Bologna revisited

With just three years to go before the establishment of a European Higher Education Area (EHEA), does the UK's integrated masters - the MChem/MSci - align with the second-cycle qualifications of the Bologna Process, or does the UK chemistry community still have questions to answer? 

Summer saw the publication of the Government's response to the House of Commons Education and Skills Committee inquiry into the Bologna Process and its implications for the UK HE sector.¹ The report followed the biannual meeting of European HE ministers - representing the 45 signatories to the Bologna declaration - in London, in May. As a result of these deliberations, many chemists were hoping that the integrated masters (MChem/MSci degrees) would either be finally accepted as a second-cycle qualification in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), or the UK Government would create a flexible funding model to allow the chemistry community to bring these degrees into alignment with the rest of Europe.