Glossary of terms (last update: June 2009)
Please note: Underlined terms in the explanations other then external hyperlinks are terms explained elsewhere in the glossary.
Continuing education and training / Continuing professional development European Quality Assurance Register (EQAR) Formal education / Formal learning Framework of Qualifications for the European Higher Education Area Informal education/ Informal learning International sectoral organisation Learner centred (approach or system) National Qualifications Framework National Qualifications System Non-formal education / Non-formal learning Recognition of non-formal and informal learning
Any training which takes place within the context of higher education. Although, traditionally, this phrase has often been used to distinguish training of an intellectually-oriented nature from professional training, training which leads to employability is now seen as important in all higher education study.
A process of evaluating qualifications (or sometimes whole institutions) to determine whether they meet certain academic or professional criteria. A qualification which is accredited is recognised as meeting a certain standard and/or providing content which is required professionally.
The process of assigning a number of credits to quailfications/programmes or to other educational components. Source: Glossarey of ECTS Users' Guide
A general term embracing all methods used to evaluate/judge the performance of an individual or a group.
Assessment Criteria
The act of delivering learners the number of credits that are assigned to the component or a qualification. The award of credit recognises that learners’ learning outcomes have been assessed and that the learner satisfies the requirements for the educational component or the qualification.
A process by which standards are set in terms of levels of challenge and typical content for a given award (e.g. a Bachelor degree in music).
Bologna Follow-Up Group The process of issuing certificates or diplomas which formally recognise the achievements of an individual, following an assessment procedure.
The group of students that started a particular degree programme in the same year is known as a cohort. Source: Glossary of the ‘Tuning’ project The notion of equivalence between qualifications of the same type offered in different institutions or countries. Comparability does not require complete conformity (see below: diversity)
The proven ability to use knowledge, skills and personal, social and/ or methodological abilities, in work or study situations and in professional and personal development.
A period of 45-60 minutes of teaching/learning activity in which a staff member is engaged face to face with a learner or group or learners.
Continuing education and training / Continuing professional development Education or training after initial education or entry into working life, aimed at helping individuals to: A system of assessment in which work is assessed throughout the programme or course unit and does not rest on a final examination. Marks achieved often contribute to a final overall mark the final assessment total for the student, either for the unit, the year of study or for the programme. Convergence involves the voluntary recognition and adoption of general policies for the achievement of common goals. Convergence in the architecture of national educational systems is pursued in the Bologna process. The Tuning Project seeks to identify points of convergence while recognizing and sharing knowledge about the variety of practice with broad agreed framework.
Often used as a synonym for programme or course unit. Tuning has adopted the term programme to designate a complete programme of study leading to a degree, and course unit for smaller units of structured teaching and learning in such a programme.
A self-contained, formally structured learning experience. It should have a coherent and explicit set of learning outcomes, expressed in terms of competences to be obtained, and appropriate assessment criteria. Course units can have various numbers of credits, however see “module”. Source: Glossary of the ‘Tuning’ project
Coursework refers to the required – normally assessed – learning activities within a course unit or module.
The “currency” used to measure student workload in terms of the time required to achieve specified learning outcomes. It enables staff and students to assess the volume and level of learning, based on the achievement of learning outcomes and the associated workload measured in time.
Credit accumulation is the process of collecting credits for learning within degree programmes. In a credit accumulation system a specified number of credits must be obtained in order to complete successfully a study programme or part thereof, according to the requirements of the programme. Credits are awarded and accumulated only when the successful achievement of the required learning outcomes is confirmed by assessment. Learners can use the credit accumulation system to transfer or “cash in” credits achieved from work-based learning/different programmes within and between educational institutions. Credits are also transferable between programmes in the same institution, between different institution within the same country, or internationally (often with certain limits about the proportion of the total that can be transferred.) The process allows learners to study individual units and modules without immediately achieving an academic award, and also allows for the award of interim awards where students do not complete a full programme leading to the award of a degree. In every case it is the institution that will award the degree that decides which credits earned elsewhere can be accepted as part of the work required for the degree. An indicator of the relative demands of learning and of learner autonomy in a given course unit or module. It is typically based on the complexity and depth of learning and is sometimes associated with the year of study (e.g. level 1/2/3 over a three year programme), or the type of course content. (e.g. Basic/Intermediate/Advanced)
A system in which the total volume of study carried out by a student during the year (taught time plus independent study time) is given a numerical value. This value is then sub-divided to correspond to the various subjects, units or modules which the student takes. The number of credit points gained is not itself a measure of the standard achieved. If a student fails the unit, he or she gets no credits; if they pass, they get all the credits for the unit. Credits can be useful in course design in that they offer a measure of relative volume of the various elements of the course. Increasingly, they are used to enable learning in one institution to be recognised by another. This facilitates mobility.
