INTERNATIONAL MOBELLTY
Dumitru CH If ORAN
Introductory R e m a r k s
Since the end of the Second World W a r , w e have been witnessing a constant increase in the n u m b e r of persons w h o pursue their university studies abroad and an unprecedented expansion of international academic exchanges in the area of training and research. O n e of the results of the increasing international- ization of higher education and research is the emergence of a vast corpus of literature m e a n t to cover the multiple questions raised b y international mobility and b y the recognition of the sudies, diplomas, and degrees of higher education.
T h e various international and national bodies and centres that deal with academic mobility and the equivalence of studies, have collected a considerable stock of information, and documentation which they use in their day-to-day activities. S o m e have themselves produced such information in the form of studies, reports, practical guides, and other documents. There are, in addition, the numerous legal instruments for the recognition of studies, diplomas, and degrees in the form of regional, subregional, or bilateral conventions, protocols, and other arrangements that have been concluded throughout the post-war period between various states or groups of states. In addition, there is national legislation which applies in matters of equivalence and of validation of foreign studies and diplomas to which those dealing with matters of recognition need to m a k e constant reference. W h e n dealing with recognition of foreign higher education diplomas or certificates for the purpose of permitting applicants to exercise professions, other relevant legislation is applied.
Finally, there is a vast literature o n various national system of education, and individual institutions of higher education in various countries. National information centres usually collect copies of this material and use t h e m in their counseling or decision-making capacities in matters of recognition. A t the s a m e time, national information centres usually collect monographs o n national sys- tems of higher education, foreign students' guides, university catalogues, de- scriptions of course-offerings and degrees granted b y individual higher education
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Available Littratureinstitutions in various countries. It is this kind of literature which forms the greatest bulk of printed material to be found in their libraries and documentation units.
T h e main characteristic of this enormous corpus of available literature is its practical nature. Legal documents are listed for purposes of reference, and some of their provisions are sometimes explained in detail for the use of practi- tioners in matters of recognition.
Fewer studies exist at the m o m e n t which can be regarded as being the result of research and longer reflection on the problems posed b y the recognition of studies, diplomas, and degrees concerning higher education. In fact, the need to pass from the practical needs of making decisions concerning individual applications for equivalences and validation of studies pursued or diplomas obtained abroad, to a more systematic theoretical approach to the entire question posed b y the recognition of abilities, skills, and competences acquired in foreign higher education institutions has only recently been perceived.
Provisions of the Convention on the Recognition of Studies, Diplomas and Degrees concerning Higher Education in the States belonging to the Europe Region with Regard to the Exchange of Information and Documentation.
T h e need to promote the exchange of relevant information and d o c u m e n - tation and to develop its collection, processing, classification, and dissemina- tion is strongly emphasized b y the Convention on the Recognition of Studies, Diplomas, and Degrees concerning Higher Education in the States belonging to the Europe Region in Section V — Documentation, Article 12, which stipulates :
" 1 . T h e Contracting States shall engage in exchanges of informa- tion and documentation pertaining to studies, certificates, diplomas and degrees in higher education.
2 . T h e y endeavour to promote the development of methods and machinery for collecting, processing, classifying, and disseminating all the necessary information pertaining to the recognition of stu- dies, certificates, diplomas, and degrees in higher education, taking into account existing methods and machinery as well as information collected b y national, regional, subregional, and international bodies, in particular the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cul- tural Organization".
A t the First Session of the Regional Committee for the Application of the Convention on the Recognition of Studies, Diplomas, and Degrees concerning Higher Education in the States belonging to the Europe Region (Paris, June, 1982), discussions of the exchange of information and documentation concen- trated on the "attempt to find the best use for the existing information and documentation provided b y Unesco (Headquarters and C E P E S ) , b y the C o u n - cil of Europe, the European C o m m u n i t y , and other subregional bodies, as well as b y each country and all interested agencies." Since changes within the edu- cational field are very dynamic and take place constantly, the Regional C o m m i t - tee, in addition to defining the best m e a n s of collecting and piocessing existing information and documentation, also pointed to the need to supplement this
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information with further documentation that has not yet been collected and to update it continuously.
