf of andin close cooperation with the Euro-pean Physical Society which had re-ceived funding for the project fromthe European Commission.

(2) The aims of the first year of the pro-ject were to provide an overview ofthe implementation of Bachelor andMaster structures in Physics Pro-grammes, to analyse possible regio-nal differences, to determine theextent of common standards, com-mon quality assurance mechanisms,as well as the extent of modularisa-tion in the new structures, to assesswhat professional qualifications canbe obtained in the framework of Ba-chelor programmes in Physics, andto determine whether Bachelor cur-ricula have a more standardisedstructure than Master curricula.

(3)!e design of the study was a two-stepapproach. In the first step curricula ofBachelor and Master Physics pro-grammes were collected and analy-sed according to a list of criteria(two-cycle system and duration, useof credit point systems, student wor-kload calculations, modularisation,and assessment of learning outcomes,use of Diploma Supplement, and op-portunities for mobility). In a secondstep an online questionnaire was sentto the programme coordinators ha-ving submitted Physics curricula as-king them to fill it in. Apart fromquestions addressing the criteria ap-plied in the curriculum analysis, thequestionnaire also addressed the fol-lowing issues: degree of specialisationand internationalisation, assessmentand examinations, transmission ofkey skills and competences to sup-port employability, transitions prece-ding access into Physics programmesand succeeding graduation, and fi-nally accreditation, evaluation andquality assurance mechanisms.

(4) Early in the project the steeringgroup decided to focus on the Bache-lor curricula in Physics programmes

and analyse the Master curricula inmore detail in the envisaged secondyear of the project.!us the resultsof the online questionnaire and thecurriculum analysis presented inthis report concentrate on BachelorPhysics curricula.

(5) Sample size and responses to the col-lection of curricula: 152 BachelorPhysics curricula in all from univer-sities in 24 Bologna signatory coun-tries were collected, the largestclusters being from German univer-sities (35 curricula) and from Britishuniversities (30 curricula). Thisconstitutes a response rate of 67 per-cent. Sample size and responses to theonline questionnaire: The question-naire was sent to 223 programmecoordinators at universities offeringPhysics programmes in 26 Europeancountries. The response rate was 109valid questionnaires from universi-ties in 21 European countries consti-tuting a response rate of 49 percent.Due to the fact that UK and Irelanddid not have to make in-depth struc-tural changes to their two-cycle sys-tems as well as due to a somewhatdifferent organisation of studiescompared to continental Europe, aseparate questionnaire was construc-ted for programme coordinators inthese two countries. The results werelater on integrated into the results tothe questionnaires received from theother countries included in the study.Responses to the questionnaire showa slight bias towards older universi-ties and large Physics Departmentsor Faculties.

(6) Duration of Bachelor programmes inPhysics: almost 90 percent of pro-grammes included in the studyhave a duration of three years,slightly less than ten percent have aduration of four years. British andIrish universities vary betweenthree or four years’ duration. Fouryears can be found predominantlyin Greece, Lithuania, Macedoniaand Belarus. Belarus has not yetchanged to the two-cycle structureand Spain is just beginning withits introduction. Actual duration of

studies until completion of the de-gree is still unknown in half of thePhysics Departments, but of theother half of respondents 22 per-cent stated that their students fini-shed after 3.5 years, 16 percentstated that they finished after fouryears and 11 percent indicated thattheir students actually finishedafter three years.

(7) Credit points, modularisation, stu-dent workload, learning outcomes:Apart from the use of credit pointsystems the other three dimensionsof the Bologna reform agenda arethe least homogeneous and ob-viously not well understood (cf. Ap-pendix 1). ECTS is used in 75percent of the curricula submitted,while national credit point systems,albeit compatible with ECTS, areused in 18 percent. A clear majorityof Bachelor Physics curricula re-quire between 150 and 180 ECTS.Modularisation is not applied inabout 40 percent of the Physics cur-ricula and where it is (about 60 per-cent) the time units on which amodule is based differ greatly fromeach other. Furthermore, respon-dents from eleven (out of 21) coun-tries stated that the concept ofstudent workload is not applied intheir Physics curricula.Although themajority of respondents indicatedthat one credit is earned by 25 to 30hours of student workload, the ove-rall numbers of hours indicated byrespondents vary between 7.5 and40. Module or course description asa rule includes a specification of ex-pected learning outcomes (91 % ofrespondents) but there remain somedoubts whether the use of the termi-nology is already “the real thing” be-cause there continue to be vastdifferences in terms of how learningoutcomes are defined.

(8) Concerning the use of Diploma Sup-plements, the results are inconclusive.!e vast majority of curricula whichwere analysed (more than 80 %) didnot provide any information about itand a respective question was not in-cluded in the online questionnaire.

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(9) Two thirds of the Bachelor pro-grammes in Physics are characterisedby the respondents to the online ques-tionnaire as being more general intheir content,while one third indicatethat the curriculum is amixture of ge-neral and more specialised content.Frequently the last year of the studyprogramme o"ers some opportunitiesfor specialisation.!emajority (87 %)of Bachelor programmes in Physicsalso include interdisciplinary compo-nents integrating contents from abroad variety of other subjects but ha-ving an emphasis on other naturalsciences and engineering.

(10) Mobility and internationalisation:At the Bachelor level there aremostly (93 % of responses to thequestion in the online survey) mobi-lity opportunities (temporary studyabroad of the ERASMUS type). Thefew programmes with compulsorystudy abroad can be found in Ger-many, France, and UK/Ireland. Typi-cally, the third year of Bachelorprogrammes provides a time win-dow (of three to five months in morethan half of the programmes) forstudy or internships abroad. Joint ordouble degree programmes in Phy-sics at the Bachelor level are rare. Inone third of the programmes at leastsome of the teaching is provided ina foreign language (mostly Englishin the non-English speaking coun-tries). High proportions of teachingin a foreign language can be found inBachelor Physics programmes inSwitzerland and the Netherlands.Apart from some of the Central andEastern European countries Bache-lor Physics programmes in manyother countries have a proportion ofinternational students between fiveand ten percent. Higher proportions(between 10 and 15 %) can be foundin Austria, Germany, and France.

(11) Assessment and examinations: Al-though the written thesis plus de-fence continues to be most frequentform of final examination. However,the weight of the final examinationwhich used to determine the finalgrade exclusively in continental Eu-

ropean universities has been somew-hat reduced by also including the re-sults of homework papers or testssubmitted during the course of studyin the grade of the final degree. Nohomogeneous picture emerges in thisrespect, however.

(12) Employability: Considerable at-tention is being paid to equipBachelor students in Physics withkey skills and competences to easetransition onto the labour market.High emphasis is put on foreignlanguage skills (mostly English),other communication skills andproject management skills. Altoge-ther 78 percent of the respondentsto the online questionnaire statedthat the acquisition of such keyskills is part of the Bachelor pro-gramme in Physics.

(13) Transitions:With regard to Bache-lor programmes in Physics we haveidentified two points of transition:(a) getting access; (b) moving onafter graduation. Concerning accessthere is a general trend towards a hi-gher degree of selectivity, sometimesrequiring participation in longerpreparatory courses (e.g., cases inCroatia, Switzerland, Germany, andItaly). In an increasing number ofcountries the school leaving certifi-cate from upper secondary school isno longer seen as being sufficient.These trends tend to be re-enforcedby the growing competitiveness ofEuropean universities scouting forbest talent. The transition after com-pletion of the Bachelor degree canbe onto the labour market (frequentso far only in the UK and in Irelandand after graduating from a ‘profes-sional Bachelor programme inFrance), into a Master’s programmeor directly into a PhD programme(1 % of respondents from UK/Ire-land exclusively). 61 percent of allrespondents to the online question-naire stated that their Bachelor stu-dents in Physics were trained tocontinue studying in a Master’s pro-gramme and 33 percent stated thatit was a mixture of both, studying atMaster’s level and going onto the la-

bour market. However, there are anumber of countries from which allrespondents stated that they trainedtheir Bachelor Physics students pre-dominantly for continuing their stu-dies at Master’s level: Belgium,Denmark, Finland, France, Lithua-nia, the Netherlands, and the SlovakRepublic. Still, most universities in-cluded in our study have a conside-rable spectrum of services andactivities geared towards supportingstudents in their transition onto thelabour market.

(14) Accreditation, evaluation, qualityassurance: In most Bologna signa-tory countries accreditation proce-dures (either for new programmesor for institutions or both) havebeen established by now. 76 percentof the respondents to our onlinequestionnaire stated that their pro-grammes have to be accredited.Even more common than accredita-tion is course or module evaluationthrough student satisfaction sur-veys (92 %).A special instrument ofquality assurance, namely monito-ring of teacher preparation and tea-ching material, can be foundespecially in Denmark, Finland, theNetherlands, Sweden and theUK/Ireland (altogether 58 % of res-pondents stated that this is case intheir Physics programme).

(15) Convergence or not? The studyshows that there is a trend towardsconverging structures, especially interms of the implementation of twocycles and the use of credit points.Curricular content, pedagogical ap-proaches and forms of assessmentclearly show more heterogeneity andreflect to a larger extent differencesin academic cultures, teaching andlearning styles. Key skills and com-petences as well as support in thetransition phases before enteringand after graduating are receivingincreased attention. Still there is aclear preference among the majorityof Physics Departments included inthe study to prepare their Bachelorstudents for transition into a Mas-ter’s programme.



1. Introduction:Description of the Project

In 2007 the European Physical Society re-ceived funding from the European Com-mission to carry out a study of theimplementation of the two-cycle (Bache-lor/Master) study and degree structureinto Physics programmes in EuropeanUniversities. It was envisaged to coope-rate with the National Physical Societiesof at least 15 European countries to col-lect relevant Physics curricula for in-depth analysis and conduct an onlinesurvey addressed to coordinators of Phy-sics programmes in a representative sam-ple of universities in each of the countriesinvolved in the study.!e InternationalCentre for Higher Education Research(INCHER-Kassel) at Kassel Universitywas subcontracted as a partner in thisproject to analyse the curricula and ad-minister the survey. Representatives ofthe European Physical Society acted asmembers of the steering group of theproject as a whole and as contact personsto the national Physical Societies.Originally it was envisaged to includeboth standard physics programmes andengineering physics programmes into theanalysis, however, during a first meetingof project partners and steering group itwas decided to concentrate in the firstyear of the project on Bachelor pro-grammes only and exclude engineeringphysics and teacher training programmesin physics in order to arrive at a relativelyhomogeneous sample of programmes forthe analysis. It is envisaged to focus onMaster programmes in Physics in the se-cond year of the project.!e aims of the project can be summari-sed as follows:• to provide an overview of the state ofimplementation of Bachelor andMasterstructures in Physics Programmes inEurope;• to analyse possible regional di"erencesin the structures;• to determine to what extent commonstandards and appropriate examinationshave been introduced as an element ofquality assurance;• to provide information about the extentof modularisation that can be found inthe new structures;• toassesswhetherprofessionalqualificationscan be obtained within the framework ofBachelor programmes in Physics; and

• to determine whether Bachelor curriculahave amore standardised structure whileMaster programmes o"er a higher degreeof specialisation and, thus, diversity.

Due to the specific character of Physicsprogrammes inmost European countrieswhich have introduced the Bachelor/Master structure only in recent years,there will also be a special focus on theinterfaces and transitions, i.e. the transi-tion from school into university physicsprogrammes and the transition eitherinto the labour market or into Masterprogrammes in Physics a#er successfulcompletion of a Bachelor degree.Overall, the study aims to provide a pro-file of the implementation of the Bache-lor/Master structure in European Physicsprogrammes and arrive at conclusionspertaining to the following issues:• an assessment whether major goals ofthe Bologna Process have been addres-sed and whether the aims of the Euro-pean Commission’s “Education andTraining 2010” Work Programme willbe met;• enabling Physics Departments involvedin the study to recognise potential part-ners for exchange and cooperation;• yielding the basis for advice to studentsinterested in changing university;• providing a basis for modifications andamendmentswhichmight becomeneces-sary to achieve the overall reform goals.

2. Design of the Study

!e study is divided into two parts whichwill complement each other and be lin-ked together in the concluding chapter.A#er having determined the sample size– approximately 60 percent of all univer-sities o"ering Physics programmes in thelarge countries involved in the study andas close as possible to 100 percent of alluniversities o"ering Physics programmesin the small countries – contact personsin the respective National Physical Socie-ties were asked to select the respectivenumber of universities and ask the localprogramme coordinators to send theirBachelor andMaster Physics curricula toINCHER-Kassel. Where necessary theywere also asked to help with translationsinto English.!e curricular material wasanalysed according to a list of criteria (cf.chapter 4) which had been derived from

the main structural dimensions of theBologna reform process.In a second step an online questionnairewas designed focusing primarily on Ba-chelor programmes and covering altoge-ther nine areas (cf. chapter 5):personal details of the respondent(statusand function),• institutional details (type, size),• implementation of the tiered (two-cycle)structure (accreditation status, duration,number of programmes on o"er),• implementation of complementarymea-sures (ECTS, workload, modularisation,mobility opportunities),• characteristics of the curriculum (gene-ralised/specialised, use of foreign lan-guages in teaching and learning, extentof interdisciplinarity),• forms of student assessment and exami-nations,

•mechanisms of quality assurance,• employability and acquisition of trans-ferable skills,• number of international students, com-pletion rates and transition into Masterprogrammes or into the labour market.

For the United Kingdom a separate on-line questionnaire was constructed due tothe fact that the Bachelor and Masterstructure is the rule in British universitiesbut di"ers to some extent from the mea-ning it has acquired in the framework ofthe Bologna process, i.e. three year Ba-chelor programmes possibly followed bya one yearMaster programme in Englandand Wales, four year Bachelor pro-grammes in Scotland.!us, many ques-tions in the questionnaire sent to theother countries did not apply. However,for the final report the results of the Bri-tish questionnaire are integrated as muchas possible into the overall presentationof results.Together with a cover letter explainingthe project and including the link to theonline questionnaire a su$cient numberof personal identification numbers(PINs) generated by chance were thensent again to the contact persons in theNational Physical Societies with the re-quest to forward the letter and one PINto the programme coordinators in the se-lected universities.Due to reasons of dataprotection all universities having submit-ted curricular material as well as all per-sons filling in the online questionnairewere assured of complete anonymity.



3. Bologna Reforms andPhysics Programmes

3.1 The Bologna Process: Structuresand Elements of Bachelor andMaster Programmes

!e overall goal of the Bologna Declara-tion and the resulting reform process (forshort: Bologna Process), namely to createa European Higher Education Area(EHEA) by the year 2010 has been descri-bed as a“target on themove”(cf.Maassen/Olsen 2007, Kehm/Huisman/Stensaker2009).And indeed,with every ministerialmeeting a#er the one in Bologna in 1999when the original Declaration was signedby 26 European countries goals wereadded to the agenda and targets refinedincreasingly moving from amostly struc-tural level to also include content relatedgoals. !us, for example, the “socialdimension”was added at the 2001 minis-terial meeting in Prague, doctoral educa-tion as the third cycle of studies wasadded at the 2003 ministerial meeting inBerlin, further details on specific targets,in particular on quality and a Europeanqualifications framework were added atthe 2005 ministerial meeting in Bergen.All the while more and more countriesjoined the process by signing the Decla-ration and committing themselves to theachievement of the goals by 2010.By now,46 countries in all have signed and theBologna Process is regarded as the biggestandmost far reaching reform of curriculaand study structures since possibly theperiod a#erWorldWar II.In addition to ever more countries joiningthe reform, stakeholder inclusion was ex-tended as well. Starting as an intergovern-mental initiative of ministers responsiblefor (higher) education, deliberations, fol-low-up and stocktakings now include theEuropean Commission, the EuropeanUniversity Association (EUA), the Euro-pean StudentUnion (ESU, formerly ESIB),and a number of other actors (e.g.ENQUA,EURASHE,theCouncil of Europe). In fact,the process of coordinating this massivereform project has become so complexthat a Bologna Follow-up Group has beenestablished with its own Secretariat, aStocktakingGroup,and a number of otherEuropean organisations and consortiahave become involved studying particularissues and working on the formulationof recommendations.

