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Uniform Undergraduate Degree Adopted in Europe
By Gwendolyn Bradley
A three-year undergraduate degree is being widely adopted in Europe as part of the Bologna process, a plan to harmonize Europe's higher education systems by instituting mutually recognized degrees, credentials, and academic credits. The process, started in 1999 and slated to be completed by 2010, was stimulated by a desire to increase mobility among countries for European faculty, students, and researchers. Prior to 1999, European countries had diverse systems of higher education in which degrees, structure, and quality varied widely. The new system encourages the use of a common framework based on three-year bachelor's degrees, two-year master's degrees, and doctoral degrees.
While uniform European degrees should ultimately simplify the task of credential evaluation for admissions officers in U.S. graduate schools, it is not yet clear how many American institutions will accept the three-year program as equivalent to the standard four-year U.S. undergraduate degree. Those who do not accept it may require applicants with European degrees to do additional undergraduate work before entering graduate school, a requirement that could hinder academic exchanges.
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