Curriculum development: panacea or poison?

  • Terence Nigel Mitchell European Chemistry Thematic Network, Spain
Keywords: curricula, learning outcomes, mobility, recognition, Bologna

Abstract

The November 2014 issue of the Tuning Journal appeared under the theme “Policy and Implementation: Actions for Curriculum Reform”. This article is a personal reflection on the role of curricula in achieving the aims of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and beyond. Its background is the postulate that the most important goals of the Bologna Process are essentially the improvement of mobility and recognition at all levels of higher education. Curricula can be used to encourage mobility and recognition or to hinder them, but as an element of the education process they have been treated very unevenly during the development of the EHEA. Well-designed curricula are vital, but must not be misused. In the European climate of today, the development of regional, national or even international curricula is neither possible nor necessary.

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Author Biography

Terence Nigel Mitchell, European Chemistry Thematic Network, Spain

Retired professor of Chemistry, TU Dortmund, Germany. He holds a PhD and Dsc in Organic Chemistry from the University of London, and his fields of research were organometallic chemistry and NMR spectroscopy. He represented the TU Dortmund in the European Chemistry Thematic Network ECTN from its inception until 2008. He is a former chair of the Tuning Chemistry SAG and chaired the ECTN Eurolabel Committee during the initial phase of the Eurobachelor® and Euromaster® Labels. He was an ECTS/DS Counsellor and Bologna Promoter (later Adviser), and represented Germany on the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) Committee on Chemical Education. He served for two years on the German Accreditation Council (Akkreditierungsrat). Mail: terence.mitchell@tu-dortmund.de

Published
2015-06-30
How to Cite
Mitchell, Terence Nigel. 2015. “Curriculum Development: Panacea or Poison?”. Tuning Journal for Higher Education 2 (2), 341-55. https://doi.org/10.18543/tjhe-2(2)-2015pp341-355.