In addition to periodic national reportsabout the implementation of the Bolognareforms to be submitted by all signatorycountries, the European Commissionis currently funding an independentconsortium (in which INCHER-Kassel isone of altogether three partners) analy-sing the state of implementation and theachievement of the Bologna goals for the‘finale furioso’ which can be expected in2010. Finally, the responsible ministersare currently in the process of designingand discussing a strategy for the futureand sustainability of the Bologna Process2010 to 2020 which will be decided at theupcoming ministerial meeting in LeuveninApril 2009 (cf.Kehm/Huisman/Stensa-ker 2008).Despite the growing complexity of the re-form agenda, there are a few core issueswhich can be said to constitute the maintargets for 2010:• the adoption of a system of easily rea-dable and comparable degrees, alsothrough the implementation of the Di-ploma Supplement (Bologna Declara-tion 1999);• the adoption of a system essentiallybased on two main cycles, undergra-duate and graduate, the first cycle lastinga minimum of three years and being re-levant to the European labour market asan appropriate level of qualification (Bo-logna Declaration 1999);• the establishment of a system of credits(such as in the ECTS system) to pro-mote student mobility (Bologna Decla-ration (1999);• the promotion of mobility of students,teachers, researchers and administrativesta" including recognition and valorisa-tion of periods abroad (Bologna Decla-ration (1999);• the promotion of European cooperationin quality assurance to develop compa-rable criteria and methodologies (Bolo-gna Declaration 1999) further refined inthe Berlin Communiqué 2003);• the promotion of the necessary Euro-pean dimensions in higher educationwith regard to curriculum development,inter-institutional cooperation,mobilityschemes, and integrated programmes ofstudy, training and research (BolognaDeclaration 1999);• to promote lifelong learning as anessential element of the European Hi-gher Education Area (Prague Commu-niqué 2001);

• involvement of higher education insti-tutions and students as competent,active and constructive partners inthe reform process (Prague Communi-qué 2001);• to promote the attractiveness of the Eu-ropean Higher Education Area to stu-dents from Europe and other parts ofthe world (Prague Communiqué 2001);• the establishment of a link between theBologna reforms and the Lisbon Stra-tegy to create a European ResearchArea(Berlin Communiqué 2003);• the adoption of an overall frameworkfor qualifications comprising three cy-cles (Bergen Communiqué 2005);• the inclusion of a social dimension inthe Bologna Process (Bergen Commu-niqué 2005);• the establishment of a European Regis-ter of QualityAssuranceAgencies (Lon-don Communiqué 2007);• to promote the attractiveness and com-petitiveness of the European HigherEducation Area in a global context(London Communiqué 2007).

In order to be able to analyse the struc-tures and elements of Bachelor and Mas-ter programmes (the third cycle, i.e.doctoral education, is not included in thisstudy) we have concentrated on those Bo-logna reform goals that are targetingstudy programmes and have to be imple-mented at the institutional level.We havenot dealt in detail with goals that have tobe implemented at the national level andthrough policy.!is basically leaves thetwo-cycle structure and their duration,the diploma supplement, the introduc-tion of a credit point system, the issue ofemployability a#er successfully comple-ting the first cycle, the promotion of mo-bility and a European dimension in thecurricula, widening access or enablingequality of access (social dimension), andquality assurance.!ese are the items onwhich we have concentrated our analysisof Bachelor (and Master) curricula inPhysics programmes in Europe.

3.2 Previous Analyses

In addition to the national reports sub-mitted for the Bologna stocktaking exer-cise in 2005 and the Trends I – V reportsprepared as background informationabout the state of implementation of the



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Bologna reforms for each of the ministe-rial meetings, the Bologna reform processhas generated a plethora of studies andanalyses so far.!e majority of these stu-dies and analyses are policy oriented andeither focus on one country or a fewcountries for comparative reasons or onthe European level.!ere are hardly anysubject specific analyses available (e.g.one doctoral dissertation on history by ayoung French researcher).Concerning Physics,we find the results ofthe Tuning Project (2007) for Physicsproviding a template for how it should bedone and the study by Ulrich Nienhaus(2007) about the actual implementationof Bachelor and Master structures intoPhysics education at German universities.!e work by JohannaWitte (Witte 2006)who took a comparative look at the Bo-logna reform process in four countries(Germany,Netherlands, France,England)included curricula and curricular gover-nance. However, the analysis was focusedon general structures and policy and didnot include any subject specifics.Most analyses show that policies are inplace and that there is a certain amount ofconvergence on the level of macro struc-tures while there is a clear trend towardsconsiderable diversity and divergence atthe level of the micro structures. In addi-tion, policy makers of many Bologna si-gnatory countries have attached nationalreform agendas to the Bologna reformprocess so that not everything subsumedunder the “Bologna label” actually is partof the Bologna reform agenda.!is study is a first attempt of a compre-hensive and comparative analysis of Ba-chelor Physics education at universities in25 Bologna signatory countries and howit is implemented on the basis of the Bo-logna reform goals.

3.3 Sample Size, Responses, Specifi-cities of the Curriculum Analysis

Basically through the promotion of theproject by the European Physical Societythe number of countries involved in theproject could be extended from the envi-saged 15 to 24. In particular a numberNational Physical Societies from smaller,o#en Central and Eastern Europeancountries were keen to join, while someof the larger and more central countrieshave been lagging behind.

Through desk research we first tried todetermine the total number of universi-ties in each of the countries and assu-med that these would be offeringPhysics Programmes. The figures werecross-checked and amended where ne-cessary with the help of the EuropeanPhysical Society and the national Physi-cal Societies of the countries involved inthe study.We then decided in coopera-tion with the steering group to have asample of about 50 to 60 percent ofthese universities in the big countriesand 100 percent in the small countriesand ask the contact persons in the res-pective National Physical Societies toprovide us with the Bachelor and Mas-ter Physics curricula of a given numberof universities or approach a universitycontact person to submit them either inpaper or in electronic form. This did notquite work out as expected. The follo-wing factors prevented us from havingour ideal type sample:(a) the implementation of the Bachelor

and Master structure in some coun-tries had not yet started at all or wasin its preparatory stages (e.g. Spain);

(b) some countries had opted to imple-ment Bachelor programmes first andMaster programmes at a later stage(or vice versa);

(c) implementation of the new structuredoes not happen at the same time inevery university across some coun-tries so that some universities havechanged to the new structure alreadywhile others have not yet (e.g. Spain,Germany);

(d) in two countries the Bologna reformsare being implemented by designingone national template for a curricu-lum which has to be implemented byall universities (Belarus, Ukraine);

(e) in a few cases pure physics pro-grammes are not offered at all uni-versities but are concentrated insome institutions only (e.g. CzechRepublic);

(f) finally, there was and still is the pro-blem that some of the curricula andrelated material have not been trans-lated but were sent to us in the lan-guage of the country; and while wecould deal with quite a number of lan-guages, at least su$ciently to get anidea about the curriculum, other lan-guages were simply beyond our capa-city (e.g. Finnish,Albanian).

!e following table contrasts what weideally had hoped for and what we haveactually received in terms of curriculasubmitted for analysis:!e table shows that there are altogetherroughly 1,000 universities in the 24 coun-tries involved in the study (Poland didnot participate in the end; Denmark par-ticipated in the survey) of which 382(37.9 %) o"er physics programmes ac-cording to information of the EuropeanPhysical Society and the national Physi-cal Societies involved in the project. Fromamong these we selected (as describedabove) a sample of about 60 percent.!eresponse rate has been 66.4 percent, ho-wever we also should note the inherentbias in the sample. Somewhat more thantwo fi#hs (42.2%) of the curricula in thesample are from Germany and the UK.Two of the larger countries (Ukraine andBelarus) submitted only one curriculumeach for Bachelor and Belarus also oneMaster programme curriculum due tothe fact that a national curriculum tem-plate had been designed which must beimplemented by all universities in thecountry o"ering Physics programmes. InSlovakia and in the Czech Republic purePhysics programmes are concentrated injust a few institutions while the otherso"er teacher training or applied Physicswhich we excluded from our analysis.Altogether the analysis of Bachelor Pro-grammes in Physics is based on 154 uni-versities having submitted one or moreBachelor curricula until March 2009. Toestablish the exact number of Bachelorcurricula in Physics included in this studypresents a problem.!e majority of insti-tutions o"er only one Bachelor Pro-gramme in Physics, however there is asizable number of universities – espe-cially in the UK, i.e. 25 out of 30 UK uni-versities (83.3 percent) participating inthe project – o"ering more than one andup 10 or 12 di"erent programmes at thislevel. In addition there are also a few uni-versities o"ering di"erent Physics degreeprogrammes at the Bachelor level whichare distinguished into one general Phy-sics programme with a given number ofvariations in form of specialisationswhich are also named as part of the de-gree.!ese variations in the combinationof general Physics education plus a cho-sen specialisation do not count as indivi-dual programmes everywhere. In orderto deal with this potential bias we have



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Country Total numberof universities

Number ofuniversities o!eringPhysics programmes

Number ofuniversities to beincluded in project

Number ofuniversities havingsubmitted curricula

Comments

Albania 15 4 4 2

Austria 31 6 6 6

Belarus 28 6 4 1 One curriculum fora one year Master;one curriculum fora (traditional) 5 yearspecialist education.

Belgium (nl) 6 5 3 3

Belgium (fr) 9 5 3 3

Croatia 5 4 4 4 One universitysubmitted aMasterprogramme only.

Czech Republic 24 12 7 3 80 to 90% of purePhysics programmes

concentrated in a smallnumber of universities.

Denmark 12 4 4 0

Finland 13 11 8 8

France 87 57 29 7 One universitysubmitted aMasterProgramme only.

Germany 97 59 35 35

Greece 23 5 5 3

Hungary 25 5 5 5

Ireland 21* 9 4 3 * 7 Universities; 14Institutes Of Techno-logy with equivalent

programmes.

Italy 89 36 20 10

Lithuania 15* 4 4 1 * 7 private Universities.

Macedonia 5 2 2 2

Netherlands 14 9 5 5

Poland 18 12 8 0

Portugal 34 15 10 4

Slovenia 4 3 2 2

Slovakia 33 14 2 2 20 public, 10 private,3 state universities.

Standard Physics pro-grammes concentratedin two universities.

Spain 73 21 12 5 Implementation of Ba-chelor andMaster pro-grammes just starting.

Sweden 21 9 6 2

Switzerland 12 7 7 7

Ukraine 81 10 3 1 One national curriculumfor a 4-year Ba (Ma envi-saged at a later stage.)

United Kingdom 212 48 30 30

Total 1.007 382 232 154

In Percent 37.9% of theuniversities

60.7% includedin project

66.4% of departments/faculties submittedone or more curricula

" Table 1: Countries involved in the study, number of universities, curricula received

chosen Physics departments/faculties asour aggregate level for overall tables. Forthe time being we have established a num-ber of 152 faculties/departments with Ba-chelor Physics curricula as a basis for ouranalysis. Finally, three departments sub-mitted aMaster curriculum only.!is ex-plains the di"erence between the numberof universities (n=155) having submittedcurricula (be it Bachelor curricula or be itMaster curricula or both) provided inTable 1 and the number of depart-ments/faculties having submitted Bache-lor curricula in Physics (n=152) used asthe basis for our analysis.

3.4 Sample Size, Responses andSpecificities of the Online Survey

In mid-November 2008 a cover letterwith a link to the online questionnaireand a number of PINs (generated bychance) were sent to the contact personsin the National Physical Societies with therequest to send the cover letter and onePIN to each of the programme coordina-tors of study programmes in Physics inthe universities selected for inclusion in

the project.Also countries were includedfrom which no curricula had been recei-ved for analysis. For the UK and Ireland aspecial questionnaire was designed whichwent online a few days later.!e deadlinefor submitting the filled in questionnaireswas set for 28 November 2008. A weeka#er that a reminder email was sent to allcontact persons in the National PhysicalSociety with the request to forward it tothe programme coordinators in the uni-versities. Eventually the deadline was ex-tended until 23 December 2008.Altogether 223 PINswere provided to pro-gramme coordinators at universities o"e-ring Physics programmes in 26 Europeancountries.!e response rate was 109 validfilled in questionnaires from 21 countries(48.9 percent) which are included in theanalysis.We received no responses to theonline questionnaire from universities inAlbania, Croatia, Italy, Poland and Portu-gal.A further specificity is that theUKNa-tional Physical Society is also organisingthe Irish universities and since the PINswere generated to guarantee anonymityand confidentiality, we can not di"eren-tiate between responding UK universitiesand responding Irish universities.

!e distribution of responding institu-tions or better Physics departmentsacross the countries involved in the studyis shown in Table 2:!e highest proportion (46%) of localcontact persons or programme coordina-tors in the universities who filled in thequestionnaire were senior teachers (pro-fessors, readers, lecturers) followed bydeans, directors or heads of studies (43%).But there were also some junior academic(4%) and administrative sta" (7%) dea-ling with the questionnaire as well as anumber of persons in other functionsranging from vice dean and faculty ma-nager to head of the examination board.In relation to the Physics Bachelor Pro-gramme or Programmes, the respondentshad di"erent functions, most of thembeing senior teachers (68%), followed byprogramme coordinators (61%), and ad-ministrative sta" (16%). Other functionswere indicated by 13 percent of the res-pondents.Regarding the higher education institu-tions Physics Departments of whichhave participated in the survey the sam-ple has a slight bias towards older uni-versities, 43 percent are 100 years old orolder, the oldest being 700 years old, theyoungest 15 years. Among the Physicsdepartments responding to our ques-tionnaire 88 percent were part of a uni-versity and 12 percent part of a technicaluniversity.We also asked about the rangeof subjects offered by the institution as awhole and it tends to be rather broad.Allof the institutions offer programmes innatural sciences, about three quartersoffer humanities (75%) and socialsciences (77%), two thirds offer law(66%), and slightly less than two thirdsof them offer engineering (62%). Medi-cine is offered by 57 percent of the uni-versities participating in the survey.Arts(including Design and Architecture) areoffered by more than half of the institu-tions (53%) and agriculture by only 21percent. We can conclude that a clearmajority of universities in which parti-cipating Physics Departments are loca-ted offer the full or at least a very broadspectrum of subjects. This is supportedby the overall number of students stu-dying at the respective universities asTable 3 shows.!e smallest higher education institution inour sample has slightly less than 1,000 stu-dents and the biggest has 72,000 students.