As an initial practical step towards the realization of these goals, the Regional Committee adopted a decision which requested its Secretariat to pre-
pare a Bibliography of available literature relating to the recognition of studies, Certificates, diplomas and degrees in higher education.
The Second Session of the Regional Committee (Bucharest, November, 1984) reiterated the vital importance of the exchange of information and docu- mentation for the application of the Convention, and encouraged the Secretariat to pursue its efforts in indentifying and evaluating the available literature in the field and in establishing close co-operation with other international bodies and institutions, such as the International Bureau of Education, the European Documentation and Information System for Education ( E U D I S E D ) , etc., in performing its function as a clearinghouse and referral centre for information on various aspects of higher education.
C E P E S , in its capacity as Secretariat of the Regional Committee, has taken appropriate steps in order to implement these decisions and recommen-
dations, in particular the elaboration and evaluation of a bibliography of available literature relating to the recognition of studies, diplomas, and degrees and to international mobility in higher education.
B y means of a systematic search of the information and documentary sources available at the Centre and with the support of the National Commissions for Unesco of the Member States of the Europe Region, as well as with the support of international governmental and non-governmental organizations, associa- tions, centres, and other institutions active in the field of higher education and research, C E P E S has collected the necessary information and has assembled a Bibliography which, at present contains over 1100 entries.
Literature Included in the Bibliography
The remarks below, extracted from the evaluation of the Bibliography prepared by C E P E S , are meant to offer an image of the quantity and nature of the existing literature on international mobility and the recognition of studies, diplomas, and degiees of higher education.
At the same time, an attempt will be made to indicate the extent to which the literature included in the Bibliography is indicative of the in-depth coverage of the multiple aspects of the problems mentioned above and to point to areas wheie further studies and a fresh approach are needed.
There is a close interdependence between recognition of studies, diplomas, and degrees concerning higher education, and international exchanges and academic mobility in general. Not only is recognition conceived of as a means to promote mobility of students, teachers, researchers, and other specialists in higher education, but as w e become more intimately aware of the complex problems posed by the pursuance and completion of studies abroad, of the pro- blems of academic mobility in general, new needs arise for developing legal
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Available Literatureinstruments and adequate machinery required for the recognition of diplomas and degrees. Consequently, the kind of information requested for solving prob- lems regarding the recognition of studies undertaken or pursued abroad, of subsequent qualifications, diplomas, degrees, certificates earned, as well as of skills and competences developed, cannot be dissociated from the broader pioblems posed b y international academic mobility in general.
Indeed, at all stages of the examination of the problem of recognition, i.e. :
— what to recognize? (studies, diplomas, certificates, degrees, but also skills, abilities, etc., all subsumed under the more general concept of competence) ;
— for what purpose ? (to allow access to higher education, to continue higher education studies, to permit access to postgraduate education for the purposes of recycling knowledge, of exercising a profession) ;
— who is involved in the recognition process? (decision-making, consultative or informative bodies) ;
— what is the juridical basis ? (national legislation, bilateral, subre- gional, and international agreements), the answer to be provided m u s t be correlated with the problems posed b y mobility: for whom are all these mobility actions intended (students, teachers, researchers, other spe- cialists of higher education), under which particular eiroumstances, and within which specific contexts (national systems of higher education, national economic and social systems, etc.) ?
T h e entries included in the Bibliography will be examined under three main headings : (a) general literature on higher education ; (b) juridical, admin- istrative, and academic aspects, and (c) international mobility in higher education and research.
