Heads' Meetings 2002
EAAE/ENHSA Meeting of Heads of European Schools of Architecture September 2002:
"Towards a Common European Higher Education Area"
Agenda
From the debates in the past Meetings of Heads it became apparent that the perspective of the creation of a common European Space for Higher Education reveals four basic and strongly linked thematic sections to which schools of architecture are invited to respond and with their responses to structure their political choices. The Fifth Meeting of Heads will discuss these thematic sections again but in separate sessions this time, aiming at recording systematically the trends and dynamics which have been formed to date, opening up the discussion on what is possible to be done or what should not be done in the light of the creation of the Common European Space in Architectural Education. These thematic sections appear as the broader context, which is seeking for more specific questions that will organize and lead the discussion. For this reason participants of the Meeting are invited to contribute to the finalisation of this agenda, by participating in one of the working groups.
Experience gained from previous Meetings has indicated that it is important to have a solid meeting structure with as many opportunities as possible to stimulate debates among the participants. Therefore, it is important to carefully prepare each theme, preferably in international working groups with a limited number of members. There should be as many working groups, as there will be thematic sections. These working groups work independently and present their report at the conference through a reporter. The reporter introduces each session followed by panel discussions each chaired by a member of the working group. Each session ends by a short presentation of the conclusions of the workshops. All outcomes can then be presented to conclude each session.
In case you would be interested to participate in a working group, and wish to contribute with ideas, data and proposals for themes for discussions and names for keynote speakers related to the content of the sessions or that of the Meeting would you be so kind to contact Prof. Richard Foque ( Richard.Foque@pandora.be ) from Antwerp School of Architecture before 30 April 2002, who has undertaken to coordinate the working groups.
Session 1:
Curriculum for Architectural Education in the Common European Higher Education Space
Thursday morning, 5 September 2002
The recent reforms in the content and the structure of School curricula, which have been made by various Schools of Architecture in the name of the convergence to the European policies have proved that in many cases the content of studies but also the strategies for its organization have come with interesting divergence and incompatibilities. Could it be possible that the debate on the type of degree awarded (Bachelor or Masters) has distanced us and made us drift and shift from the actual discussion on the content of studies and the basic principles that should underline their organization? It is relatively easy to observe that the accession of Schools to the proposed schema of the two degrees (Bachelor and Masters) is decided upon and filtered through fundamentally different attestations on architectural education, a fact which makes the critical recording of the various trends absolutely necessary and essential. Neither in a utopian pursuit of the ideal, nor in the perspective of the indirect imposition of some of these trends in the form of instruction or suggestion, but in the perspective of mapping which will allow or support the identification and the effective communication between Schools that share common principles in the ways they teach architecture. ENHSA, the Thematic Network, will contribute to the generation of a record of School Curricula in Europe and has the ambition to present the first results from the pilot study in this session in September.
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Session 2:
Quality Assurance and Academic Assessment of Educational Programmes in Architecture in the European Higher Education Space
Thursday afternoon, 5 September 2002
In the last Meeting of Heads, the EAAE committed itself to the participants to undertake initiatives in the direction of the development of a quality assurance and assessment system tailored to the needs of architectural education and respecting its diversity. It became clear that this system would refer to the 'academic' assessment of the educational programmes by means of a peer review and not to the 'professional/governmental' assessment of the diploma leading to the accreditation and the validation by the professional/governmental bodies of the member states. The problem of academic evaluation, and the effective assurance of the quality of architecture school curricula, is a thorny subject in many ways. The perspective for the creation of a European system of evaluation is a challenge despite the obvious difficulties it entails. Along these lines, a first step is to record and discuss the various methods employed by schools of architecture and assess their efficiency given the particularities of architectural education and its divergence in the structure and organization of studies in different schools of architecture in Europe . ENHSA has already scheduled the construction of a record of the various quality assurance systems in Europe and a questionnaire will soon be circulated to all Schools. The conclusions of this inquiry will be presented during this session.
Session 3:
Exchange and Collaboration between Schools of Architecture into the European Higher Education Space
Friday morning, 6 September 2002
Mobility is a key word in constructing European policies in the Higher Education space. What are architectural education's expectations of this mobility? Why do Schools want and need mobility? What do they expect their students are going to gain from it? The model of a student who collects credits from different schools; what problems does it resolve and what problems might it generate to schools of architecture? It would be true to say that school exchanges developed ad hoc and are based on personal relationships and acquaintances. Most Schools do not have an organized and well-thought out policy on cooperation between universities. Often the incompatibility of the programmes of study makes these exchanges problematic with no real gain either for students or for teachers. Even in the case of the implementation of ECTS, which defines the way of awarding credits, the credits of one school do not necessarily correspond to the real teaching hours and coursework of its partner school. It is, therefore, important for schools to adopt exchange strategies for effective and constructive academic exchanges in the Common Higher Education Space in Europe. The Fifth Meeting will investigate the various approaches to the subject in order for some general principles to be articulated which will reflect the particularities of architectural education and the diversity of architectural studies in Europe.
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Session 4:
The European Higher Education Space in Architecture and the Professional and Institutional Context
Friday afternoon, 6 September 2002
The changes that are scheduled in the light of the European convergence affect the relationship of Schools of Architecture with the profession and its legislative context. This relationship is undergoing dynamic reforms, which architectural education, however, follows passively. The more the cuts of governmental funds supporting education, the more the search for external funding - rarely with nothing in return. In this context, the autonomy of Higher Education Institutions -a unique characteristic of the constitution of academia for centuries- is subverted. On top, professional bodies aim to influence education and the respective curricula restructuring to meet the needs of the profession and the labour market with specialized employees. This often shifts programmes of studies from educational to training environments. The redefinition of such relationships constitutes an important issue for the future of architectural education in Europe and has to be confronted collectively. The Meeting suggests the discussion of this issue with the intention to structure the principles, which will ensure a fruitful collaboration with professional bodies on a national and European level, while it would protect schools autonomy to organize and manage their curricula.
Session 5:
Proposals for Future Actions and Strategies
Saturday morning, 6 September 2002
This session will develop on two axes. On the first axis, there will be an attempt to synthesize the discussions and suggestions made in the previous days with the ambition to put together a new Hania Statement like the year before. On the second axis, the Actions of the Thematic Network will be further scheduled and tasks will be allocated so that more Partner Schools get involved while new ones join in.