Country Number of respondents In Percent

Austria 3 2.8

Belgium 6 5.5

Belarus 3 2.8

Czech Republic 3 2.8

Denmark 3 2.8

Finland 8 7.3

France 5 4.6

Germany 27 24.8

Greece 1 0.9

Hungary 5 4.6

Lithuania 1 0.9

Macedonia 1 0.9

Netherlands 4 3.7

Slovenia 3 2.8

Slovakia 2 1.8

Spain 8 7.3

Sweden 4 3.7

Switzerland 5 4.6

Ukraine 1 0.9

UK/Ireland 16 14.7

Total 109 100.0

# Table 2: Respondents to the Online Questionnaire according to Country

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Overall our sample of universities tendsto have a slight dominance of large andolder institutions o"ering a broad rangeof subjects and study programmes.!e Physics departments or facultieswhichhave filled in the online questionnaires alsotend to be larger ones with 43 depart-ments/faculties having up to 300 Physicsstudents and 57 departments/faculties ha-ving betweenmore than300 andup tomorethan 1,000 Physics students (cf. Table 4).Another indicator for size can be thenumber of academic sta" within the Phy-sics departments/faculties. Among the100 responses we received to the respec-tive question, 16 universities said that thenumber of academic sta" in their Physicsdepartment/faculty was less than 25, anumber of sta" between 26 and 50 wasprovided by 37 respondents, 14 depart-ments/faculties each indicated sta" num-bers between 51 and 75 and between 76and 100. Finally 19 departments/facultiessaid their academic sta" numbers in Phy-sics were more than 100.!e types of Physics programmes cur-rently o"ered by the departments/facul-ties providing valid responses to thequestion show a considerable range aswell. Slightly less than one fi#hs of the de-partments (18%) o"er (degree) pro-grammes other than Bachelor or Masterindicating either that traditional pro-grammes are still o"ered or that pro-grammes other than degree programmesin Physics are also provided (cf. Table 5).Furthermore it can be safely assumed thatsome of the respondents included theirtraditional long cycle programmes eitherinto the category of “consecutive/integra-tedMaster programmes”or into the cate-gory “stand alone Master programmes”.As this report focuses on the Bachelorprogrammes in Physics somemore infor-mation on these will be provided inthe following.

In quite a number of countries universi-ties typically o"er one Bachelor pro-gramme in Physics.!is is the case forAustria, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, theNetherlands, and Sweden. However, theaverage number of Bachelor programmeso"ered by a university is more than oneon average in the rest of the countries. Es-pecially high figures can be found forGreece (5), Lithuania (7), the Ukraine(10) and the UK/Ireland (6). However,only one university each fromGreece, Li-thuania, and the Ukraine answered to thisparticular question.Apart from the UK and Ireland whereBachelor programmes are the traditionaldegree programmes, the change to thenew structure in the other countries hap-pened mostly between 2002 and 2005.Concerning Physics, only the Spanishuniversities responding to the question-naire indicated that the introduction ofthe tiered structure has not yet takenplace but is envisaged to happen soon. 65percent of the institutions answering tothe questionnaire said that their Bachelorprogramme in physics was accredited,while 35 percent said that it was not.Ho-wever, among these 35 percent are all ins-titutions from three countries (Austria,Belarus, Spain) in which accreditation isnot implemented.Rather curricula are ap-proved either by the responsible Ministry

or by the institutions themselves (Aus-tria). Other countries typically have amixture of government bodies, institutio-nal autonomy and agencies for the ap-proval of new curricula.

4. Results of the CurriculumAnalysis and the Survey

4.1 Duration of BachelorProgrammes in Physics

!e majority of Bachelor programmes inPhysics which have been submitted foranalysis have a duration of three years.Exceptions are found in Greek and Irishuniversities as well as in Lithuania andMacedonia where they have a duration offour years.!e one curriculum we recei-ved from Belarus which is the same for alluniversities in the country is a traditionalfive year programme.What has to be kept in mind when talkingabout duration of studies are two things:•!e Bologna Declaration only talksabout a first cycle which should have aduration of at least three years, thus lon-ger programmes are possible as long asthe combined duration of first and se-cond cycle studies is not longer thanfives years.•!e transition phase from school intoPhysics programmes at universities in-creasingly tends to be extended throughpreparatory courses whichmay last up toone year. In addition, some programmes(esp. in the UK) o"er a year of studyabroad which might also extend the du-ration until completion of the degree.

Table 6 provides an overview of the regu-lar duration of Bachelor programmes inPhysics as established in the curricula. Itdoes not inform about the actual dura-tion until successful completion of the



# Table 3: Size of institutions participating in the survey by number of students

# Table 4: Size of Physics Departments according to number of students.

Number of students Percent of institutions

Up to 5,000 9

5,001 – 10,000 15

10,001 – 15,000 17

15,001 – 20,000 19

20,001 – 30,000 20

More than 30,000 19

Total 100

Number of students Number of Physics Departments/Faculties

Less than 100 students 13

101 – 300 students 30

301 – 500 students 20

501 – 700 students 13

701 – 1,000 students 12

More than 1,000 students 12

Total (n) 100

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degree.!e majority of four year Bache-lor programmes can be found in Greece,Ireland, Spain, Lithuania andMacedonia.!e five year “specialist” programme isfrom Belarus.Looking at the countries in which thoseuniversities are located having respondedto the online questionnaire we find that inthemajority of countries (85 percent) Ba-chelor programmes in Physics have a du-ration of 3 years. Exceptions are Spain,Greece, Lithuania, Macedonia andUkraine where Bachelor programmes inPhysics have a duration of four years. InBelarus the average duration of what isbeing termed “specialist programme” isfive years.!e regular duration of Bache-lor programmes in Physics is somewhatmixed in the British and Irish universities,although the majority of respondents (73Percent) indicated a duration of 3 yearswhile 27 percent said that it was 4 years.In the online questionnaire we had an op-portunity to ask how long it actually takesstudents to successfully finish their Ba-chelor programme in Physics. Althoughalmost half (45 percent) of the respon-dents indicated that no information wasas yet available concerning this question,11 percent said that students actually fi-nished a#er 3 years, 22 percent said thatstudents finished a#er 3.5 years, 16 per-cent had an average completion rate a#er4 years, 2 percent a#er 4.5 years, and 4percent said that their students on ave-rage took 5 years or longer.!e latter isthe case in Spain,Greece, andMacedoniaand it can be safely assumed that Physicsprogrammes in these countries eitherhave not made the actual change to thenew structure or were referring to inte-grated programmes in which the Bache-lor and the Master phase of study are notclearly separated.

Countries in which the new tiered struc-ture has obviously been implementedonly recently, so that there is a high pro-portion of respondents indicating thatthere is as yet no information availableabout actual duration of studies are:Aus-tria (67%),Germany (72%), Spain (83%),Hungary (100%), Sweden (67%), and Slo-venia (100%). Countries with a high per-centage of students finishing a#er 3 yearsare Switzerland (40%) and Slovakia(100%); and countries with a high per-centage of Bachelor Physics students fini-shing a#er 3.5 years are Belgium (50%),Switzerland (60%), and the Czech Repu-blic (67%).

4.2 Use of Credit Point Systems,StudentWorkload Calculations,and Modularisation

A number of European countries had in-troduced credit point systems long beforethe beginning of the Bologna Process,some even before the advent of the Euro-pean Credit Transfer Scheme (ECTS) as apilot scheme (in 5 subjects and 145 uni-versities) in the academic year 1989/90.While ECTS gradually became more po-pular in the course of the 1990s as a for-mal instrument of recognition, itexperienced it final breakthrough at thebeginning of the Bologna Process.!e Bo-logna Declaration and subsequent Com-muniqués of the responsible Ministers donot prescribe the use of ECTS but acceptother credit point systems as well as longas they are compatible with ECTS.Most ofthose countries operating their own creditpoint systems (in particular UK, Ireland,the Netherlands, some of the Central andEastern European countries within oursample,but also some of the Scandinavian

countries) have by now found means andways to make them compatible withECTS.!e curricula fromBelarusian,Slo-vak and Spanish universities in our sam-ple did not provide information about theuse of a credit point system, although allrespondents to the questionnaire fromSpain and Slovakia stated that the ECTScredit point system is used in their Bache-lor Physics programmes.!e idea of basing credit points on a cal-culation of student workload crept intothe reform agenda during the 2003 mi-nisterial meeting in Berlin at which the es-tablishment of an overarching frameworkof qualifications for the European HigherEducation Area was introduced. Establi-shing such a framework of comparableand compatible qualifications (at first im-plemented by the Dublin Descriptors 1which were then further developed into aEuropeanQualifications Framework) en-tailed the description of “qualifications interms of workload, level, learning out-comes, competences and profile” (cf. Ber-lin Communiqué 2003, p. 4) and markedthe shi# from a teacher centred to a lear-ner centred organisation of studies.!estudent workload is calculated on thebasis of the number of hours which a stu-dent has to spend for earning one credit.!e workload is composed of self-study,participation in classroom teaching anddoing the homework or prepare for andparticipate in an examination.!e generalidea that one ECTS credit point equals ap-proximately 25 to 30 hours of studentworkload is based on an estimate of howlong an average studentmight need to ful-fil certain tasks, acquire certain compe-tences, or successfully acquire knowledge,skills and competences of a certain type.!e latter is defined as learning outcome.According to these parameters studentsacquire 60 ECTS credit points in a givenacademic year and accumulate altogetherabout 180 ECTS credit points in the fra-mework of a 3 year Bachelor programme(between 4,500 and 5,400 hours of stu-dent workload).!e vast majority of Physics Bachelor cur-ricula in our sample indicated the num-ber of national or ECTS credit points that



Type of programme(s) Percent of Institutions

Bachelor progr. 95

Stand aloneMaster progr. 63

Consecutive/integratedMaster progr. 65

Other (degree) progr. 18

# Table 5: Types of Physics programmes currently o!ered (multiple replies possible)

# Table 6: Regular Duration of Bachelor programmes in years

Duration in years 3 years 4 years 5 years Total

Number of curricula 136 15 1 152

In percent 89.5 9.9 0.7 100

1 The Dublin Descriptors were developed in2004 by an informal working group to di!e-rentiate key competencies which can be ex-pected from graduates in each of the threecycles (bachelor, Master and doctorate).

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have to be earned for a Bachelor degree,however it frequently remains unclearhow many hours of student workload arenecessary to earn one credit point or whe-ther credit point calculations are based onstudent workload at all.Table 7 provides anoverviewof thenumberof curricula based on national and ECTScredit points.National credit point systemsare dominantly used in Italy and the UK.Just as the concept of learning outcomes,the definition of modules or ideas aboutthe meaning of modularisation are vastlydiverse. Despite the fact that the TuningProject has tried to provide guidelines andeven templates for respective curriculumdevelopment, the information provided inthe Physics Bachelor curricula shows thatproper definitions of learning outcomesand appropriate calculation of creditpoints based on student workload areavailable in only few countries.Here are afew examples:

(a)Modularisation (curricula of 5 coun-tries do not make a reference to mo-dularisation)

Belgium: Modules consist of di"erentteaching formats as well as indepen-dent study.Teachingmaterial is listed,credit points take level of content intoaccount.

France: Various topics of the curricularcontent are associated with a di"erentnumber of hours of student workloadper week which includes contacthours and independent study.

Germany: Similar to Belgium.Hungary: Reference only to curricular

content, di"erentiation according totypes of teaching, no definition oflearning outcomes.

Lithuania: Reference to curricular con-tent, number of contact hours is cal-culated as student workload.

Switzerland: Credit points include allstudy related activities; learning out-comes are envisaged but o#en notlisted in themodule descriptions.Wor-kload and credit points are related.

United Kingdom: Clear definition ofmodules and learning outcomes witha number of national and ECTS cre-dit points associated to each module.

(b) Workload (curricula of three coun-tries do not provide information onstudent workload)

Belgium:Workload calculations consist oftime for theory, exercises, training andproject, and independent study by stu-dents. Credit points are calculated onthe basis of the sum of working hours.

Italy: Broad variety of definitions, ran-ging from associating a fixed numberof credit points to a particular courseprovision to di"erentiating creditpoints according to type of class (e.g.lecture, seminar, laboratory etc.).

Netherlands: Student workload is ex-pressed in credit points.

Spain: Level and content of course provi-sion are associated with a number ofcredit points.

Slovenia: Types of teaching plus numberof required work hours by studentsfor a particular module result in agiven number of credit points.

(c) Learning Outcomes (curricula ofnine countries are not based on lear-ning outcomes, curricula of fivecountries do not provide informationon learning outcomes)

Belgium: Modules are di"erentiated ac-cording to learning goals, content,and level. Learning outcomes areachieved through various forms ofteaching and independent study.

Croatia:Definition of learning outcomesand competences which can be ac-quired for every course. ECTS is acombination of contact hours and in-dependent study.

France: No definition of learning out-comes. Topics are studied in the fra-mework of a number of hours perweek and with di"erent methodolo-gies. Independent study is included inthe calculations.

Germany: Broad variety of approachesranging from a simple list of themes ortopics with credit points associated toeach topic to highly di"erentiatedmo-dels with defined learning outcomes.

Questions about the extent of modularisa-tion and calculation of credits based onstudentworkloadwere also included in theonline questionnaire.69 percent of the res-pondents said that their Bachelor Physicsprogrammes were modularised while 31percent answered negatively to the respec-tive question. Interestingly, in seven coun-tries (Belarus,Germany,Denmark,France,Greece, Lithuania, and Ukraine) all res-ponding universities (100%) had modula-rised their programmes while universitiesin the other countries gave a mixed res-ponse, i.e. some had modularised pro-grammes, some had not.A similarlymixedpicture emerges from the questionwhethermodules or other time units used are cal-culated on the basis of student workload.87 percent of responding universities saidthat modules (or other time units) are cal-culated on the basis of student workload,while 13 percent said theywere not.To thisquestion 100 percent of all responding uni-versities from eleven countries answeredpositive, responding universities fromGreece and Ukraine answered negative(only one response from each of the twocountries to this question) while universi-ties from the other countries (Belgium,Switzerland, Finland, Hungary, UnitedKingdom) provided a mixed answer.!e majority of responding universitiesindicated that one credit is earned by ei-ther 25 hours (21%) or 30 hours (35%) ofstudent workload. Other respondentsprovided a large variety of workloadhours ranging from 7.5 to 40, further-more all respondents from Belarus, theCzech Republic, Greece, and Macedoniaindicated that the question was not ap-plicable so that it can be assumed thatstudent workload is not used as a crite-rion for credit points in these countries.Asked however, whether their module



ECTS National CreditPoint System

StudentWor-kload/Hours*

No Information Total

Number of curricula 114 28 1 9 152

In percent 75.0 18.4 0.7 5.9 100

* Belarus submitted a five year curriculum requiring a workload of 9,744 hours but does not use a credit point system. This is most likelya traditional“specialist”degree.

" Table 7: Physics Bachelor curricula based on credit points

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or course description included expectedlearning outcomes, the picture changesconsiderably. 91 percent of respondentsto the questionnaire answered positivelyto this question, including the respon-dents from Belarus (2), Greece (1), andMacedonia (1), while of the two respon-dents from the Czech Republic one ans-wered with “yes” and the other with “no”.Answers from the other countries againprovide a mixed picture; it is, however, in-teresting that all 25 German respondentsto this question said that their moduledescription included expected learningoutcomes. !is positive result for Ger-many is related to the recommendationsof the KFP (Conference of the PhysicsFaculties) which were fully adopted bythe German universities.

4.3 Diploma Supplement

Despite the fact that the Diploma Supple-ment is becoming increasingly more wi-despread, the majority of curriculaincluded in our analysis does not provideinformation about its implementation ormode of its use.Not finding any mentionof it does, however, not necessarily implyit is not issued or available. It might alsobe that the issue of the Diploma Supple-ment is stated in di"erent documentswhich we did not collect. We thereforecreated three categories (automatically is-sued, issued upon request and no infor-mation available).Of the 152 curricula which we have ana-lysed 124 (81.6%) did not provide any in-formation concerning the DiplomaSupplement, 27 (17.8%) stated that it wasissued automatically, and one (0.7%) sta-ted that the Diploma Supplement was is-sued upon request.A question concerning the issue of a Di-ploma Supplement was not included inthe online questionnaire.

