for university training. One consequence was the introduction of more professional
courses into the university system in some countries, and a greater emphasis on the
utility value of university courses in those countries with a binary system. In many EU
countries university academics have had to reconcile educational dimensions and
professional requirements and manage the tensions that have emerged in trying to
achieve this.
In the new spirit of openness students became much more conscious of what was
offered, what was excluded, and what their rights were. This student awareness also
brought the awareness that the possession of a university degree does not
automatically confer employment – certainly not for life - in a rapidly changing Europe.
In some countries employers, too, began to make greater demands on universities to
describe better what students can actually do on graduation, not just what they know.
One response to these changes was to try and make transparent the relationship
between university education and core or transferable skills. The most explicit
response was the development of an ‘outcomes' approach or a competence based
model for curriculum development in universities. Two major schools of thought have
emerged which can be broadly divided into those approaches which emphasis higher
education as a public good, versus those which also lay emphasis on the vocational
utility of higher education.
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