Bologna bachelor's

The first Bologna bachelor's degrees were awarded in 2003, which means that European students will soon begin using the new qualifications to gain entry to graduate-level programs in the United States. The Bologna bachelor's is (in most cases) a three-year, freestanding degree designed to prepare students for further study or employment. How then does this new degree compare with the traditional American bachelor's degree? At first glance, there are some fairly obvious similarities between the two: the nomenclature is the same, and both are terminal first degrees leading to either access to the job market or graduate study. At the same time, the degrees are quite different from one another, as we shall see.

Comparing the Two Degrees

Even though the Bologna Process has resulted in shorter degree programs that are defined in terms of required credits and introduced a two-tiered (undergraduate/graduate) system, the new European bachelor's is still quite distinct from its U.S. counterpart. Based on the sample "Bologna" bachelor's degrees we examined from Austria and Italy (see previous issue of WENR), it is apparent that the European degrees are more heavily concentrated in the major — or specialization — and that the general education component which is so crucial to U.S. undergraduate education is absent. The new degrees, awarded by traditional European institutions, are undeniably European in character.

Below we have juxtaposed two programs for a bachelor's degree in business administration: one from Indiana University in Bloomington, and the other from the Bocconi University in Milan, Italy.

In the Italian program, courses in the major are taken starting in the first semester of study. The entire curriculum is devoted to business and related subjects including mathematics, computer science and foreign languages that are all taught in the same faculty. The sheer number of required courses in business and related subjects indicates that the program is heavily concentrated in the major, which is covered in great depth.

http://www.wes.org/ewenr/04March/Feature.htm

 

Yes,

UK A levels are known to be as academic undergraduate credit in GE

Some info from UK related to Bolonga.

It's one year old info from march 2004.

UNITED KINGDOM
Top Universities Awarding More ‘Firsts’

The number of first-class honors degrees awarded at Britain’s top 19 universities, the so-called Russell group, has increased 50 percent in five years. Despite accusations of “dumbing down” programs, universities pointed out that student numbers are rising, and increasing competition from ever better-qualified students has led to better academic standards. The 19 universities awarded 9,475 firsts in 2003. The proportion of firsts rose from 11.8 percent to 15.5 percent, while firsts and 2:1s combined were up from 61.1 percent to 66.6 percent, according to evidence produced in Parliament.

According to the Economist magazine, the economics of generous markings are straightforward. When the many who are merely good get the same top grades as the few who are truly brilliant, there are more winners than losers; marking more toughly creates the opposite scenario. If universities admit the problem at all, the most they are likely to do is introduce new top grades, as witnessed recently at Harvard University, where President Larry Summers called for a new A-plus and an A-double-plus at the school, notorious for awarding half its students As.

— The Guardian