4.4 Degree of Specialisation

Two thirds (63%) of the respondents tothe online questionnaire state that theirBachelor Physics programmes are moregeneral, two percent characterise them asmore specialised and one third (35%)state that there is a mix of general andmore specialised content. Typically Ba-chelor Physics curricula are more generalin the first two years while the third yearo"ers opportunities for specialisation.In the analysis of curricula from the Uni-ted Kingdom we found that the first twoyears of standard Physics programmes(the so-called F 300 programmes) at Ba-chelor level are basically very similar whilethe third year is used for specialisation aswell.!e specialisations which are o"eredcover a broad range of fields within Phy-sics or constitute particular combinationsof Physics programmes plus another sub-ject.!ese specialisations usually form anindividual programme of study.!is is thereason for the high number of Physics de-gree programmes at Bachelor level o"eredby British universities (up to 15).!e majority of Bachelor Physics pro-grammes (87 %) responding to the onlinequestionnaire also include interdiscipli-nary components. Most of these compo-nents (75 %) are integrated parts of thecurriculum.!e subjects to which thesecomponents are related or linked show abroad range of fields (cf. Table 8).

4.5 TimeWindows for Mobility andDegree of Internationalisation

It is well known that easing and increa-sing mobility of students (and sta") is animportant goal in the Bologna reformprocess.When the actual process of im-plementing the tiered structure of studyprogrammes and degrees had taken o",there was first a widespread concern thatthe way of implementing the reformwould create a problem for mobility be-cause curricula showed a high level ofdensity of subject matter and the moreformalised structure of studies in manyprogrammes seemed to close rather thanopen up time windows for mobility. Inaddition, figures tended to support thisconcern. Intra-European, ERASMUS-type mobility was stagnating or even de-creasing. However, gradually anotherpicture is emerging. Temporary periods

of study abroad (à la ERASMUS), nowbeing termed“credit mobility”, are begin-ning to be complemented by what hasbeen called “degree mobility”, i.e. moreand more students opt to study abroadfor a whole degree programme. In addi-tion, there is an increasing number of stu-dents from outside Europe seeking to geta degree at a European university.!e lat-ter is also related to the fact that the num-ber of English taught degree programmeshas increased in the non-English spea-king countries. Finally, there also seemsto be a slight increase in the number ofdouble or joint degree programmeswhich – together with the ERASMUSMundus programme – o"er further op-portunities for study abroad which are in-tegrated into the curricular structure of agiven programme and thus, constitute therule rather than an exception.Only a minority of our Bachelor Physicscurricula (2 %) which are included in thestudy have an obligatory phase of studyabroad. In a number of programmesstudy abroad is possible – most likely wi-thin the framework of ERASMUS agree-ments – and the majority of curricula(almost 80 %) do not provide informa-tion on this issue. Here the same argu-ments are valid as provided for the “noinformation” category with regard to theDiploma Supplement. An overview isprovided in the following table (Table 9).!e online questionnaire was used to askabout mobility opportunities and the ex-tent of internationalisation of Physicsprogrammes in more detail.Compulsory phases of study abroad arerare (7 %), however, 93 percent of the res-pondents state that elective phases of in-ternational student mobility are part oftheir Bachelor curriculum in Physics.Compulsory phases of study abroad canbe found in particular in German,Frenchund UK/Irish Physics programmes. Fur-thermore, in the vast majority of coun-tries included in our study universitieso"er a broad range of opportunities formobility in the framework of internshipsor laboratory work. In two fi#hs of theprogrammes (41%) students can goabroad for a temporary period of time atany point in time during their pro-gramme of studies but there is a cleartrend (46%) that the third year of studiesis the preferred time window to goabroad. More than half of the respon-dents (57%) state that mobile students



Subjects/subject groups In percent

Other natural sciences 89

Engineering 49

Medical sciences 24

Humanities 26

Social sciences 36

Other subjects 26

# Table 8: Other subjects or subject groups being part ofthe Bachelor Physics curriculum (multiple replies possible).

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spend between three and 5 monthsabroad, 35 percent spend more than fivemonths abroad, and seven percent indi-cated that students spend between oneand two months abroad. !ese shorterperiods are most common in Belarus,Finland, and the Netherlands.Joint or double degree programmes arerare at the Bachelor level in Physics.Only2 percent (two programmes out 98 aboutwhich information was provided) of therespondents stated that their programmeis a joint or double degree programme.Another factor typically adding to the ex-tent of internationalisation of a givenprogramme is its provision in a foreignlanguage (mostly English in the non-En-glish speaking countries). 34 percent ofresponding Physics Departments statedthat in their Bachelor programme tea-ching is o"ered in a foreign language.Particular high percentages of foreignlanguage teaching in Bachelor Physicsprogrammes can be found in Switzerlandand the Netherlands. However, it is unu-sual at the Bachelor level to teach thecomplete programme in a foreign lan-guage, this is more typical for the Masterlevel.At the Bachelor level typically somecourses,modules or classes are o"ered inEnglish or another foreign language.Tea-ching in English ranks highest in non-English speaking countries, followed byFrench, German, Italian and Spanish.!e indicator“proportion of internationalstudents among overall student popula-tion” is also typically used to assess the de-gree of internationalisation within a givenhigher education institution. To a respec-tive question in the online questionnaire(“please indicate the percentage of inter-national students enrolling in your Ba-chelor Programme in Physics”) onlyPhysics Departments from Belarus, Li-thuania, Macedonia, and the Ukraine sta-ted that there were no internationalstudents in their Bachelor Programmes inPhysics.!e majority of respondents in-dicated proportions of international stu-dents between one and five percent (32percent of all respondents to this questionsaid that the proportion of internationalstudents was five percent). High propor-tions of international students (betweenten and 15 percent) can be found in Phy-sics Departments in Austria (not last dueto many students from the German spea-king minority from South Tyrol in Italy),Germany, and France. Swiss Physics De-

partments participating in the onlinequestionnaire indicated the highest pro-portions of international students in theBachelor Physics programmes, namelybetween 25 and up to 42 percent.!is sur-prisingly high level of international stu-dents can be explained to the fact that inSwitzerland three languages (German, Ita-lian, French) are spoken and many stu-dents from the neighbouring regions ofItaly, France, Germany and Austria cometo study in Switzerland.

4.6 Assessment and Examinations

Modularisation and continuous assess-ment of learning outcomes is linked to thereduction of the dominant weight of thefinal examinationwhich used to be typicalfor university studies in continental Eu-rope. 84 percent of the respondents to theonline questionnaire stated that studentperformance in terms of learning out-comes is assessed a#er each module orunit of teaching and learning.Still, the finalexamination continues to have considera-ble weight and is o#en composed of seve-ral aspects or parts.!e written thesis plusdefence was the most frequently statedformof final examination (51%), followedby an oral examination (38%). 28 percentof the respondents stated that in their Ba-chelor examination for a Physics degree awritten thesis is required, 26 percent ofPhysics Departments included in thisstudy have project presentations as part ofthe final examination for a Bachelor de-gree, 19 percent stated that there are writ-ten tests, four percent required thedemonstration of a project, a mathemati-cal formula or similar, and twelve percentnamed further forms of assessment in thefinal examination. Furthermore, 40 per-cent of the respondents indicated that onlysubject knowledge is assessed, while 60percent also included transferable skills inthe assessments.During the course of study the followingtypes of assessment are used:• written tests (99 %)• oral examinations (78 %)

• homework papers (71 %)• interviews by the teachers (30 %)•multiple choice tests (26 %)• other forms of assessment ( 27%).

!e forms of marking or grading whichare used in Bachelor Physics programmestend to be rather varied as well. Only 16percent of the respondents stated that thestudent performance is not marked butstated as passed or failed only, though thepass degree might be additionally quali-fied, i.e. by ‘with honours’ or ‘with dis-tinction’. Markings during the course ofthe programme and for the final exami-nation show a clear preference (79 %) forabsolute marking, assessing the degree offulfilment of established criteria. 31 per-cent of the respondents stated that themarks refer to individually acquiredknowledge during a module (or a class),in 15 percent of the cases a relative mar-king (i.e. the performance of an indivi-dual student in relation to the group) isused, and 22 percent stated that indivi-dually acquired competences and skillsare marked. Practical parts (e.g. labora-tory work, demonstrations etc.) are notmarked in 33 percent of the cases. Inthese cases they are just assessed as passor fail.However, in 66 percent of the casesthe practical parts have a certain weightand count for the final mark. Mostly (33%) the weight accorded to the practicalparts is between 11 and 20 percent, in 14percent of the cases the weight is between5 and 10 percent, in 13 percent it is bet-ween 21 and 30 percent and in six percentit is more than 30 percent.

4.7 Employability:Key Skills and Competences

!e shi# towards a student centred orga-nisation of studies and the related assess-ment of learning outcomes together withthe emphasis on labour market relevanceof the first cycle degrees (employability)has led to more attention being paid tothe acquisition of key skills and compe-tences by students.



# Table 9: Mobility within the Physics Bachelor curricula

Mobility possible Mobility obligatory No Information Total

No. of Curricula 28 3 121 152

In percent 18.4 2.0 79.6 100

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By now a considerable number of keyskills and competences for Physics gra-duates have been identified, first and fo-remost – in the non-English speakingBologna signatory countries – a goodcommand of the English language.!isholds true also for those countries withRomanic languages (i.e. France, Italy,Spain). Another particularity, dominantin the Central and Eastern Europeancountries (e.g.Ukraine,Hungary,Croatia,Lithuania) is the idea of “mens sana incorpore sano”– originating in antiquity –so that many curricula include sports orgymnastics as part of the qualification.Other key skills or competencies havebeen derived from modern forms of re-search organisation with an emphasis onproject management skills which includetime management and team work.According to the results of the onlinequestionnaire 78 percent of the respon-dents stated that the acquisition of trans-ferable skills is part of their Bachelorprogramme in Physics while 22 percentstated it is not.A high proportion of res-pondents (50 percent or more) statingthat transferable skills were not part oftheir Bachelor curriculum in Physics arelocated in Belgium, Belarus, Switzerland,Denmark, Greece, and Sweden.Table 10 provides an overview of the keyskills and competencies which have beenmentioned in the curricula analysed inthe framework of this study and the fre-quency with which they were stated.Another issue to be mentioned here isthat previous studies about learning out-comes came to the conclusion that keyskills and competences are more easilyacquired if they are integrated with thesubject matter. However, we do see a cer-tain trend to “outsource” at least parts ofthem to other departments or servicecentres for the support of teaching andlearning.!is practice can be found insubjects other than Physics as well and ismost probably related to either lack ofcompetences among the regular teachingsta" in Physics or capacity problems interms of teaching load.

4.8 Transitions

!e issue of transitions comesup the begin-ning of entering into Physics programmes,i.e. what are the access requirements andwhat are criteria for selection of students

wanting to study Physics, and a#er gradua-tion, i.e.what next a#er having been awar-ded a Bachelor’s degree in Physics.Two factors tend to increase the actualduration of studies for a Bachelor degree:mobility and access regulation.Examples for the first factor are providedby UK universities. Bachelor programmesin Physics at universities in England andWales normally have a duration of 3 years(Scottish Bachelor programmes in Physicsare generally four year programmes).Ho-wever, a number of Bachelor degree pro-grammes are o"ered with an obligatory(and integrated) year of study abroadwhich o#en increases the number of yearsuntil completion to four. Typically stu-dents would spend their third year of stu-dies in another country and return to theirhome university for the final year.!esearrangements are not necessarily in theframework of an ERASMUS partnershipor a joint or double degree programme.!ey can also exist within the frameworkof institutional or departmental arrange-ments and then do not necessarily includean exchange.Another variant is that sincethe 1990s an increasing number of fouryear programmes which are called “inte-gratedMaster programmes”have been in-troduced to deal with the growing subjectmatter and also allow more time for theacquisition of so# skills.!e second factor is only indirectly rela-ted to the Bologna reform goals. Due toshi#s towards formula or performancebased funding of universities in manycountries, a frequently used indicator is“number of students successfully com-pleting their study programmes within

the regular period of time”.!is indicatorputs pressure on universities to take overresponsibility for getting as many stu-dents as possible through the programmein the prescribed period of time in orderto secure their funding.!is in turn hasled to the fact that universities become in-creasingly selective in their admission toPhysics programmes. It is further re-en-forced by the growing competitiveness ofEuropean universities among each otherfor the best talent.Many curricula which have been analy-sed in the framework of this study do nolonger accept the upper secondary schoolleaving certificate at face value but haveestablished further conditions whichhave to be met by students who are see-king access into Physics programmes. Insome countries (e.g. Germany, Italy andCroatia) universities have established en-trance examinations, in other countriesadditional requirements are defined, likeoutstanding marks in particular schoolsubjects like mathematics, physics or che-mistry, or participation in longer prepa-ratory courses is recommended beforeenrolment (this is the case in some uni-versities in Croatia, Switzerland, Ger-many, and Italy).Bachelor Physics curricula (as other Bache-lor curricula as well) are also shaped by thetransitionphase starting a#er completionofthe degree.Here the issue iswhether transi-tion onto the labour market or transitioninto aMasterprogramme is sought.Inmanycountries,persons responsible for the curri-culum of a given Bachelor programmecontinue to find it di$cult to prepare stu-dents for bothoptionswithin three years.In



Skill / Competence Count and (Percentage)of Statement Occurrence

Foreign (English) language skills 134 (88.2%)

Communication skills 109 (71.7%)

Project management skills 55 (36.2%)

Knowledge about society 33 (21.7%)

Teamwork 31 (20.4%)

IT skills 29 (19.1%)

Knowledge about businessadministration and economics

18 (11.8%)

Keeping fit (sports) 8 (5.3 %)

Knowledge of other natural sciences 6 (3.9 %)

Self management 6 (3.9 %)

Total 429

# Table 10: Key skills and competencies and frequencyof statement (multiple replies possible)

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addition, universities which are competingfor best talent tend to bemore interested inpreparing their students for transition into aMaster programme or possibly turn theminto early career researchers than preparingthem for the labour market.!e Bachelordegree then tends tobecomean‘honourableway out’for those studentswho are deemedtohave insu$cient potential for getting ahi-gher level degree, i.e. theBachelor awardbe-comes an implicit ‘weeding out’procedure.An interesting exception from this generalpicture can be found in France. Trying todeal with the sameproblem,the French go-vernment created so-called professionalBachelor programmes which are particu-larly geared towards enabling transitiononto the labourmarket a#er three years.Allnew entrant students starting to study Phy-sics at Bachelor level can now decide at theend of their second year of students whe-ther they will continue with general Ba-chelor studies enabling transition into aMaster programme a#er successful com-pletion of the third year or whether theycontinue their third year studies in the fra-mework of a professional Bachelor pro-gramme and move into jobs a#ersuccessful completion. Currently the pro-portion of Physics students moving into aprofessional programme a#er their secondyear is about 10 percent of all Bachelor stu-dents in Physics.Again, the cases of UK and Ireland aredi"erent in this respect because the la-bour market is used to absorb Bachelorgraduates while this is not the case forthose countries in which the Bachelor de-gree is new and potential employers areused to recruit Physics graduates a#erfive or more years of studies.It is still somewhat early for a stable pictureof actual completion rates. To a respectivequestion in the online questionnaire 60percent of the respondents stated thatcompletion rates are not known yet, indi-cating that the tiered structure has been in-troducedwithin the last three or four years.An exception to this pattern are British andIrish universities where completion ratesfor Bachelor programmes in Physics aremostly between 90 and 95 percent.In many of those countries having newlyintroduced the tiered structure of studyprogrammes and degrees it currently re-mains unclear what a Bachelor graduate inPhysics can actually do on the labourmar-ket. !ere continues to be a widespreadview that a ‘proper’ Physicist can not be

produced within three years of study.!isof course is di"erent in those countries (na-mely UK and Ireland) which have alwayshad the tiered structure of study pro-grammes anddegrees.!erefore, the onlinequestionnaire included a questionwhetherBachelor students in Physics were predo-minantly educated and trained for the la-bour market or for transition into aMaster’s programme.Only four percent ofthe respondents stated that Bachelor stu-dents in Physics were trained for transitioninto the labour market (the one responsefromBelarus and someof theUK/Irish res-pondents). 61 percent of respondents saidthat their Bachelor Physics students werepredominantly educated and trained tocontinue studying in a Master’s pro-gramme, 33 percent of the respondentssaid it was amixture of both, labourmarketandMaster level programmes and one per-cent (from theUK/Ireland exclusively) sta-ted that their Bachelor Physics studentswere trained to progress into a PhD pro-gramme. Countries in which all institu-tions (100 %) responding to the respectivequestion in the online questionnaire indi-cated that their Bachelor Physics studentswere predominantly trained to continue atMaster level programmes are: Belgium,Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, the Nether-lands, and Slovakia.!e majority of res-pondents indicated that those studentswhocontinue to study at Master’s level stay atthe same university fromwhich they recei-ved their Bachelor degree.41 percent of therespondents stated that about 5 percent oftheir Bachelor graduates in Physics conti-nue to study at theMaster’s level in anotheruniversity of the same country and 32 per-cent of the respondents said that about 5percent of their Bachelor graduates conti-nued to study for aMaster degree abroad.

