History

Even if the actual roots go back much further: the Bologna Process has its official origin in the so-called Sorbonne Declaration in 1998: the focus to this day is on the development and expansion of a common European higher education area in order to be able to jointly use existing potentials and to develop new ones. The basic conditions for this are the mobility of students and academic staff, comparability and recognition of the respective degrees.

In the subsequent Bologna Declaration in 1999, 29 European nations committed themselves to the goal of creating a common European Higher Education Area by 2010. The Bologna Declaration gave its name to the reform that followed: the Bologna Process.

For Germany, the Federal Government and the Länder signed jointly, thus clearly committing themselves to the goal of advancing the reform of the German higher education system in a European context. In addition to concrete goals such as the introduction of a credit point system (ECTS) or the improvement of the recognition of degrees, follow-up conferences (Prague, 2001; Berlin, 2003; Bergen, 2005) were agreed every two years to take stock of the progress made. In the Berlin Communiqué 2003, three priority topics were also agreed upon:

• two-cycle degree structure (Bachelor's and Master's degrees)
• recognition of degrees and stages
• quality assurance

Germany incorporated the two-cycle degree structure into the German Higher Education Framework Act in 2002: Bachelor's and Master's degree programmes are transferred to the regular range of programmes offered by higher education institutions. The two-cycle structure is implemented through modularised study programmes: The study programmes are composed of several individual modules that are internationally compatible and thus form a basis for more mobility in studies. With the introduction of Bachelor's and Master's study programmes, a reform of the study content was decided, the quality of which must be ensured and improved.

Evaluation and accreditation 

Instead of Examination Regulations, which are largely imposed on the individual study programmes from outside, the higher education institutions – fields of study, chairs, institutes - have the opportunity to define and develop a study programme independently. Accreditation agencies check whether the quality of the developed Bachelor's and Master's programmes meets subject-specific quality standards and certain structural specifications.

Within the framework of system accreditation, the design and performance of the quality management system of the entire university is assessed. The external assessment is carried out by an agency on the basis of a self-report of the higher education institution and on the basis of random samples which take into account the range of fields of study, on-site interviews and, if necessary, supplementary statements. Evidence must be provided that (a) formal and subject-related standards in the design of the study programme are ensured and (b) specified system standards are adhered to.  

However, the autonomy granted in this way requires a counterbalance and that is: evaluation. The aim is to systematically and regularly gather information on the quality of teaching. This information should flow into an internal discussion in an effective manner so that measures can be derived that contribute to a noticeable and sustainable improvement of the teaching and study offer in the respective field of study.