Presentation issue 10º

The so-called commitment of Bologna, which was born in this Italian city in July 1999, has convulsed the university world. And it is not for less, because of it derive substantial changes in European universities with the well-intentioned purpose that they serve to meet the new challenges demanded by the XXI century. What worries society in general and the university world in particular so that such a complex process of adaptation has provoked an academic, political and social debate? The problem is in the how and in its possible consequences, since we all agree on the undoubted advantages of promoting the compatibility of degrees, the mobility of students in the European space and that a university that serves society is set up. But, in the face of these benefits, difficulties and resistances are emerging from academic, professional and even from a student sector because of the fear of certain negative effects. Between these effects and fears we could mention the following:

1. not all degrees, or if you prefer university careers, have the same route - case of Medicine or Engineering -, which leads to think of higher-level titles than others, or that doctors and engineers know how to act as an organized lobby until getting to make good that phrase of the intimate dialogue between the elegant and distant Prince Salina and his nephew in the excellent novel by Tomasi di Lampedusa: "if we want everything to continue as it is, everything must change". Therefore, the intended homogeneity seems to be cracking;
2. Will the replacement of graduates by graduates not result in a degradation of the level of training by the mere and simple fact of reducing, in at least one year, the courses of study?
3. Is it not an interference in university autonomy that degrees are articulated around competencies that are aimed at satisfying the interests of the productive world?
4. In the event that the productive world ends up imposing the type of knowledge that must be transmitted in the university, does it not mean a bankruptcy of the traditional domain in the control of the knowledge of the academy and, consequently, a deregulation of the same up to the point of putting the university at the feet of businessmen?
5. The fact that the European countries themselves are adopting different rhythms and imposing exceptions, will not they be warnings and signs that the unshakable adhesions end up dragging them to a dead end?

These and other issues, given the relevant position of the university world, has made the so-called commitment of Bologna has produced concern, uneasiness and hope in society as a whole and is one of the topics that occupy the space of the public arena until the point that the Avances magazine, in its usual outpost position, has occupied and worried about the subject in the present monographic issue. And it is that Advances is opening, as it shows his trajectory and already it is habitual, to the topics of current resonance and its context, which has helped to strengthen his prestige among the media of our specialty.

Prestige undoubtedly linked to those who have participated in this issue, to whom we thank for their collaboration and contribution on a complex issue, of deep political, academic, social and economic importance. And although it is very broad, susceptible to multiple readings, the number is encouraged by the pretension to cover the substantial issues, on the basis of different topics.

The first, in the voice of Antonio Luzón Trujillo, Diego Sevilla Merino and Mónica Torres Sánchez, professors of the University of Granada, submit to the judgment of the critics, in their work The Bologna Process: meaning, objectives and controversies, the reasons for which should or should not move towards the agreements derived from the Bologna process. It is then reviewed, by the hand of Javier Valle, the concretion of the European Higher Education Area within the context of the formation of a European citizenship, that is, in the search for an ideal type in which European citizens resemble each other in fundamental aspects, and the so-called Bologna commitment can contribute to this. María Ángeles González Galán, in her article titled The Adaptation of the degrees of the Faculty of Education of the UNED to the European Higher Education Area, is attached to the terrain, narrates how a university of national scope such as the National University of Distance Education , has proceeded to deploy, with its ups and downs, a complex process that involves the whole of the teaching staff, the academic authorities, harmonizing the times of a very large group of people in order to channel a sustained practice on a theoretical and formal very elaborate.

Among the changes that the Bologna Process implies, Primitivo Sánchez Delgado, Deputy Director of Permanent Training at ICE and Head of the University in Didactics and School Organization of the Complutense University of Madrid, addresses those that are taking place in the initial training of non-university teaching staff , focusing mainly on the formation of Teachers and Teachers of Secondary Education.

Finally, the issue deals with a theme that has to structure the cultural and social space of Europe, the use of its languages. In fact, the associate professor of university and education inspector Francisco Ballesteros Martin, in his article on the Teaching of languages ​​in the European Higher Education Area and its intended impact after the declaration of Bologna, will clearly and distinctly expose the most important role of languages ​​in the cohesion and economic prosperity among European citizens, making it clear, after tracking the initiatives launched since 2000, for the promotion of a multilingual university education, the current state of the issue, and suggesting some proposals to achieve convergence in the near future of 2010.

From the Editorial Board we hope to broaden the life with the opportunity provided by the reading of these works, because surely will expand the horizon of our view.

The editorial board.