In the meantime higher education insti-tutions have established a broad range ofservices and activities to support studentsin their transition onto the labour mar-ket. Still 26 percent of respondents (espe-cially from the Czech Republic,Denmark,Greece, and the Slovak Republic) statedthat no such services are available at theirinstitution.Where services exist they canalso be used by Bachelor Physics studentsand graduates.Respondents listed the fol-lowing services and activities available tostudents in this respect (cf. Table 11):

4.9 Accreditation, Evaluation,and Quality Assurance

Over the last 10 to 15 years quality assu-rance of teaching and learning has becomeincreasingly important. Regular evalua-tions of study or degree programmes havebecome the rule. Originally such evalua-tions mostly consisted of student satisfac-tion questionnaires.However, increasinglyother mechanisms of quality assessmentand assurance are being applied.We the-refore provided a range of options with re-gard to quality assurance activities in theonline questionnaire and askedwhat typesof quality assurance activities were carriedout with regard to the Physics Bachelorprogrammes in the institutions of the res-pondents (cf. Table 12). Multiple replieswere possible.Table 12 shows that the student satisfac-tion questionnaire is still the most fre-quently used form of quality assurance(92%), followed by accreditation and pe-riodic re-accreditation (76%). In the ma-jority of countries included in this studyboth of these forms of quality assuranceare applied. It is somewhat surprising that



Service/activity In percent of respondents

Career service and advice 55

Interviews with potential employers 27

Internships 18

Lectures by alumni or potential employers 40

Training for job applicationsand job interviews

22

Information brochures aboutpotential job areas

44

Other activities/services 13

No particular activities/services on o!er 25

" Table 11: Services/activities to ease transition of students/graduates into the labourmarket (in percent; multiple replies possible)

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58percent of the respondents indicated thatteaching material and teacher preparationis monitored.!is form of quality assu-rance can be found especially in Denmark,Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and theUK/Ireland.!e use of external examinersis also concentrated in only some of thecountries included in this study, especiallyin Denmark and the UK/Ireland. It shouldbe noted that in the UK and Ireland accre-ditationmeans the accreditationof a degreeby an external professional body (for Phy-sics this is the IOP) while other quality as-surance mechanisms are university based.One of the reasons for the similarity ofstudy programmes in Physics in the UKand Ireland is the role of accreditation.

5. Conclusions: PhysicsStudies in EuropeToday

Inmost countries included in this study onthe implementation of Bachelor pro-grammes in Physics policies are in placeand the reform process to implement thenew study structures and degrees is on-going. Some countries (esp.Belgium,Swit-zerland, the Netherlands) seem to have thereform process more or less completed,while other countries (e.g. Spain) have juststarted with it. A third group of countries(esp. Ukraine, Belarus, Greece) seem to beseriously lagging behind in the implemen-tation process.!e United Kingdom is anexception because it basically kept its tradi-tional Bachelor andMaster degree structurewhich di"ers from the emerging Europeanmainstreamby enablingBachelor graduates(typically three years of study in EnglandandWales, four years of study in Scotland)to continue directly into doctoral pro-grammes or getting a Master’s degree a#eran additional year (i.e. a 3 + 1 structure).

Concerning the two-cycle structure aswell as the use of ECTS or a compatiblenational system of credit points we founda rather high level of convergence acrossEurope. However, the understanding ofand ideas about modularisation of stu-dies, basing credit points on student wor-kload and assessing learning outcomescontinue to be vastly heterogeneous in in-terpretation and application. !is doesnot only hold true for Physics pro-grammes. Generally, curricular reformsseem to be easier when focused on struc-tures. Curricular content, pedagogical ap-proaches and forms of assessment arevery people dependent and teachers haveto endorse the new approaches and taketime to familiarise themselves with them.Our analysis showed that there is nocommon understanding of the conceptsof modularisation, student workload, andlearning outcomes. Concerning the issueof a Diploma Supplement at the end of aprogramme of studies our data remaininconclusive for the time being.!e majority of Bachelor programmes inPhysics tend to be more general withsome international and interdisciplinarydimensions. !ere is a clear indicationthat the first two years of a Bachelor pro-gramme in Physics tend to be rather si-milar everywhere because students haveto be familiarised with the tools of thetrade and the subject matter of the disci-pline.!e third year of the programme(in some cases the fourth year) is typicallyused for project work giving the oppor-tunity for a certain degree of specialisa-tion or following individual interests andwriting the Bachelor thesis.Study abroad (mostly of the ERASMUStype) is possible in the majority of theprogrammes but only rarely compulsory.In some countries (esp. Switzerland,Aus-

tria, Germany, and France) a considera-ble proportion of international studentscan be found in the Bachelor pro-grammes in Physics.What clearly has changed in the majorityof the continental European countries isthe reduced emphasis on the final exami-nation in order to determine successfulcompletion of a degree. Students now aremore o#en continuously assessed and theseresults have aweight in the final grade,des-pite the fact that in more than half of theBachelor programmes in Physics the writ-ten thesis plus defence continues to be thetypical form of final examination.!e Bologna reforms put a great empha-sis on students’ employability a#er obtai-ning a Bachelor degree. In order tocontribute to a smooth transition into thelabourmarket the integration of key skillsor key competences into the curriculumis required. Our respondents to the on-line questionnaire as well as the curricu-lum analysis resulted in a broad spectrumof key skills being part of the Bachelorcurricula in Physics, especially foreign(English) language skills, communicationskills, and project management skills, thelatter also including competences in timemanagement and team work.Also the two transition phases precedingand succeeding Bachelor level studies inPhysics have received more attention. In-creasingly access into Physics pro-grammes is more regulated and selectiverequiring the fulfilment of certain criteriaor success in an additional entrance exa-mination. Some countries also requirelonger preparatory courses – mostly inmathematics – before enrolment (e.g.some universities in Croatia, Switzerland,Germany, and Italy). Despite the fact thatuniversities have increased their servicesand activities to help students with thetransition onto the labourmarket,most ofour respondents (61 %) to the onlinequestionnaire stated that they predomi-nantly trained their students for continua-tion of studies at the Master’s level.Marked exceptions in this respect are Bri-tish and Irish universities where Bachelordegrees are not new and the labourmarketis used to absorb graduates with a Bache-lor degree, as well as France o"ering pro-fessional Bachelor programmes gearedtowards transition onto the labourmarket.Inmost European countries new forms ofquality assurance have been establishedin the framework of the Bologna reforms.



Quality assurance activity In percent of respondents

Periodic accreditation/re-accreditation 76

Evaluation of courses/modulesby student questionnaire

92

Evaluation of programmeby external evaluators

31

Inclusion of external examiners 20

Monitoring of teacher preparationand teachingmaterial

58

Obligatory participation of teachingsta! in pedagogical training

16

Other activities 15

# Table 12:Quality assurance activities in Physics Bachelor programmes

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In the majority of Bologna signatorycountries a change from curriculum ap-proval by the ministry to the establish-ment of (more or less) independentaccreditation agencies can be observed.!e agencies evaluate the curricula on thebasis of a set of standards and criteria.!ey approve of the new degree pro-grammes and undertake periodic re-ac-creditation and/or evaluation procedures.Experts have called this development the“agencification of quality assurance”. Inour sample of respondents to the onlinequestionnaire 76 percent indicated thataccreditation is in place in their countryand 92 percent stated that evaluation ofcourses or modules by student satisfac-tion questionnaire takes place as well.Surprisingly 58 percent also said that tea-cher preparation and teaching material isbeing monitored.Overall, it can be expected that with timethe general structures of Bachelor levelPhysics programmes in Europe willconverge more and more, while at the“shop floor” level a considerable amountof heterogeneity and diversity will conti-nue.!is diversity will reflect the di"e-rences in national academic cultures aswell as teaching and learning styles and isa European added value.

Literature

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http://www.utwente.nl/cheps/documenten/engreport02bamasurvey.pdf

http://www.utwente.nl/cheps/documenten/engreport02bamasurvey.pdf













1. Definitions of Key Terms

1.1 Modularisation

Modularisation means the structuring ofa degree programme in units (modules)with each unit having its own definedcontent. Each unit finishes with an exa-mination the result of which counts forthe final degree. Modularisation is alsothe basis for the introduction of creditpoints. Credit points facilitate the reco-gnition of examination results achievedat various higher education institutions(at home or abroad) and can be accumu-lated over various periods of time. Anexample: if 60 credit points have to beearned in the framework of an academicyear by a full-time student, one modulewould typically consist of six (or twelve)credit points so that ten (or six or anymixture thereof) modules have to be stu-died per academic year.When designinga curriculum on the basis of a modularstructure it is not only important to createacademic coherence within units but alsoprovide a su$cient amount of choice forstudents so that they can design theirown tailor-made course profiles.(Source: http://www.ba-ma.bayern.de/en_innovations.html)

1.2 StudentWorkload

Credit points are based on calculations ofstudent workload to indicate the shi# froma teaching centred to a learning centredform of studying. One credit points is ty-pically associated to 25 to 30 hours of stu-dent workload (e.g. onemodule = 6 creditpoints = 180 hours of student workload).!e student workload is composed ofhours of classroom teaching/learning,plushours of preparation with reading mate-rial or other forms of learning, plus stu-dying for the examination and takingthe examination.

1.3 Learning Outcomes

Learning outcomes are the specific inten-tions of a programme or a module.!eydescribe what a student should know,un-derstand, and be able to do at the end ofthe programme or module. Apart fromsubject specific knowledge, learning out-comes also include a description of key

competencies or skills (see Dublin Des-criptors, national and/or European Qua-lification Frameworks) a student issupposed to acquire.!us, learning out-comes can be defined in terms of know-ledge and understanding, intellectualskills, practical skills, and key or transfe-rable skills.!ere should be a clear linkbetween the learning outcomes and theassessment criteria. Learning outcomesshould specify the minimum acceptablestandard for a student to pass a moduleor a programme. Learning outcomes of amodule should start with the phrase: “onsuccessful completion of the module, stu-dents will be able to …”. Learning out-comes canhelp to guide students in their learningby explaining what is expected of themand thus, helping them to succeed intheir studies.Help sta" to focus on exactly what theywant students to achieve in terms of bothknowledge and skills.Provide a useful guide to inform poten-tial candidates and employers about thegeneral knowledge and understandingthat a graduate will possess.(Source: www.ssdd.bcu.ac.uk/outcomes/)

2. Template for a ModelCurriculum (Bachelorin Physics)

Typically the documentation and informa-tionmaterial consists of three key elements:(a) General description of the pro-

gramme and admission requirements;(b) Structure of the programme;(c) Module handbook and/or syllabus.

!ese three elements will be described inthe following.

(a) General Description ofthe Programme and AdmissionRequirements

As a rule this is treated as an o$cial do-cument and part of the curriculum. It iscomposed of the following elements:• Admission requirements: for example,school leaving certificate,possibly prepa-ratory courses or entrance examinations,costs/tuition fees, insurance, deadlinesfor application;

•Objectives of the programme: forexample, to attain a solid command ofthe relevant subjects and associatedskills; to understand the general phy-sical principles and methods as theyare applied in the analysis of concretephysical issues; to develop a capacityfor abstraction and to stimulate pro-blem-solving and reasoning skills; toappreciate the value of experimenta-tion when compiling and testing phy-sics theories.

• Learning outcomes: for example, tohave a due command of the founda-tions of physics and astronomy and tohave acquired a full grasp of the requi-red mathematical tools; to be acquain-ted with scientific research; to becapable of putting forward oral andwritten communications on scientificresults; to have a full command ofthose ICT skills related to physics andastronomy; to be able to operate as amember of a team; to have acquired amindset focused on learning and un-derstanding boosted by an eagerness toembrace lifelong learning.

(b) Structure of the Programme

Typically the first two years of bachelorprogrammes in Physics are rather similar,i.e. learning the tools of the trade and get-ting familiar with the subject matter (e.g.astronomy, optics, energy, etc.), while thethird year is more o#en characterised byproject and thesis work. Elements of thestructure are:•Duration of the Programme: for exam-ple, 3 years or six semesters.•Number of credit points: for example,60 credit points per year or 30 creditpoints per semester.•Workload: for example expressed incredit points (180) or in hours (5,400).•Distribution of workload over pro-gramme content: for example, 130 cre-dit points have to be earned in theframework of general courses, 40 creditpoints have to be earned in electivecourses, 10 credit points have to be ear-ned with the Bachelor thesis.

(c)ModuleHandbookand/or Syllabus

!e Module handbook and or syllabusinforms students about the content of the


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http://www.ssdd.bcu.ac.uk/outcomes/

courses (possibly including relevant lite-rature), the approaches to teaching andlearning, and the key competences tobe acquired.A module description includes the follo-wing information:• access requirements (if any),• teaching language,• workload (including study time and cre-dit points),• theory,• exercises,• projects,• teaching and learning material,• teaching methods,• examination and evaluation methods.

Knowledge of the subject matter as wellas key competences or key skills to beacquired by the students have to be defi-ned for the programme as a whole (cf.general description of programme) andfor each module. They can be dividedinto four components:

(a) Subject related knowledge can bedivided into knowledge (e.g. theo-ries, models, boundaries, methods,techniques, processes and applica-tions in physics) and abilities (e.g. tobe able to analyse, to have problemsolving abilities and abilities for cri-tical reflection).

(b) Intellectual competences are defined,for example, as systematic and criticalreflection,professional attitude, abilityfor logical and analytical reasoning,and ability to formulate problems atthe proper level of abstraction.