(a) General literature on higher education. Included under this heading are, first of all the studies and publications produced or initiated b y the major governmental and non-governmental organizations and associations that are active in the field of higher education. In particular, the publications issued b y Unesco (World Guide to Higher Education; Study Abroad, the series of Educa- tional Studies and Documents, the series of statistical studies, etc.), b y the C o u n - cil of Europe (Student Handbook, the published proceedings of various confer- ences on academic mobility), b y the International Association of Universities (International Handbook of Universities) are widely used as basic reference works b y all those involved in matters related to recognition and mobility.
T h e s a m e purpose is served b y other major works of an encyclopedic nature such as the International Encyclopedia of Higher Education.
T h e increasing a m o u n t of literature on comparative higher education is particularly important for placing the vast questions of the recognition of stud- ies, diplomas, and degrees in their proper theoretical perspective, that is, against the background of n e w trends and developments in higher education throughout the world. T h e need, which is perceived with increased clarity, of expanding the m o r e traditional approach aimed at establishing equivalences between diplomas and degrees in higher education so as to cover the broader
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concept of recognition of studies, including competences and skills acquired in higher education, specifically requires a better transnational knowledge of higher education systems of the kind provided b y comparative studies.
A t the national level, there seems to be abundant literature which presents national systems of higher education as well as policies adopted with regard to higher education, including international co-operation in higher education.
b) Juridical, administrative, and academic aspects. W i t h regard to national legislation concerning higher education and international conventions and agreements on the recognition of studies and degrees, the Bibliography lists only text editions and commentaries of such texts. Indeed, the access of C E P E S to national sources has proved to be rather limited, and the Bibliography will have to be further completed in this respect. A s for international legal instruments, the apparent scarcity of commentaries is noted. There are few studies, if any, that endeavour to link the findings of specialists in international law concerning the binding force of international treaties for the contracting parties, in general, with concrete implications for existing conventions on the recognition of studies and their provisions.
A n u m b e r of entries are m e a n t to provide information o n methods, tech- niques, practices, and procedures with regard to the evaluation of curricula, courses, competences, diplomas, degrees and certificates of higher education.
Judging b y the n u m b e r of entries referring to admissions and attestation requirements, this area of the recognition of studies and international mobility has been dealt with in greater detail than the others. Although the existing literature, whether produced at the national level or b y international organi- zations and institutions, can be regarded as very extensive, it does not cover all aspects of the problem in all countries of the region to the same satisfac- tory degree.
T h e fact that more attention has been paid to the admission of foreign students than to other aspects of the question seems to be a reflection of the fact that for a n u m b e r of years following the Second World W a r , international mobility in higher education w a s primarily a question of pursuing complete study cycles abroad. W i t h the development of higher education in all the countries of the world, including the developing nations, emphasis has shifted to pursuing partial study programmes abroad at various stages of higher edu- cation, especially at the postgraduate level. This shift of emphasis has not been accompanied b y a corresponding increase in the literature m e a n t to cover the theoretical and practical issues involved. It is true that m a n y studies in comparative higher education deal with core curricula, course design, and course contents in an effort to set guidelines for assessing the comparability of studies pursued and competencies acquired in higher education. This need explains the fairly high n u m b e r of entries referring to this subject area. H o w e v e r , very few studies actually tackle these matters from the point of view of rec- ognition.
A s for diplomas, degrees, certificates and other attestations of ability, the available literature (both national and international), covers the field to a
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Available Literaturesatisfactory degree. Indeed, m a n y of the general reference works already discussed above and the national presentation of higher education systems offer faiily complete inventoiies — with adequate descriptions in terms of their requirements — of the great diversity of degrees and diplomas awarded b y European universities. There are, as the literature itself seems to indicate, few m o r e encompassing studies that can offer a general view of higher education degrees in the Europe Region as a whole than these works.
There is little comparative literature available on the national bodies dealing with the recognition of studies, diplomas and degrees and with inter- national mobility in higher education. There exist, of course, leaflets and fold- ders distributed b y such bodies themselves in order to advertise their services.