The word ‘curriculum’ is used to describe the course of study that is offered by an educational institution and taken by its students: it includes defining training goals (learning outcomes – see below), content, methods (including assessment) and material, as well as arrangements for training teachers and trainers.
All European higher education qualifications are located within three cycles. One of the objectives indicated in the Bologna Declaration was the “adoption of a system based on two main cycles, undergraduate and graduate”. Doctoral studies are now included in the Bologna structure and referred to as the third cycle. Generic statements of the broad expected outcomes of each of the three cycles. A good example of general cycle (level) descriptors are the so-called Dublin Descriptors, which have served as one of the foundations (along with ECTS) for the Framework for Qualifications of the European Higher Education Area. A formal qualification awarded by a higher education institution after successful completion of a prescribed study programme. In a credit accumulation system the programme is completed through the accumulation of a specified number of credits awarded for the achievement of a specific set of learning outcomes. A description of the character of a degree programme or qualification. This description gives the main features of the programme which are based on the specific aims of the programme, how it fits into the academic map of disciplines or thematic studies and how it related to the professional world. Deciding to institute a new degree profile should normally be the outcome of a process of analyzing the needs of society combined with those of the specific subject area as well as the financial and personnel means which can be made available to establish the programme.
The term ‘Diploma’ can mean a number of different things. The following three examples cover most cases: Recognition of titles, degrees, qualifications and periods of study abroad is an important instrument to facilitate the mobility of students and of graduates in Europe. Distinction must be made between recognition for academic purposes (because a person wishes to continue his/her studies) and recognition for professional purposes (because a person wishes to work in a certain profession). A network of national information centres for the recognition of diplomas has been established (NARICs: http://www.enic-naric.net/ ). These centres provide information on national academic recognition procedures.
A document providing information regarding course descriptions, volume of work and final grades. This document gives fuller information to employers, improves international transparency and facilitates the academic and professional recognition of qualifications (diplomas, degrees, certificates etc.).
The Bologna Declaration is based on 'full respect of the diversity of cultures, languages, national education systems and of university autonomy’.
Dublin Descriptors
ECTS is a learner-centred credit system based on the student workload quired to achieve the objectives of a programme study and on the principle that 60 credits constitute the workload of a full-time student during one academic year.
A self-contained and formally structured learning experience (such as: course unit, module, seminar, work placement). European Higher Education Area
The relevance of knowledge, skills and competences acquired through training to what the labour market/profession requires.
European Music School Union
European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education Source: http://www.enqa.eu/index.lasso European Quality Assurance Register (EQAR) The EQAR is a web-based and publicly accessible tool which aims to provide clear and objective information about trustworthy quality assurance agencies that are operating in Europe. The register also aims to help improve the quality of European higher education and to promote greater student mobility by increasing trust between higher education institutions. The register will provide a means for HE institutions (where national regulations permit) to choose between the different agencies listed on the register.
European Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning Source: Definition from the Education and Training site on the EC website
Generally a formal written or oral test taken at set points (e.g. end of a semester or term, mid-semester or term) or at the end of a programme module or course unit. In most countries, educational authorities conduct quality assurance or accreditation reviews on a national level in order to ensure that institutions and/or programmes of higher learning meet minimum standards and, as some nations do, accredit these programmes and/or institutions that meet these standards. Such reviews are usually based both on internal reports and on reports by external examiners.
Evaluation of teaching and academic studies in a subject or department and the related degree programmes comprises all those activities which aim at assessing quality and fitness for purpose and of purpose. Strengths and weaknesses of education and training can be identified by stocktaking, analysis and proposals formulated to ensure the sustainability of quality. Evaluation may be carried out through both internal and external procedures. Internal evaluation comprises the systematic collection of administrative data and obtaining feedback from staff, students and graduates, as well as holding structured conversations with lecturers and students. External evaluation may include visits by a review team to the department in order to review the quality of the academic studies and teaching, the use of external examiners, external accreditation, etc.
Learning typically provided by education or training institutions. It is structured in terms of learning objectives, duration, content, method and assessment and leads to certification.
Formal education / Formal learning When we surrender our autonomy and join a programme and accept its internally imposed discipline, we are immersed in formal education. Formal education takes place in schools and training institutions; formal learning occurs within an organized and structured context that is explicitly designated as learning and may lead to a formal recognition (diploma, certificate). It includes the hierarchically structured chronologically graded ‘education system’: primary school through university, including general and specialist (vocational) training. Sources: Rogers (2004), (www.infed.org) Framework of Qualifications for the European Higher Education Area An overarching framework that makes transparent the relationship between “Bologna” national higher education frameworks of qualifications and the qualifications they contain. It is an articulation mechanism between national frameworks. Source: Bologna to Bergen website
Any numerical or qualitative measure, based on well-defined criteria, which is used to describe the results of assessment in an individual module or course unit or in a complete study programme.