(c) Teamwork and communication skillsare defined, for example, appropriatewritten and oral presentation skills,ability to communicate new develop-ments and underlying basic ideas wi-thin the discipline and neighbouringsciences to experts and non-experts,communication skills in the nativetongue and in English, ability to com-municate, cooperate and act depen-ding on the situation in a supportive,inspiring and/or authoritativemanner.

(d) Societal/civic competences are defi-ned, for example, as the ability toconnect subject matter issues withpublic debates and concerns, to act ina responsible way in terms of ethicsand society, to integrate social res-ponsibility and commitment in one’sprofessional activities.

Selected informationon country specificities

1. Austria

The introduction of the Bolognastructure is a stated national goal;the timing, however, is left to theindividual universities. In Physics,all universities have started the in-troduction, but in some otherfields old style degree pro-grammes are still offered. A num-ber of items on the Bolognaagenda are implemented via na-tional legislation, such as the uni-versal adoption of ECTS, based ona student workload of 25 hoursper credit point. The formulationof learning outcomes is a legalobligation for programmes as awhole, but not for individualcourses, though several universi-ties have adopted regulations re-quiring the formulation oflearning outcomes for subunits aswell. Modularisation is not legallyrequired and used unevenly. Thereis no grade for a programme as awhole, but grades are given for su-bunits (subject areas); based onthese grades the predicate “passedwith distinction”may be given; therules for bestowing this distinc-tion encourage the use of “subjectareas” larger than modules.Austrian law obliges universities toadmit all applicants who have ob-tained one of a broad class of highschool diplomas, and to admit ba-chelor graduates to consecutivemaster programmes without fur-ther selection. For graduates ofmaster programmes, especially intechnical fields (including physicsat technical universities or facul-ties), pre-Bologna titles like “Di-plom-Ingenieur” are used as analternative to M.Sc. There is no re-quirement for accreditation ofstudy programmes, and no institu-tional accreditation is required forstate universities.The high proportion of foreignstudents in Austria is explained inpart by the fact that many studentsfrom the German speaking mino-rity in Italy (South Tyrol) attendAustrian universities.

2. Italy

!e Bologna process was imposedby law in 2001 on all the Italian uni-versities. Between 2004 and 2007changes of the original act were pro-posed by the government. !esechanges are implemented in the aca-demic year 2008/09 in about half ofthe universities and will be imple-mented e"ect starting from the aca-demic year 2009/10 in the other half.!e academic structures are stron-gly involved in the changes, but theyare not yet in a position to provideclear results on the e"ects of the ini-tial reform. In other words the Bo-logna reforms have been applied inall the universities, but the achieve-ments in each of the universities arestill under study.

3. United Kingdom

Until the 1990s, it was the normalroute for everyone in England,Wales and Northern Ireland to havea 3-year Bachelor degree in Physicsas with most other subjects.!erewere a few longer programmes,such as medicine and architecture,but essentially all the main scienceswere three years. Graduates fromthese courses most certainly did be-come physicists, either progressingto a PhD, taking a one year Masterof Science degree or by starting ajob in a private company – therewas no other route.!e vast majo-rity of current academics in the UKfollowed this route and obtainedtheir PhD six years a#er entry touniversity. In Scotland, all courseswere and are one year longer be-cause entry is at a lower level.In the early 1990s, four year inte-grated Master degrees were intro-duced, usually called MPhys orMSci. !e reason for their intro-duction was that universities wereputting more and more materialinto their degree programmes, so itwas felt that there should be moretime to give the students a betterchance to understand the subjectmatter and also to allow time fordeveloping so# skills, such as com-munication skills and teamwork.


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Since then, it is certainly the case that themajority of professional physicists have thefour year degrees but there is still a subs-tantial number who the three year degree.It is still possible, though less common, forexample, to enter a PhD programme di-rectly from a Bachelor of Science. It alsoimportant to note that the majority of theother courses at universities, i.e. all the artsand humanities and the biologicalsciences,do not have the integratedMasterprogrammes and progression to PhD is di-rectly from the Bachelor degree. Engi-neering, Chemistry and Mathematics aresimilar to Physics.Inevitably history plays a large part inthesematters.Employers in theUK are fa-miliar with graduates from three year Ba-chelor courses and not really expectanything else. Even a#er 15 years, they arestill not totally familiar with the integratedMaster programmes. In addition, in En-gland, students have to pay for their edu-cation and the majority of them do notreceive grants.!erefore, any extra timespent at university can be costly,with debtsaccumulating atmore than 10,000 poundsa year, to be repaid out of tax later.!us,even the four year integrated Master pro-grammes are under threat for that reason.Discussions have started in England onthe possibility of 3 + 2 integrated Masterprogrammes but not all university physicsdepartments think it is a good idea.

4. Sweden

Sweden is in the middle of the process ofimplementing the new Bachelor and Mas-ter programmes.!e kinds of degrees thatcan be o"ered at Swedish universities aredecidedby the government.Starting from1July 2007 all general programmes must be3-year Bachelor programmes or 2-yearMaster programmes.!erefore,thefirst stu-dents that follow the new Bachelor pro-grammeswill graduate in June2010.Physicsprogrammes used to be 4-year integratedMasters and still some special vocationalprogrammes can be integratedMasters.Since there are almost no Swedish studentswith a Bachelor degree yet, there are veryfew Swedish students in the new Masterprogrammes.!ere are mainly exchangestudents in these programmes. However,students in the final year of the old inte-gratedMasters take the same courses as areo"ered in the newMaster programmes.

In this report it is observed that many res-pondents from Sweden have stated thatteaching material and teacher prepara-tion are monitored as part of the qualityassurance activities.!is is mainly due tothe national regulation that text booksand other literature that are used in acourse must be listed in the course sylla-bus which is decided by the faculty boardat the university.

5. Switzerland

!e Swiss higher education system cur-rently consists of ten cantonal universities,the two Federal Institutes of Technology,aswell as other university level institutions. Inaddition there are eight Fachhochschulen(universities of applied sciences), amongwhich there are also teacher training insti-tutions, all recognised by the state. A fewnon-integrated teacher training institu-tions are listed as a special category.!emajority of cantonal universities o"era broad variety of study programmes.Only three of them (St.Gallen,Luzern,andSvizzera italiana) have amore narrow andsubject specific range of programmes.!eFederal Institutes of Technology (Lau-sanne and Zürich) o"er higher educationin the subject areas exact sciences, naturalsciences, and technical sciences.!e uni-versities of applied sciences di"er from theuniversities by o"ering more practicallyoriented study programmes which are re-gulated by the federal government.An ex-ception is the teacher training being theresponsibility of the cantons.Swiss higher education is currently un-dergoing considerable change. Highereducation was diversified by the esta-blishment of universities of appliedsciences and of teacher training institu-tions. !is complemented the alreadyexisting provisions of universities. !eBologna Declaration also implied a deepreaching change of the higher educationlandscape in order to implement the goalof establishing a European higher educa-tion area until the year 2010.At the beginning of the academic year2008/09 it is estimated that slightly lessthan 85 percent of all students (around130,000) are enrolled in Bachelor andMaster programmes according to the Bo-logna model. Practically all new entrantstudents start in a Bachelor programme.!e implementation of the Bologna re-

formswas carried out in all subjects and isbasically finished. In 2005, the proportionof students being enrolled in a Bologna re-form compatible study programme wasonly 40 percent in both cycles of studies.In general, it can be observed that the re-form has progressed less at universi-tiesthan at universities of applied sci-encesand teacher training institutions. 18 per-cent of students studying at universitiesare still enrolled in a ‘traditional’ pro-gramme, while this is the case with only13 percent of students studying at uni-versities of applied sciences and teachertraining institutions.!e latter types ofhigher education institutions began thereform in a coordinated manner in 2005.In addition, the duration of studies atthese institutions is shorter than at uni-versities so that the implementation ofthe Bologna reforms happened faster. In2008, altogether around 7,500 Bachelordegrees were awarded by universities; thenumber of Bachelor degrees awarded byuniversities of applied sciences and tea-cher training institutions can not yet bestated currently.In the fall of 2009, a further step will betaken in the implementation of the Bolo-gna reforms by introducing Master pro-grammes at all universities of appliedsciences.!e prognosis is that there willbe between 4,500 and 6,000 Master stu-dents in universities of applied sciencesand teacher training institutions.

6. Slovenia

Slovenia is a small country with only 4universities three of which o"er Physicsstudies (at both Bachelor and Masterlevel). However, the majority of Physicsstudents (more than 75%) are enrolled atone of the three universities.!e study re-forms according to the Bologna Declara-tion and the subsequent communiquéswas prescribed by law setting 2010 as theyear by which all new programmesshould be in place. All universities optedfor the 3+2 scheme.!e programmes areaccredited by theAccreditation Senate ofthe Council of Higher Education. In 2009the new programmes according to theBachelorMaster scheme are running bet-ween one and three years so that there isno experience as yet concerning the qua-lity of the programmes, employability andtransfer into labour market.



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7. France

This short report by Nathalie Lebrun(representative of the French PhysicalSociety) gives an overview of the state ofthe art of the implementation of the Bo-logna Process in Physics studies. The se-cond part is dedicated to somerecommendations. The report will becomplemented in 2010 with specificitiesregarding Master level study pro-grammes.

State of the ArtIn France, each university has a four yearcontract with the Ministry of HigherEducation and Research (MESR). Thus,the Ministry ensures that the Bolognaprocess is implemented. The fulfilmentof the contract of each university iscontrolled by an evaluation agency(AERES). Currently, France has no na-tional working group on the BolognaProcess which could develop policy pro-posals for its implementation. However,a national group of Bologna promotersexists supporting the universities in theimplementation of the Bologna reforms.Since September 2006, all French uni-versities adopted the “LMD” scheme (Li-cence, Maitrise, Doctorate) which is areflection of the European award struc-ture based on Ba/Ma/D (Bachelor, Mas-ter, Doctorate). Only the medicalsubjects and engineering are not yet in-cluded in this scheme. Negotiationsabout this are in progress.Among 87 universities, 57 offer Bache-lor programmes in Physics. The Bache-lor programmes impart a broad andgeneral knowledge of physics and ensurea fundamental professional qualifica-tion. Significant variations are noted forthe experimental physics in terms of thenumber of hours allocated to this typeof studies. The ratio between the physicscourses and the non physics courses isnot homogeneous and strongly dependson the local situation in each university.In most of the Physics courses the es-sential fields are: mechanics, optics, fluidmechanics, thermodynamics, physicsstatistics, molecular physics, physics ofcondensed matter, and quantummecha-nics. In addition, some special physicscourses might be taught in universitieswhich are strongly related to researchdomains in laboratories. These specialcourses are mostly offered during the

third year of Bachelor degree studies andare compulsory courses directly linkedto the specialisations of Master pro-grammes offered at the local level. Ma-thematical tools are well integrated intothe curricula as well as transversalcourses as communication tools, foreignlanguages and discovery of scientificjobs. A comparison of Bachelor pro-grammes allows the conclusion that a si-milar body of knowledge is offered in alluniversity Physics Departments, howe-ver, with some small differences. Theseessentially concern the position of thecourses mentioned throughout the threeyears of the Bachelor programme. In2005, the French Physical Society andthe Ministry of Education and Researchworked together and established recom-mendations regarding the content of theBachelor programmes in Physics: whichknowledge should a student have acqui-red after three years of Bachelor studiesin Physics? The recommendations werespread to the French universities.To improve student success in the firstyear of Bachelor degree studies, the Mi-nistry of Education and Research laun-ched in September 2008 a “Plan forsuccess in first degree courses” for thefollowing four years. Its aim is to encou-rage project based forms of study whichallow universities to develop studentsupport schemes, assistance with gui-dance and the strengthening of know-ledge in preparation for employment orfurther studies. This plan enhances stu-dent-teacher ratio and introduces a pro-gressive specialisation of studies.Duringthe first year, students clarify theirchoices of study domain and the tea-ching staff obtains a better understan-ding of the student profiles in order toadapt their teaching accordingly. Theplan involves:• circulating objective information forstudents;

• giving advice to students about thechances of success and employmentprospects in the planned speciality;

• the creation of support systems for stu-dents such as pre-term, skills assess-ments, upgrading, establishment of amethodological framework for univer-sity studies, interviews, etc.

The plan is essentially applied in sciencestudies as mathematics, physics, chemis-try, biology.

Access to Bachelor and MasterProgrammesNo selection exists of newly enteringstudents at universities while the otherhigher education institutions (offeringshort studies: BTS, DUT; offering longstudies: Classes préparatoires, enginee-ring schools) select the best students.Entry to the second cycle is quasi-auto-matic with a Bachelor degree in a subjectcompatible with that of national Masterdiploma. A selection takes place subse-quently between the first and the secondyear of the Master programme.

EmployabilityA regular survey of employment ofyoung graduates three years after theend of their initial studies is undertakenby CEREQ (Qualifications Study andResearch Centre).After the Bachelor de-gree most of the graduates continuetheir studies at the Master’s level. Regar-ding the Bachelor in general Physics,only five percent of Bachelor graduatesdecided to stop their studies and enterprofessional life. The employability rateis very low (a few percent) with generallylow qualified jobs (below the Bachelorlevel). Most of these Bachelor graduatesapplied for the civil service competitiveexamination (management staff). Inorder to increase the employability ofgraduates with a Bachelor degree, theFrench Ministry of Education created in1999 the professional Bachelor pro-grammes (“licence professionnelle”).The Professional Bachelor (“licence pro-fessionnelle”) is classified at ISCED level5B and is specially designed to give ac-cess to the labour market.However, it of-fers only restricted possibilities to studyat the Master’s level, except in a lifelonglearning context. Staff from private com-panies are frequently involved in theseprofessional Bachelors with a participa-ting rate of 50%. The employability ofgraduates from Professional Bachelorprogrammes in the Physics domains(electronics, electricity, acoustics, mate-rials, etc) is around 85%.

National Qualification Network,Learning Outcomes, CompetencesIn 2002, theMinistry of Education establi-shed a National Directory of ProfessionalQualifications (RNCP) which is the fra-mework for qualifications in France. Allgeneral and professional Bachelors have



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now to be registered with the RNCP.!eRNCP formula is attached to the degreecertificate and highlights learning out-comes, especially in terms of skills. It alsosets out the filed of activities and speciali-ties as well as the level of qualification.Forthe professional Bachelor the employmentrate over the past three years is also inclu-ded.!e implementation of this nationalqualifications framework is in progress re-garding the general Bachelor degrees, forexample Physics Bachelors. To be registe-red with the RNCP, degree certificatesmust have received the approval of theNa-tional Commission for Professional Qua-lification (CNCP).!e self-certification ofcompatibility with the Bologna frameworkhas started but it is not yet completed.

European Credit System ECTS,Learning Outcomes andWorkloadAny degree at the level of “Licence” (Ba-chelor) represents 180 ECTS credits andthose at the level of “Maitrise” (Master)correspond to 120 credits, making it atotal of 300 ECTS credits after finishinga Master’s degree. Exceptions are the me-dical and engineering studies. Theirchange to the Bologna structure is nowunderway. Regarding doctoral level stu-dies it is not planned to quantify thestudy programme and doctoral degreeaccording to ECTS.Contact hours are no longer the refe-rence to define ECTS credit points andhave been replaced by student workload.Nevertheless, learning outcomes havenot yet become the usual referencepoints for the system. ECTS creditpoints are linked with learning out-comes in some Physics programmes.The generalisation is in progress. Thereare no other credit point systems thanECTS since France adopted the princi-ple of generalising the European ECTScredit system for higher education stu-dies, except at doctoral level.

