It's a long way: European Integration - challenge and chance
Dr. Anita Hufnagl

Dr Anita Hufnagl, above right, is currently head of the Academy for Biomedical Scientists in Vienna. From 1972 to 1991 she was a biomedical scientist mostly conducting research in clinical and immunological laboratories. She received her phD in 2001- the same year she first joined the Academy. Here she looks at the challenges of reaching a common understanding of the different education systems across Europe.

I am absolutely convinced that a Common Europe provides a big and unique chance of developing biomedical science and the better we will be informed about each other the more benefit we will gain. Though Common Europe is affecting many fields of our lives, my special interest is to harmonise the education of biomedical scientists in Europe to ensure equal chances for all members on the European job market.

However it is not easy to understand the educational systems in Europe. The more I looked into it the more I had to learn about the diversity of the various educational systems of each member. We have to ensure transparency of the documentation of qualification. Luckily there already exists some guidelines removing barriers for recognition in the different educational systems.

In this context I would like to state the keywords of my presentation. In the first part I will give you a short review of the differences in educating biomedical scientists, and I will present you with the instruments which make it easier to transfer the individual education/qualification to a common understanding. The second part of my presentation shall answer the questions:

• how can we ensure professional recognition,
• what does the proposal of the Commission say and
• which responsibilities may come up for EPBS?

The Bologna Process is probably the most important reform movement of Higher Education in Europe since the late 1960s. The ultimate aim is to establish a European Higher Education Field by the end of the decade.

It is important to note that the Bologna Process is a voluntary commitment by the member states to achieve a stronger degree of convergence in Higher Education. One of the main goals of the Bologna Process is the achievement of a Higher Educational System in Europe, which is characterised by a high degree of transparency and mutual recognition of studies. The diversified national systems will be put into a common frame.

There are 6 objectives of the Bologna Declaration:

1. Adoption of a system of easily readable and comparable degrees
2. Adoption of a system essentially based on two main cycles undergraduate and graduate (and the first must be relevant for the job market)
3. Establishment of a system of credits - ECTS (which will be looked at later)
4. Promotion of mobility by overcoming obstacles to free movement
5. Promotion of European co-operation in quality assurance
6. Promotion of the necessary European dimension in higher education.

When talking of the education of biomedical scientists, post-secondary education and third level education are synonymous (minimum three years).

For instance, Great Britain, Ireland and Sweden offer higher education including higher vocational education at university. This was the most pragmatic way to install education for biomedical scientists at post-secondary level because only one institution is responsible for higher education, which is the university.

In countries with a separate structure of vocational training on a tertiary level such as HBO/NL, Polytechnics /SF, the TEI/GR, ‘Fachhochschule’ or Akademie in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

Biomedical scientist diplomas are equivalent to the university degree. These institutions are not integrated in the university system but are adequate systems of higher education. This fact does not mean that there is a difference in the level of qualification.

The implementation of a separate higher vocational educational system has to be seen as a result of the special historical development of the higher educational system of each country.

The Austrian system is different as our education is post-secondary (three years) and in the competence of the Ministry of Health but not administered by the Ministry of Education.

When comparing qualifications, one encounters a lot of problems. What are the characteristic items to compare?

In Austria if you look at the number of compulsory hours you may come to the conclusion that studying medicine is easier than to become a biomedical scientist because education takes 4,235 hours in three years, while studying medicine takes 6 years with a total of 4452 hours.

In the year 2000 I tried to find out how many hours it takes to gain one credit in various countries. The results varied and we became very frustrated because it seemed that Austrian students have to work many more hours for a biomedical scientist diploma than students in other countries. Considering this, it seems clear that we need a system to make qualifications transparent and consequently comparable.

The easier way to compare qualifications is to look at the levels for recognition of
professional qualifications as they are described in the Existing Directives (and in the proposal for the SLIM-Directive).

• Level 1: “attestation of competence“ comprising compulsory education completed on primary/secondary level and three years job experience.


• Level 2: "certificate" corresponds to training at secondary level of a professional nature or general, supplemented by a professional course


• Level 3: "diploma" certifying successful completion of short-training course on post-secondary level and of a duration of at least one year and less than three years


• Level 4: "diploma" certifying an intermediate training course at higher education or university level and of a duration of at least three years and less than four years


• Level 5: "diploma" certifying a higher training course at higher education or university level and of minimum duration of at least four years

Considering this, the differentiation in secondary (level 2) post-secondary (level 3) and tertiary (level 4 and 5) makes sense and as far as I know most of us meet at level 4.

When we are talking about harmonising systems in a Common Europe another matter has to be discussed which is the professional title. Biomedical scientist is one profession but there are many different titles in various European countries. In Austria we are currently discussing whether we should change our professional title from MTA to Bioanalytiker or biomed Analytiker (as Sweden and Denmark). Perhaps Germany and Switzerland should also join that discussion in order to find one common title for the profession in the German speaking countries.

