Ready for Bologna? The Impact of the Declaration on Women’s and Gender Studies in the UK

Abstract

This article explores the likely impact that the Bologna Declaration (1999) will have on the field of women’s and gender studies in the UK. While the UK higher education sector as a whole has been slow to take up the opportunities and challenges presented by Bologna, this article argues that women’s and gender studies may gain particularly from a European reorientation. Women’s and gender studies currently has to struggle for both national resources and recognition, and so has little to lose and much to gain from actively engaging in the process of Europeanization of degrees. The author advocates for UK women’s and gender studies practitioners to take a leading role in this process, in order to facilitate the potential benefits for the field.

Keywords

Bologna UK and Europe UK women’s and gender studies

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Demény, Eniko , Clare Hemmings , Ulla Holm , Päivi Korvajärvi , Theodossia-Soula Pavlidou and Veronica Vasterling (2006) ‘Gender Studies: Practising Inter-disciplinarity’, Travelling Concepts in Feminist Pedagogy, European Perspectives Series. York: Raw Nerve Press .

Europe Unit (2005a) ‘UK Looks Forward to a Busy 2005’, This Month in Europe: Working for the Higher Education Sector No. 11 (January).

Europe Unit (2005b) ‘Around Europe: International Student Mobility Study’, This Month in Europe: Working for the Higher Education Sector No. 11 (January).

Euro RSCG Riley (2003) ‘Introduction to the Bologna Declaration and its Implications for UK HEIs’, Strategy Matters: Informing the Education Sector No. 2 (Summer): 3-3.

Froment, Eric (2005) ‘Major Milestone on Our Road to Reform’ , The Times Higher Education Supplement 1 April: 6-6 .

Griffin, Gabriele and Rosi Braidotti (2002) ‘Introduction: Configuring European Women’s Studies’, pp. 1-28 in G. Griffin and R. Braidotti (eds) Thinking Differently: A Reader in European Women’s Studies. London: Zed Books .

Griffin, Gabriele and Jalna Hanmer (2001) Background Data Report: UK, Briefing paper, Employment and Women’s Studies: The Impact of Women’s Studies Training on Women’s Employment in Europe, Hull: The University of Hull .

Hemmings, Clare (2006) ‘The Life and Times of Academic Feminism’, pp. 13-34 in Kathy Davis and Mary Evans (eds) The Handbook of Women’s and Gender Studies. London: Sage .

Silius, Harriet (2002) Women’s Employment, Equal Opportunities and Women’s Studies in Nine European Countries - A Summary, Briefing paper, Employment and Women’s Studies: The Impact of Women’s Studies Training on Women’s Employment in Europe, Hull: The University of Hull .

10.

The Times Higher Education Supplement (2005) ‘Bologna: A Dream to Reality’ , 1 April: 4-4.

11.

Vasterling, Veronica , Enikő Demény , Clare Hemmings , Ulla Holm , Päivi Korvajärvi and Theodossia-Soula Pavlidou (2006) Practising Interdisciplinarity in Gender Studies. Travelling Concepts in Feminist Pedagogy: European Perspectives series. York: Raw Nerve Books .