Diploma SupplementThe diploma supplement (or descriptiveappendix to the diploma) is still beinggradually introduced. The main diffi-culty resides in the new approach of theassessment of skills and the definition oflearning outcomes. This diploma sup-plement concerns the Bachelor andMaster levels. It is organised centrallythrough the RNCP. It is available inthe language of instruction, mainly in

French. When required, the diplomasupplement is available in other officiallanguages of the European Union de-pending on the wishes of the studentand the choices offered by the university.This supplement is free of charge and isautomatically delivered to students. Itcorresponds to the EU/CoE/ UNESCOdiploma supplement format. At the cur-rent stage, the diploma supplement isnot a standard reference document sup-porting a diploma presented by a foreigncandidate since it is drafted in a varietyof ways making interpretation difficult.

Lifelong LearningAn accreditation of prior learning (VAE)is available at Bachelor andMaster levels.It takes into account professional expe-riences or higher studies undertaken inFrance or other countries. It constitutesan individual right open to all upon ob-taining all or part of a degree. Further-more it is possible to get accreditation bythe VAE alone without a course of stu-dies. TheVAE is a means of access to ac-creditation in the same way as initialtraining, apprenticeships or ongoing vo-cational training. The modular organi-sation of Bachelor and MasterProgrammes combined with the accre-ditation of prior experience or learning(VAE) allows greater participation in hi-gher education programmes by studentsfrom wider variety of backgrounds. Thisflexibility for diverse groups of learnerswas made possible thanks to the princi-ple of modularity and of the wider ap-plication of the ECTS.

MobilityThe apparent high level of incomingmobility in French higher educationinstitutions is combined with seeminglylow level of outgoing mobility. The si-tuation is mainly due to the low amountof grant offered to students and the ful-filment of many conditions is requiredto get access to a grant. In November2008, the Council of Ministers decidedthe establishment of a High LevelGroup on Mobility. A reform of finan-cial aids for students has been underta-ken to develop opportunities forfinancial support of study abroad for alarger number of students. Higher edu-cation grants based on social criteriaallow students to pursue studies abroad.Their value has been by 2.5 percent to

allow for the cost of living and the fieldof application has been extended to themiddle class. The amount of the inter-national mobility grant is 400 % permonth for students who follow theirstudies abroad for a period of 2 to 9months. This international grant maysupplement the support normally recei-ved by holders of student grants.

Recommendations• To pursue actions in order to improvethe understanding of learning out-comes and to implement them. Mee-tings should involve teaching staff andnot only the persons in charge of thedegree certificates. Learning outcomeshave to be defined for each module (orunit) and not only at the degree levelincluding the three years of the Bache-lor programmes.

• To improve measurement and controlof student workload. Until now, theNational Bologna Experts Team in-forms and advises the higher educationinstitutions about the implementationof ECTS in line with students’ wor-kloads. Contacts with the teachingstaff have to be generalised to help inintroducing calculation of students’workloads.A homogenisation at natio-nal level is needed. It could be the roleof the National Physics Society torecommend some ratio between theacademic studies and the students’workloads depending on the physicsdomain. The European Physical So-ciety could have also the same role atthe European level in order to establisha European framework.

• To increase the amount of the grantsfor mobility for students at Bachelorlevel. Despite the increase of 2.5 per-cent by the French government, thisamount is still too low, especially forstudents who are moving around thewestern parts of Europe.

• To translate all study programmes intothe English language and make themavailable on the websites of each univer-sity. Only few universities propose thedouble translation French / English.!ishas to be improved in order to facili- tatethe comparison of academic pro-grammes between European countriesand to increase the student mobility.



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1. Questionnaire forAll Countries except UK

!e Implementation of the BolognaReforms into Physics Studies in Europe

Dear Madam or Sir,On behalf of the European PhysicalSociety the International Centre forHigher Education Research at KasselUniversity (Germany) is carrying outan analysis of the implementation ofthe Bachelor andMaster structure intoPhysics Studies in European universi-ties. In this context we are also lookinginto the realisation of other reformgoals of the Bologna Process, e.g.mo-dularisation, application of ECTS orcompatible credit point systems, stu-dent workload orientation, transmis-sion of generic skills to enhanceemployability etc.Approximately 25 European coun-tries and 260 universities are involvedas partners in this project.!e first step of the project consisted incollecting the actual Physics curriculafocusing on classical Physics studies(i.e. Physics programmes for teachereducation and engineering students arenot included) and analysing them indetail.!e second step is this onlinequestionnaire to complement the cur-ricular analysis with statistical data.Please note that we use the term "insti-tution" as a generic term covering uni-versities and other higher educationinstitutions. It does notmean faculty ordepartment or institute.!is questionnaire focuses onBachelorprogrammes inPhysics but also intendsto gather some information aboutMas-ter programmes. Master programmeswill be mostly a focus in 2009. !issplitting has only practical reasons toallow those countrieswhichhave chan-ged to the new structure only recentlyto collectmore information about theirprogress in implementing the reforms.We would be grateful if you could fillin the questionnaire electronicallyand send it back to us by Friday, 19December 2008.We assure confiden-tiality of the data and informationyou are providing. No university willbe identified by name and the reportwill present only aggregate data.!ereport will be available in spring 2009from the European Physical Society.

!e electronic questionnaire is avai-lable through the following link:http://www.hochschulforschung.uni-kassel.de/qtafi/projects/physics/Our contact person in the NationalPhysical Society has been asked toforward this letter to you togetherwith a PIN in order to access the linkto the questionnaire.Should you have problems in filling inthe questionnaire please contact:Mr.Ahmed TubailInternational Centre for Higher Edu-cation Research Kassel (INCHER-Kassel)[email protected]. Barbara M. KehmINCHER-KasselUniversity of KasselMoenchebergstr. 1734109 [email protected]

!ank you for your cooperation.Please insert your PIN:

General Questions

1. Personal Details1.1 What is your status in the De-partment/Faculty?Dean/Director/Head of StudiesProfessor/lecturer/readerJunior teacher/researcherMember of administrative sta"Other, please indicate

1.2What is your function in relationto the Physics Programme(s)?Multiple replies possibleProgramme coordinatorTeacher (professor/lecturer/reader)Administrative sta"Other, please indicate

2. Institutional Details2.1Pleaseprovidethenameof thecoun-try inwhichyour institution is located:

2.2 How old is your institution coun-ting from date of establishment?years.

2.3 Please indicate the type of yourinstitution:UniversityTechnical UniversityOther, please indicate

2.4 In what subject groups doesyour institution provide study/de-gree programmes?Multiple replies possibleNatural SciencesEngineeringHumanitiesSocial SciencesArts (incl. Design and Architecture)MedicineLawAgricultureOther, please indicate

2.5 Please indicate the size of your ins-titution in terms of numbers of stu-dents and numbers of academic sta!:students (incl. doctoral students)academic sta" (teaching and research)

2.6 Please indicate the size of yourPhysics Department/Faculty interms of student and academicstaff members:students (without doctoral students/candidates)academic sta" (teaching and research)doctoral students/candidates

2.7 What types of Physics degreeprogrammes did your institutiono!er BEFORE changing to the newmodel of Bachelor and Master (ifapplicable, also name traditionaldegree programmes currently stillrunning parallel to Bachelor andMaster programmes)?Name of programmeAv. durationin yearsAv. No. ofstudentsNot applicable

2.8 What types of Physics pro-grammes (and degrees) does yourinstitution currently o!er?(Please take only approved/accreditedprogrammes that are already runninginto account)How manyProgrammes?Bachelor Programme(s) in PhysicsStand alone Master Programme(s)in PhysicsConsecutive/integrated Master Pro-gramme(s) in PhysicsOther (degree) programmes in PhysicsDoctoral Programme(s) in Physics



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http://www.hochschulforschung.uni-kassel.de/qtafi/projects/physics/

3.Implementationof the tiered structure3.1 When did you introduce first-cycleor Bachelor degree programmes in yourinstitution as a whole?Bachelor programmes are the traditionaldegree programmes in my institutionBefore the year 2000; please indicate inwhich year:In the year 2000In the year 2001In the year 2002In the year 2003In the year 2004In the year 2005In the year 2006In the year 2007In the year 2008Introduction of first-cycle or Bachelor de-greeprogramme(s) is envisaged for the year:

3.2 When did you introduce first-cycleor Bachelor degree programme(s) inPhysics in your institution?Bachelor programmes are the traditionaldegree programmes in my institutionBefore the year 2000; please indicate inwhich year:In the year 2000In the year 2001In the year 2002In the year 2003In the year 2004In the year 2005In the year 2006In the year 2007In the year 2008Introduction of first-cycle or Bachelordegree programme(s) in Physics is envi-saged for the year:

3.3 Please state the name of the BachelorProgramme(s) in Physics o!ered at yourInstitution (in English translation):Programme 1:Programme 2:Programme 3:Programme 4:Programme 5:Programme 6:Programme 7:Programme 8:Programme 9:

3.4 Is there a system of accredita-tion/approval of Bachelor study pro-grammes in place?Multiple replies possibleYes, national accreditation systemYes, institutional accreditation system

Yes, other, please indicate:No, Bachelor programmes are approvedby MinistryNo, Bachelor Programmes are approvedby institutional bodiesNo, the institution is accredited and auto-nomous to establish its own programmesNo, other, please indicate:

3.5 Is your Bachelor Physics Programmeaccredited and if yes, until when?Yes, until:No

3.6What is the scheduled duration of aBachelor programme in Physics at yourinstitution?3.0 years3.5 years4.0 yearsLonger than 4.0 years, please indicate:Other, please indicate:

3.7How long does it actually take on ave-rage forBachelor students inPhysics (incl.final examinations) to complete their stu-dies successfully at your institution?3.0 years3.5 years4.0 years4.5 years5.0 yearsLonger than 5 yearsNo information available (yet)

4. Implementation of ComplementaryMeasures4.1 Do you apply ECTS Credit Points inthe framework of your Bachelor Pro-gramme in Physics?YesNo

4.2 If not, do you apply other forms ofCredit Points?YesNo

4.3 If yes, are these Credit Points com-patible with ECTS?Yes Please indicate conversion: ECTS =Credit PointsNo

4.4 Have you modularised your Bache-lor Physics Programme(s); i.e. are thetime units based on modules?YesNo

4.5 Are your modules (or other timeunits) calculated on the basis of studentworkload ?YesNo

4.6 How many hours of student wor-kload are required to earn one creditpoint?10 hours15 hours20 hours25 hours30 hoursOther, please indicate:Not applicable

4.7 What does one module (or othertime unit) consist of as a rule? (Multiplereplies possible)Number of hours of student workload,please indicate:Number of ECTS Credit Points, pleaseindicate:Numberof otherCreditPoints (if applicable):Number of teaching hours in class, pleaseindicate:

4.8 Are compulsory phases or electivephases of study abroad (internationalmo-bility) part of the Bachelor curriculum?CompulsoryElective

4.9 Are there other opportunities formobility (internship abroad,work or labwork abroad) provided?NoYes, please indicate which ones:

4.10 At what point in time during thecourse of study do students go abroad?Bachelor Programme:2nd year3rd year4th yearAny point in time

4.11 For how long do students go abroadon average?1-2 months3-5 monthslonger than 5 months

4.12 Please indicate the percentage ofBachelor Physics students who use suchopportunities to go abroad:percent on averageno information available yet



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4.13 Is yourBachelor Programme inPhy-sics a joint or double degree programme?(Note: a double degree programme isprogramme o"ered jointly by two insti-tutions located in di"erent countries; ajoint degree programme is a programmeo"ered jointly by more than two institu-tions from di"erent countries.)YesNo

4.14 If yes, is it aJoint degree programme. How manypartner institutionsDouble degree programme.Partner fromwhich country

5. Curriculum5.1 How would you characterise yourPhysics Bachelor curriculum?More generalisedMore specialisedA mix of both

5.2 Does your module (or course) des-cription include expected learningoutcomes?YesNo

5.3 What is the language of teaching inyour institution?Please indicate:

5.4 Is teaching o!ered in a foreign lan-guage in your Bachelor Programmein Physics?YesNo

5.5 If yes, please indicate the (foreign)language or languages and rank themaccording to the frequency of use (withRank 1 being the highest):EnglishFrenchGermanItalianSpanishOther foreign language(s),please indicate:

5.6 Is the whole Programme taught in aforeign language or just parts of it?Whole ProgrammeJust parts

5.7 If teaching takes place in a foreignlanguage (ormore than one foreign lan-guage), please estimate the proportion:

Language ranked 1: percentLanguage ranked 2: percentLanguage ranked 3: percent

5.8 Does teaching in your Bachelor Phy-sics Programme include interdiscipli-nary components?YesNo; please go to question 6.1

5.9 If yes, does it include classes/courses/modules from other disciplines?YesNo

5.10 If yes, please indicate which sub-jects/subject groups other than Physics(including Mathematics and Compu-ting) are included in the curriculum:Multiple replies possibleOther natural sciences, please indicate:Engineering SciencesMedical SciencesHumanitiesSocial SciencesOther, please indicate:

5.11Are interdisciplinary contents an inte-gratedpartof theBachelorPhysics classes?YesNo

6.Assessment and Examinations6.1HowmanyECTScredit pointsmust beearned for a Bachelor degree in Physics?180Other, please indicate:

6.2 How are the credit points distribu-ted in your Bachelor Physics curriculumover the various types of delivery (pro-vide number of credit points)?credit points for modules/courses/otherunits of timecredit points for lab work/practicalscredit points for Bachelor thesis/projectwork and defencecredit points for other forms of delivery,please indicate:Total credit pointsNot applicable, no credit points in use

6.3What are the final steps for the awardof a Bachelor degree in Physics?Multiple replies possibleWritten thesisWritten thesis plus defenceWritten test(s)Oral examination

Demonstration of an experiment,mathe-matical formula (or similar)Project presentationOther, please indicate

6.4 Are the marks awarded during thecourse of study included when calcula-ting the final mark of the degree (pleaseindicate percentages)?No mark given for final degree (just pass/fail/passed with distinction or honours)Percent from modulesPercent from lab work/practical exercisesPercent fromthesis anddefence (if applicable)From final oral examinationFrom final written examination test(s)From other form(s) of assessment, pleaseindicate:

6.5 Do you assess student performancein terms of learning outcomes a"er eachmodule or unit of teaching/learning?YesNo

6.6 Do you assess subject knowledgeonly or also transferable skills?Please note:!e term "transferable skills"is frequently used synonymous with thefollowing terms: so# skills, generic skills,key competences, key qualifications. It de-notes a combination of cognitive, motiva-tional, moral, and social skills needed tofulfil tasks, solve problems, cope with de-mands, and cooperate in teams.Subject knowledge onlyAlso transferable skills

6.7 What types of assessment are beingused during the course of study?Multiple replies possibleWritten testsMultiple choice questionsHomework papersInterview with teacherOral examinationOther forms of assessment,please indicate:

6.8 What forms of marking are used inyour Bachelor Physics Programme?Multiple replies possibleNomarkinggiven forfinal degree (just pass/fail/passed with distinction or honours)Relative marking (performance of indivi-dual student in relation to the group)Absolute marking (degree of fulfilment ofestablished criteria)Individually acquired knowledge duringa module/class



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Individually acquired competences (incl.transferable skills) during a module/classOther forms, please indicate:

6.9 To what extent do practical parts(demonstrations, lab work results, etc.)count for the final mark?Not applicable, just pass or failBetween 5 and 10 percentBetween 11 and 20 percentBetween 21 and 30 percentMore than 30 percent

7. Quality Assurance7.1What types of quality assurance acti-vities are carried out for your Bachelorprogrammes in Physics?Multiple replies possiblePeriodic accreditation/re-accreditation ofthe programmeEvaluation of courses/modules by stu-dent questionnaireEvaluation of the programme by externalevaluatorsInclusion of external examinersMonitoring of teachingmaterial and pre-paration of teachersObligatory participation of teaching sta"in pedagogical/didactic coursesOther, please indicate:

8.Employability and Transferable SkillsPlease note:!e term "transferable skills"is frequently used synonymous with thefollowing terms: so# skills, generic skills,key competences, key qualifications. It de-notes a combination of cognitive, moti-vational, moral, and social skills neededto fulfil tasks, solve problems, cope withdemands, and cooperate in teams.