Let's take Denmark as an example:

• Denmark introduced a professional bachelor degree in the vocationally-oriented higher education sector.
• Denmark followed the objectives of Bologna by reforming the education of biomedical scientists dividing the academic year in semesters
• Denmark established the ETCS -System
• they added one semester more for the BSc project
and the profession also got a new title "Bioanalytiker".

In Austria we take the changes in Denmark as a good argument for reforming education of biomedical scientists according to the Bologna Declaration.

European Credit Transfer System:
ECTS means to have a common instrument for academic recognition. It was developed to help students, who study abroad. ECTS provides a way of measuring and comparing learning achievements as means of transfer from one institution to another. Full academic recognition ensures that students will not lose time in completing their degree by studying abroad.

ECTS helps institutions to enhance their co-operation with other institutions by improving access to information about foreign curricula and providing common procedures for academic recognition.

How does it work? ECTS credits are a value allocated to course units to describe the student‘s workload required to complete the course. They reflect the quantity of work each course requires in relation to the total quantity of work required to complete a full year of academic study at the institution: lectures, practical work, seminars, home work, work in the laboratory, library, examination or other assessment activities.

60 credits represent one year of study (in terms of workload), 30 credits one semester.

As European Agreement the following allocation was published (in Austria):

• 1500 hours: workload/year
• 15 hours lecture: 1.5 credits
• 15 hours seminar: 2.0 credits
• 15 hours (MSc-, phD- study): 3.0 credits
• thesis (BSc): 20 credits
• thesis (MSc): 20 – 30 credits
• thesis (phD): 60 credits

An additional instrument for making qualification more transparent is the diploma supplement. The diploma supplement is a document attached to a higher education diploma, aiming at improving international transparency and at facilitating the academic and professional recognition of qualifications. It is designed to provide a description of the nature, level, context, content and status of the studies that were pursued and successfully completed.

Why is the Diploma Supplement needed?

• It promotes transparency in higher education
• It accommodates rapid changes in qualifications
• It aids mobility, access and lifelong learning
• it promotes fair and informed judgements about qualifications.

Now, I come to the second part of my presentation concerning professional recognition. The European Council entrusted the Commission for proposing a more uniform, transparent and flexible regime of recognition of qualifications. This was necessary to replace a lot of relevant Council Directives, which have been amended on several occasions during the last twenty years.

As you can see above, it was necessary to create a new directive to replace 15 Council Directives and to provide a simpler and clearer set of rules for the professions concerned. Article 15 of the Proposal SLIM-Directive refers to the establishment of common platforms between individual states. It enables the Commission formally to recognise such platforms.

It says: "Professional associations which establish common platforms must be repesentative at national and/or European level. To be considered as established at European level, a common platform must cover at least two thirds of the Member States and in any case all the member states which regulate that profession. A common platform facilitates the mutual recognition of professional qualifications, in particular where the criteria established make it possible to compensate for the substantial differences which may exist between the training in the various member states".

If the EPBS intends on building a platform, the EPBS should try to get as much information as possible about qualification of biomedical scientists in the individual member states. All EPBS members who meet level 4 should be able to present a diploma supplement and the valuation of courses by ECTS. All institutions who work with ECTS have to produce an information package updated annually. I am sure there exists a lot of information already, which must be individually collected and finally summarised by EPBS. As ECTS is a common instrument for academic recognition, a credit-System for professional recognition should also be established.

As far as I know it was in the late 1990s when the Leonardo Project for the development of the European professional dossier of continuing development was completed. For the individual member this dossier contains all information one needs for job-application abroad. This dossier should be updated and if necessary adjusted to the current requirements and then it could be used as a form of certification for a European registered biomedical scientist. The dossier informs about:

• basic professional qualification
• complementary specific education
• continuing professional development
• personal professional activities
• professional development

As already mentioned in this context the Vocational European Credit System has to be developed. This is necessary to secure the continuity of the individual learning path and to secure the transfer and accumulation, exchange and bridging device within and between formal systems through continuing training and work-based learning (professional experience).

A good part of the basic work has been done already:

• we have the ECTS - System to measure and compare learning achievements for biomedical scientists between various countries
• we have the diploma supplement which is a description of the name, level, context, content and status of studies that were pursued
• we have the Leonardo dossier, which provides all the information necessary if one wants to apply for a job abroad
• we have a fairly complete listing of data pertaining to biomedical scientists in various countries

But we still have to establish a system for vocational - ECTS to describe the professional experience a biomedical scientist has gained throughout her/his career. EPBS could or should be the organisation to collect all the above mentioned information and create a database. The various member countries should in their own interest be glad to provide and update whatever data will be needed.

The acquired knowledge should be reviewed and processed by EPBS. Minimum standards should be proposed to the European Commission and consequently a EU Registration for biomedical scientists should be established. Given the structure of EPBS, being the association of professions in biomedical science in Europe, the inherent purpose has to achieve unrestricted professional mobility within the European Union.

It seems that a lot of work will come up to EPBS, but as Albert Einstein accurately stated: “Ii the middle of difficulty lies opportunity!