Tuning distinguishes three types of generic competences:
Education which is carried out after the typical period of school-based training and at a demonstrably higher level. Students typically enter higher education at around 18, although higher education may form part of lifelong learning. Although the professional aspect of higher education is increasingly important (see above, academic training and below, professional training), higher education has traditionally been seen as entailing intellectual activity of a relatively advanced nature for its own sake.
Learning resulting from daily life activities related to work, family or leisure. It is not structured (in terms of learning objectives, etc) and typically does not lead to certification.
Informal education/ Informal learning Informal education is the truly lifelong process whereby every individual acquires attitudes, values, skills and knowledge from daily experience and the educative influences and resources from his or her environment: family and neighbours, work and play, library and mass media. Informal learning may be both conscious and unconscious, and includes learning through interaction with others (peers, family, etc.) who are not acting as teachers in formal capacities. Informal learning contains unplanned learning activities and planned learning activities, but not formally recognised within the settings of education and training systems. Source: www.infed.org.
Educational authorities expect institutions of higher learning – also in music - to conduct internal reviews of various kinds to enhance the quality of their work. Such reviews may be centred on specific educational programmes or courses of study, or on the whole institution. They may also focus on specific aspects of an institution’s educational programmes, such as student-centred outcomes-based learning, transparency, effectiveness, employability, ability to adapt to a changing environment, visibility in the larger context of local or national music life, or furthering of students’ and staff’s creativeness. Internal reviews may be based on internal assessment reports by students and staff, and they may include reports from external peers.
International sectoral organisation An international association of national organisations, including, for example, employers and professional bodies, which represents the interests of national sectors.
The outcome of the assimilation of information through learning. Knowledge is the body of facts, principles, theories and practices that is related to a field of work or study.
Learner centred (approach or system) An approach or system that supports the design of learning programmes which focus on learners’ achievements, accommodate different learners’ priorities and are consistent with reasonable students’ workload. (i.e. workload that is feasible within the duration of the learning programme). It accommodates for learners’ greater involvement in the choice of content, mode, pace and place of learning.
The specific intellectual and practical skills gained and tested by the successful completion of a unit, course or whole programme of study. These are expressed in terms of statements of what a successful student is expected to know, understand and is able to demonstrate after the completion of a process of learning. The AEC has developed subject specific learning outcomes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd cycles in higher music education.
Levels are understood to be a series of sequential steps to be taken by the learner (within a development continuum) expressed in terms of a range of generic outcomes, within a given programme. A level descriptor is a statement that provides an indication of the depth and extent of learning expected at a specific stage in a programme. They are a guide to the kind of demands or expectation it is appropriate to make of learners at each of the designated levels within a programme. The descriptors guide the learner, teacher and curriculum with respect to the complexity, relative demands and learner autonomy. These general descriptors can be applied to specific subject disciplines and ways of learning. Level descriptors are useful for curriculum design, assigned of credit, validation, guidelines for recognition of learning from experience and of non formal learning and for staff development.
All learning activity, formal or informal, undertaken throughout life, with the aim of enhancing knowledge, skills and competencies from a personal, civic, social and/or employment-related perspective.
Refers to the Council of Europe/UNESCO Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications Concerning Higher Education in the European Region adopted in Lisbon April 1997. For full text see http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/QueVoulezVous.asp?NT=165&CL=ENG
The objective of the Lisbon Strategy is 'to deliver stronger, lasting growth and create more and better jobs' in the EU. The original goals emerged from the Lisbon European Council summit of March 2000, and the target date for achieving them was set at 2010. The Lisbon Strategy is closely linked to the Bologna Process. See also http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/2010/et_2010_en.html
Mobility involves the ability of students, teachers and professionals to move freely between institutions and countries, whether for the purpose of higher education study or employment. Improving mobility can be a tool for internationalising higher education, for acquiring intercultural skills and for preparing students for an international working environment.
The term module refers to a course unit in a modularised system, which is a system based on course units carrying a uniform number of credits (usually 5 or 6) or a multiple of that number. Source: Glossary of the ‘Tuning’ project Music industry The music industry is defined as consisting of all areas of the musical work field where musicians are employed: performance and recording, but also education in formal and non- formal settings and community situations.
The music industry is defined as consisting of all areas of the musical work field where musicians are employed: performance and recording, but also education in formal and non-formal settings and community situations.