8.1 Is the acquisition of transferableskills part of the Bachelor curriculumin Physics ?YesNo; please go to question 8.3

8.2 If yes, is the acquisition of transfera-ble skills integrated into the BachelorPhysics curriculum or is it separatedfrom it (e.g. in special courses)?IntegratedSeparated in special coursesMixed

8.3 Do you prepare your Bachelor stu-dents dominantly for transition into thelabour market or for transition into aMaster Programme?

Dominantly for labour marketDominantly for Master Programme(s)Mixture of both

8.4 What activities/services does yourinstitution o!er to ease transition of Ba-chelor Physics graduates into the labourmarket?Multiple replies possibleCareer services and adviceOrganisation of interviews with potentialemployersInternships during the course of studyLectures by alumni or potential em-ployers about labour market and careeropportunitiesTraining for job applications and job in-terviewsInformation brochures about potentialjob areasOther activities/services, please indicate:No particular activities/services on o"er

9.Composition,Completion and Tran-sition Rates9.1 Please estimate completion rates inyour Bachelor Programme:percent of students successfully completetheir programme.Not known yet.

9.2 Please indicate the percentage of in-ternational students enrolling in yourBachelor Programme in Physics:percent

9.3 Please estimate the composition ofBachelor Physics graduates going into aMaster Physics Programme o!ered byyour own or by another institution:percent of own Bachelor Physics gra-duates enrol in a Master Physics Pro-gramme at owninstitutionpercent of own Bachelor Physics gra-duates enrol in a Master Physics Pro-gramme at anotherinstitution in the countrypercent of own Bachelor Physics gra-duates enrol in a Master Physics Pro-gramme at an institutionin another countryNot known yet.

9.4 Please estimate the proportion ofBachelor Physics graduates going intothe labour market:percentNot known yet.

2. Questionnairefor UK Universities

General Questions

1. Personal Details1.1 What is your status in the Depart-ment/Faculty?Dean/Director/Head of StudiesProfessor/lecturer/readerJunior teacher/researcherMember of administrative sta"Other, please indicate:

1.2What is your function in relation tothe Physics Programme(s)?Multiple replies possibleProgramme coordinatorTeacher (professor/lecturer/reader)Administrative sta"Other, please indicate:

2. Institutional Details2.1 Please provide the name of the coun-try in which your institution is located:

2.2 For how many years has your insti-tution been a university?years.

2.3 In what subject groups does yourinstitution provide study/degree pro-grammes?Multiple replies possibleSciencesEngineeringHumanitiesSocial SciencesArts (incl. Design and Architecture)MedicineLawAgricultureOther, please indicate:

2.4 Please indicate the size of your insti-tution in terms of numbers of studentsand numbers of academic sta!:students (incl. doctoral students)academic sta" (teaching and research)

2.5 Please indicate the size of your Phy-sics Department in terms of student andacademic sta! members in full timeequivalents(FTE):students (incl.Master's degree studentsdoctoral studentsacademic sta"Postdocs



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2.6 If you have recently changed thestructure of your programmes and de-grees, what types of Physics degree pro-grammes did your institution o!erBEFORE changing to Bachelor andMaster programmes (if applicable, alsoname traditional degree programmescurrently still running parallel to Ba-chelor and Master programmes)?Name of programmeAv. durationin yearsAv. No. ofstudentsNot applicable

2.7 What types of Physics programmes(and degrees) does your institution cur-rently o!er?online.QTAFI - physics_UKHow many Programmes?Bachelor Programme(s) in PhysicsIntegratedMaster Programme(s) inPhysicsStand alone Master Programme(s) inPhysicsOther (degree) programmes in PhysicsDoctoral Programme(s) in Physics

First-Cycle or Bachelor Programmesin Physics

3.Implementationof the tiered structure3.1 When did you introduce first-cycleor Bachelor degree programmes in yourinstitution as a whole?Bachelor programmes are the traditionaldegree programmes in my institutionBefore the year 2000; please indicate inwhich year:In the year 2000In the year 2001In the year 2002In the year 2003In the year 2004In the year 2005In the year 2006In the year 2007In the year 2008Introduction of first-cycle or Bachelor de-greeprogramme(s) is envisaged for theyear:

3.2 When did you introduce first-cycleor Bachelor degree programme(s) inPhysics in your institution?Bachelor programmes are the traditionaldegree programmes in my institutionBefore the year 2000; please indicate inwhich year:

In the year 2000In the year 2001In the year 2002In the year 2003In the year 2004In the year 2005In the year 2006In the year 2007In the year 2008Introduction of first-cycle or Bachelordegree programme(s) in Physics is envi-saged for the year:

3.3 Please state the name of the BachelorProgramme(s) in Physics o!ered atyour Institution(Please note: for subsequent answers pleaserefer to number(s) of programme(s) listedhere from 1 to 15 to reflect variation.)Programme 1:Programme 2:Programme 3:Programme 4:Programme 5:Programme 6:Programme 7:Programme 8:Programme 9:Programme 10:Programme 11:Programme 12:Programme 13:Programme 14:Programme 15:

3.4Is thereasystemof accreditation/appro-valof Bachelor studyprogrammes inplace?Multiple replies possibleNationalaccreditationsystemthroughagencyInstitutional approval systemApproval by MinistryOther form, please indicate:

3.5 Are your Bachelor Physics Pro-gramme(s) accredited and/or approvedand if yes, until when?Yes, accredited Until:Yes, approved Until:No, neither accredited nor approved

3.6What is the scheduled duration of aBachelor programme in Physics at yourinstitution?3.0 years Programme3.5 years Programme4.0 years ProgrammeLonger than 4.0 years, please indicate:ProgrammeOther, please indicate: Programme

3.7How long does it actually take on ave-rage forBachelor students inPhysics (incl.final examinations) to complete their stu-dies successfully at your institution?3.0 years Programme3.5 years Programme4.0 years Programme4.5 years Programme5.0 years ProgrammeLonger than 5.0 years, please indicate:ProgrammeNo information available (yet) Programme

4. Implementation of ComplementaryMeasures4.1 Do you apply ECTS Credit Points inthe framework of your Bachelor Pro-gramme in Physics?YesNo

4.2 If not, do you apply other forms ofCredit Points?YesNo

4.3 If yes, are these Credit Points com-patible with ECTS?Yes Please indicate conversion: ECTS =Credit PointsNo

4.4 Have you modularised your Bache-lor Physics Programme(s)?YesNo

4.5If yes,is thecreditratingof your modulescalculatedonthebasisof studentworkload?YesNo

4.6 If yes,howmany hours of student wor-kloadare required toearnonecreditpoint?10 hours15 hours20 hours25 hours30 hoursOther, please indicate:

4.7Whatdoesonemoduleconsistofasarule?Number of hours of student workload,please indicate:NumberofECTSCreditPoints,pleaseindicate:Numberof otherCreditPoints (if applicable):Number of teaching hours in class, pleaseindicate:Other numeric elements, please indicate:



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4.8 Are compulsory phases or electivephases of study abroad (internationalmo-bility) part of the Bachelor curriculum?Compulsory ProgrammeElective Programme

4.9 Are there other opportunities formobility (internship abroad,work or labwork abroad) provided?No ProgrammeYes, please indicate which ones: Pro-gramme

4.10 At what point in time during thecourse of study do students go abroad?2nd year Programme3rd year Programme4th year ProgrammeAny Point in time Programme

4.11 For how long do students go abroadon average? Please di!erentiate accordingtocompulsoryandelectivemobilityphases.Compulsory ElectiveLess than onemonth Less than onemonth1-2 months 1-2 months3-5 months 3-5 monthslonger than 5months longer than 5months

4.12 Please indicate the percentage ofBachelor Physics students who use suchopportunities to go abroad:Percent on average No informationProgramme 1Programme 2Programme 3Programme 4Programme 5Programme 6Programme 7Programme 8Programme 9Programme 10Programme 11Programme 12Programme 13Programme 14Programme 15

4.13 Is yourBachelor Programme inPhy-sics a joint or double degree programme?(Note: a double degree programme isprogramme o"ered jointly by two insti-tutions located in di"erent countries; ajoint degree programme is a programmeo"ered jointly by more than two institu-tions from di"erent countries.)YesNo

4.14 If yes, is it aJoint degree programme. How manypartner institutionsDouble degree programme.Partner fromwhich country

5. Curriculum5.1 Do your module descriptions in-clude expected learning outcomes?YesNo

5.2What is the primary language of tea-ching in your institution?Please indicate:

5.3 Is teaching o!ered in a foreign lan-guage in Physics Bachelor Programmesin your institution?NoYes, in some programmesYes, in all programmes

5.4 If yes, please indicate the (foreign)language or languages and rank themaccording to the frequency of use (withRank 1 being the highest):FrenchGermanItalianSpanishOther foreign language(s),please indicate:

5.5 Are whole Programmes taught in a fo-reignlanguageorjustpartsofProgrammes?Whole ProgrammeJust parts of Programmes

5.6 If teaching takes place in a foreignlanguage (ormore than one foreign lan-guage), please estimate the proportion:Language ranked 1: percentLanguage ranked 2: percentLanguage ranked 3: percent

5.7 Does teaching in your Bachelor Phy-sics Programme(s) includemultidiscipli-nary or interdisciplinary components?multidisciplinary interdisciplinary NoProgramme 1Programme 2Programme 3Programme 4Programme 5Programme 6Programme 7Programme 8Programme 9Programme 10

Programme 11Programme 12Programme 13Programme 14Programme 15

5.8 If yes, please indicate which sub-jects/subject groups other than Physics(including Mathematics and Compu-ting) are included in the curriculum:Other natural sciences, please indicate:ProgrammeEngineering Sciences ProgrammeMedical Sciences ProgrammeHumanities ProgrammeSocial Sciences ProgrammeOther, please indicate: Programme

5.9 Does your institution o!er jointhonours programmes in Physics?NoYes, please indicate Programmes

6.Assessment and Examinations6.1 How many ECTS credit points (orECTS equivalent credit points) must beearned for a Bachelor degree in Physics?180Other, please indicate:

6.2 How are the credit points distribu-ted in your Bachelor Physics curriculumover the various types of delivery (pro-vide number of credit points)?credit points for lectures/theory modulescredit points for lab work/practicalscredit points for Bachelor thesis/projectwork and defencefor other forms of delivery, please indi-cate:Total: credit pointsNot applicable, no credit points in use

6.3 Does the award of a Bachelor degreein Physics include a final examinationwhich is separate from/in addition tothe modules?YesNo

6.4 If yes, what does the final examina-tion consist of?Multiple replies possibleWritten thesisWritten thesis plus defenceUnseen examinationOral examinationDemonstration of an experiment,mathe-matical formula (or similar)



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Project presentationOther, please indicate:

6.5 Are the marks awarded during thecourse of study included when calcula-ting the final mark of the degree (pleaseindicate percentages)?Mark of degree emerges from the marksof the modulesNomark given for final degree (just pass/fail/passed with distinction or honours)Percent from modulesPercent from lab work/practical exercisesPercent fromthesisanddefence(if applicable)Percent from final oral examination (ifapplicable)Percent from final unseen examination (ifapplicable)Percent from other form(s) of assess-ment, please indicate:

6.6 Is each module assessed?YesNo

6.7 Do you assess learning outcomesa"er each module or unit of tea-ching/learning?YesNo

6.8 Do you assess subject knowledgeonly or also transferable skills?Subject knowledge onlyAlso transferable skills

6.9 What types of assessment are beingused during the course of study?Multiple replies possibleUnseen examinationsMultiple choice questionsHomework papersInterview with teacherOral examinationOther forms of assessment,please indicate:

6.10What forms of marking are used inyour Bachelor Physics Programme?Multiple replies possibleNo marking (just pass/fail)Relative marks (performance of indivi-dual student in relation to the group)Absolute marks (degree of fulfilment ofestablished criteria)Individually acquired knowledge duringa module/classIndividually acquired competences (incl.transferable skills) during a module/classOther forms, please indicate:

6.11 To what extent do practical parts inthe modules (demonstrations, lab workresults, etc.) count for the final mark?Not at allBetween 5 and 10 percentBetween 11 and 20 percentBetween 21 and 30 percentMore than 30 percent

7. Quality Assurance7.1What types of quality assurance acti-vities are carried out for your Bachelorprogrammes in Physics?Multiple replies possiblePeriodic approval by your institutionPeriodic accreditation/re-accreditation ofthe programmeEvaluation of courses/modules by stu-dent questionnaireEvaluation of the programme by externalevaluatorsInclusion of external examinersMonitoring of teachingmaterial and pre-paration of teachersObligatory participation of teaching sta"in pedagogical/didactic coursesOther, please indicate:

8.Employability and Transferable Skills8.1 Is the acquisition of transferableskills part of the Bachelor in Physicscurriculum?YesNo; please go to question 8.3

8.2 If yes, is the acquisition of transfera-ble skills integrated into the BachelorPhysics curriculum or is it separatedfrom it (e.g. in special courses)?IntegratedSeparated in special coursesMixed

8.3 Do you prepare your Bachelor stu-dents predominantly for transition intothe labour market or for transition intoa Master Programme?Predominantly for labour marketPredominantly for stand alone MasterProgramme(s)Mixture of bothFor a PhD programme

8.4 What activities/services does yourinstitution o!er to ease transition of Ba-chelor Physics graduates into the labourmarket?Multiple replies possibleCareer services and advice

Organisation of interviews with potentialemployersInternships during the course of studyLectures by alumni or potential em-ployers about labour market and careeropportunitiesTraining for job applications and jobinterviewsInformation brochures about potentialjob areasOther activities/services, please indicate:

9.Composition,Completion and Tran-sition Rates9.1 Please estimate completion rates inyour Bachelor Programme:percent of students successfully completetheir programme.Not known yet.

9.2 Please indicate the percentage of in-ternational students enrolling in yourBachelor Programme in Physics:percent

9.3 Howmany newly enrolling studentson average enrol in a Bachelor PhysicsProgramme, a joint honours pro-gramme in Physics and an integratedMaster Programme in Physics?percent of new students in a Bachelorprogramme in Physicspercent of new students in a joint ho-nours programme in Physicspercent of new students in an integratedPhysics Master Programme

9.4Please estimate the compositionof Ba-chelorPhysics graduates going intoa standalone Master Physics Programme o!eredby your own or by another institution:percent of own Bachelor Physics gra-duates enrol in a stand aloneMaster Phy-sics Programme at own institutionpercent of own Bachelor Physics gra-duates enrol in a (stand alone) MasterPhysics Programme at another institutionin the countrypercent of Bachelor Physics graduatesenrol in a (stand alone) Master PhysicsProgramme at an institution in anothercountryNot known yet.

9.5 Please estimate the proportion ofBachelor Physics graduates going intothe labour market:percentNot known yet



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