The seminar was part of a series of initiatives undertaken by EURASHE to secure a position for Higher Education Short Cycle in the EHEA, after the Ministers mandate to the BFUG, to explore “whether and how short higher Education may be linked to the first cycle of a qualifications network for the European higher Education Area”.

The seminar started with a plenary session during which a number of presentations were held on the concept of HESC in Europe and the integration of HESC in a European Qualifications framework.

The afternoon session was dedicated to a number of workshops. Central themes were on the one hand the (trans)-national cooperation with universities & the situation of HESC in the Bologna member countries, and on the other hand the qualifications framework & quality assurance.

11 nationalities were represented and this contributed to dynamic and intercultural working sessions. Examples of good practice, among others from France, Denmark, the Netherlands, the UK, Ireland, and Romania were introduced and discussed.

Conclusions

• The influx of students from short cycle education is necessary to keep the student number in the 2 cycles of higher education on the same level.
• Every Bologna country has its specific educational structure which brings about peculiar problems when it comes to integrating short cycle education in the higher education system. Although there is a National Qualifications Frameworks (NQFs) in place in some countries (Denmark), it does not necessarily mean that there is a seamless transition from short cycle education to the Bachelor level. Whereas in other countries where there is no official legislation available yet, agreements exist between higher education institutions organising short cycle education and universities (France). Finally, in still other countries where post-secondary education does exist (Romania), it is still not officially recognised as higher education.