BA/MA - die Studiengänge

Challenges of the Bologna process. New graduations (B.A./M.A.) and the traditional university
The contribution enquires for the relation between new B.A./M.A. graduations and the system of traditional universities, which in Germany is closely connected with the name Wilhelm von Humboldt. Because the university has always been having an education function, today’s reform could by all means be legitimised by the classic idea of university. After a brief outline of the Bologna process and under consideration of disciplinary posing of questions of adult education, the author rather critically sums up the implementation that took place. Here many things have been implemented too quickly and with too much self-interest. Untouched by the criticism is the original aim perspective, to reach mobility, flexibility, competitiveness and employability through standardized courses of training and graduations.

Quo vadis graduate? First assessment of the BA/MA study location Bochum
The contribution looks through experiences in relation to graduates of B.A. and M.A. courses of study in educational science in Bochum. Concerning the bachelor: The graduate quota with 60 per cent is much higher than previous quotas – like in the master course of study. While approximately half of the graduates continue their study in Bochum, others enter the employment market directly. They find employment in the wider setting of adult education. For the taking up of a master study, often the motive is leading “first to just continue”. This is how the master receives a character of a moratorium. Students occasionally manage an early transition into professional life, not least because the bachelor already is a qualifying graduation for employment.

The B.A./M.A. nonsense. A backtalk
The polemic against the university reform begins at its claim of absoluteness and the derivation of a “diploma prohibition” of the Bologna process. The educational politics is being assumed to have introduced the bachelor and master for financial reasons. The author captures 15 theses on the damage, which the university reform brings. Among others: 1. B.A. and M.A. are extending the time of study. 2. The B.A. destroys university places. 3. The B.A. does not qualify for an occupation. 4. The taking over of school like methods prevents the formation of key competences. 5. The mobility within Germany is made impossible. The contribution is rounded-off by a look towards America.

The “European Master in Adult Education“. Transnational courses of study as the fruit of the Bologna process
Proceeding from the documents of the Bologna process, the contribution directs its gaze at the European dimension in study programmes at European universities. In the area of adult education a joint study programme of eight universities and the German Institute for Adult Education has a pioneering role. The “European Master in Adult Education“ (EMAE), developed in the context of an Erasmus project, coordinated by the University of Duisburg-Essen, has the aim of supporting the transparency of adult education courses of study, mobility of pedagogy students as well as the European discourse in adult education. The master study carried out in English and enriched with online modules, comprises a joint European “Core Curriculum“ (70 ECTS) as well as a “University Specific Offer“ (50 ECTS) with nationally orientated contents. The course of study has been successfully accredited in the mean time and will start in the winter semester 2007/2008

Main pillars of professionalisation. The “qualification framework for teachers“ and the “core curriculum adult education and continuing education”
Here two initiatives are being compared, which want to contribute to the professionalisation of the continuing education area. The “qualification framework for teachers“ is a German derivate of the European Qualifications Framework. It creates a grid in which the manifold qualification possibilities for teachers of the continuing education area can be made comparable. The “core curriculum adult education and continuing education” originates from an initiative of the Section German Association for Educational Science (DGfE). It determines those content fields that are necessary in a university reform in the frame of B.A. and M.A. courses of study, in order to secure the knowledge and the action competencies for the professional field of adult education and continuing education. Both basic approaches are complementary and are aiming at competence orientation.

Foundation of a family as a predetermined breaking point? On the interaction of parenthood and participation in adult education and continuing education
Within the context of an empirical longitudinal research project, the processes and turning points of the continuing education practise are documented and discussed in a gender-typical context of life. The survey proves the gender-typical change of the (continuing) education behaviour of men and women when they become fathers and mothers: The participation of fathers in continuing education increases enormously, while women’s participation reduces drastically. Given that women with the predetermined breaking point of motherhood anyhow as a rule enter a discontinuing professional career, continuing education would be a chance to prevent the devaluation of professional qualification.

Development of culinary competencies. »Food Literacy« as a horizontal task for adult education
Nourishment relevant theoretical knowledge and practical skills in preparing dishes are more and more decreasing. At the same time the requirements towards the personal feeding competence are increasing: the variety of offers continuously demands decisions and a time budget for nourishment from the consumer – these become smaller in competition to work times and media using times. The contribution introduces the concept of a Grundtvig project, which has set the aim of making nourishment a horizontal theme. The idea is not to establish own events on this theme but to make existing offers of different provenance a learning matter.