National Qualifications Framework An instrument for the classification of qualifications according to a set of criteria for specified levels of learning achieved, which aims to integrate and coordinate national qualifications subsystems and improve the transparency, access, progression and quality of qualifications in relation to the labour market and civil society. Such a framework should be linked to an overarching framework such as the European Qualifications Framework.
National Qualifications System All aspects of a Member State’s activity related to the recognition of learning and other mechanisms that link education and training to the labour market
Non-formal education / Non-formal learning When we step into a pre-existing learning programme but mould it to our own circumstances, we are engaged in non-formal education. Any organized educational activity outside the established formal system (i.e. schools and educational institutions – see formal education) that is intended to serve identifiable learning clienteles and learning objectives, can be defined as non-formal education. Non-formal education is usually highly contextualised and participatory. Source: Rogers (2004), www.infed.org.
A course unit or module that may be chosen as part of a study programme but is not compulsory for all students. Some systems distinguish between electives (i.e. course units chosen from a pre-defined list) and completely free optional course units. Source: Glossary of ‘Tuning’ project
Polifonia/Dublin Descriptors, sectoral adaptation (music) of the Dublin Descriptors.
A career comprising simultaneous or successive, brief and/or part-time periods of employment reflecting different areas of the music profession.
Educational phase where young musicians are trained before they present for an admission exam to higher education in music. This education is often at least in parts privately funded (by parents) and can also happen in a non-formal setting.
Training which is geared to preparation for a profession. This may involve a significant intellectual component if this is necessary to satisfy the general, transferable skills required by that profession.
The process which enables learners to pass from one stage of a qualification to the next and to access educational programmes that prepare for qualifications at a higher level than those he/she already possesses.
A formal outcome of an assessment and validation process which is obtained when a competent body determines that an individual has achieved learning outcomes to given standards.
Generic statements of the outcomes of study for a qualification. They provide clear points of reference that describe the main outcomes of a qualification, as defined in the National Frameworks, and make clear the nature of change between levels.
The collective term for the systems by which courses, qualifications and the institutions which run them are monitored to ensure reliability, consistency and the maintaining of fair, rigorous practices and high standards. The Bologna Declaration proposes a framework of European cooperation in quality assurance with a view to developing comparable criteria and methodologies.
The area of quality assurance where standards of teaching and learning in institutions are directly evaluated. This may be by self-assessment, visits by external teams or, usually, some combination of the two.
The extent to which a qualification and the way it is described by one institution can be understood in terms of the traditions and terminologies of another institution.
The process through which an institution certifies that learning outcomes achieved and assessed in another institution satisfy (some or all) requirements of a particular programme, its component or qualification.
The process through which an institution certifies that the learning outcomes achieved and assessed in another context (non-formal or informal learning) satisfy (some or all) requirements of a particular programme, its component or qualification. Non-prescriptive indicators that permit the comparison of degree programmes in particular at subject area level.
The word ‘research’ is used to cover a wide variety of activities, with the context often related to a field of study; the term is used here to represent a careful study or investigation based on a systematic understanding and critical awareness of knowledge. The word is used in an inclusive way to accommodate the range of activities that support original and innovative work in the whole range of academic, professional and technological fields, including the humanities, and traditional, performing, and other creative arts. It is not used in any limited or restricted sense, or relating solely to a traditional 'scientific method'. Source: Dublin Descriptors Students who have not been able to take or who have not passed an examination or assessment on the first date scheduled may be offered the opportunity to take a resit examination or assessment at a later date. Where a resit examination is offered, the candidate is deemed to have passed or failed the examination after the results of the resit are known.
A grouping of professional activities on the basis of their main function, product, service or technology.
The ability to apply knowledge and use know-how to complete tasks and solve problems.
The time (expressed in hours) that it is expected that an average learner (at a particular cycle/level) will need to spend to achieve specified learning outcomes. This time required to carry out (e.g. lectures, seminars, practical work, private study, professional visits, examinations.) An approved set of modules or course units recognized for the award of a specific degree, which should be defined through the set of learning outcomes, expressed in terms of competences, to be achieved in order to obtain the specified credits.
A formally presented written report, based on independent research/enquiry/project work, which is required for the award of a degree (generally a first or a second degree or a doctorate). It may also be called a dissertation.
The quality achieved when there is a high level of readability (see above), enabling an outsider to see straight to the inner details of a qualification.
The term derives from the project ‘Tuning Educational Structures in Europe’ (http://tuning.unideusto.org/tuningeu/), which links the political objectives, set in the Bologna Declaration of 1999 to the higher education sector and develops practical tools for the implementation of those objectives.
The Bologna Declaration calls for the organisation of higher education throughout Europe into three phases or cycles – undergraduate and postgraduate/graduate (these terms are used interchangeably) and 3rd cycle. |
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