T h e importance of the national bodies as the necessary machinery for imple- mentation of the provisions of the conventions and agreements on the recog- nition of studies, diplomas, and degrees, the functions they are called upon to perform, and the modalities for performing these functions are dealt with extensively in a study issued recently b y Unesco in its series of Education Studies and Documents (No. 4 4 : Recognition of Studies and Competences. Imple- mentation of Conventions drawn up under the Aegis of Unesco: Nature and Role of National Rodies, 1984).
c) International mobility. T h e literature available on international mobility in higher education is extremely vast.
A look at the kind of entries referring to general questions of international mobility point to the importance attached b y national authorities and b y the academic institutions themselves to the political, economic, social and cultural implications of this important form of international co-operation. A n u m b e r of very important studies has been published on such matters during the last few years.
W i t h regard to problems related to studies and research abroad, the prin- cipal observation that can be m a d e is once again related to the fact that b y far the greatest n u m b e r of titles deals with foreign students going abroad to pursue complete higher education studies. There seems to be less literature available o n the international mobility of researchers and of postgraduate students w h o spend shorter periods of time in other countries.
W o r k s referring to problems related to return to countries of origin are less numerous. T h e 'brain drain' p h e n o m e n o n has been the constant concern not only of national authorities, but also of international organizations. Although several important studies have appeared in this field, the available literature is still far from covering all the vast ramifications and implications of this issue for the socio-economic and cultural development of the nations of the world.
In particular, there are few studies concerning the problems of the employment of persons w h o have undertaken studies abroad upon return to their countries of origin. Also, an important field for further enquiry could be the evaluation of the modalities b y m e a n s of which the implementation of the provisions of existing conventions on the recognition of studies, diplomas and degrees, while promoting international co-operation through the best possible use of
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available educational resources, also serves as a m e a n s to stem the 'brain drain' which affects so m a n y countries.
Conclusions
T h e first conclusion that can be d r a w n with regard to the available liter- ature on the recognition of studies, diplomas, and degrees in higher education is, as already stated earlier, that theie is both too much and too little bibliograph- ical information in the field: too much, because practically all available liter- ature on higher education and international mobility has m o r e or less direct relevance to the problem of recognition matters. National information centres on problems of equivalence and mobility, some of which are very well endowed both in terms of professional personnel and technical facilities, already c o m - plain about the 'superabundance' and the 'overflow' of information that they have to handle ; too little, because there are so m a n y questions arising in the day-to-day solution of matters involving recognition about which little if anything is at the disposal of advisers and decision- and policy-makers.
It has to be pointed out that not all countries are equally well represented in this Bibliography. This situation might be due to the fact that m a n y national sources, particularly those written in the languages of the respective countries, are not as readily available as sources written in international languages. B y contrast, in the case of other countries, the n u m b e r of entries m a y appear disproportionally high. This is particularly true of the available literature published in the U S A , a situation due not only to the general abundance of publications which is characteristic of that country, but also to the great diversity of the system of higher education and the various services created at the national, state, and institutional level in order to deal with international mobility.
A s m o r e and more experience is gained in the application of the Unesco and other existing conventions o n the recognition of the studies, diplomas, and degrees of higher education, it will become increasingly necessary to expand the availability and the range of information relating to specific questions concerned with the pursuance of higher education studies and research abroad and to the recognition of acquired competences and abilities, as attested b y various diplomas, degrees, and other certificates of higher education.
T h e basic goal of studies in this field is to achieve greater comparability of higher education systems, that is, to provide information which permits easy comparisons with regard to the institutional and organizational structures of given higher education systems, to admissions procedures, to stages of higher education, to curricula, to degrees, to diplomas and to certificates of higher education, etc. Also closely related to comparability is the need to study the terminology used in national systems of higher education so as to be able to identify equivalent or related terms across national systems of higher education.
In particular, questions relating to the recognition of previously under- taken studies with a view to authorizing the continuation of studies need