Aurélie Mary

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-järjestelmän uudistuKset mahdollisesti haitallisia

Euroopan maiden korkeakoulujärjestelmät ovat Bolognan prosessin tavoitteiden seu-rauksena uudelleenorganisoituneet viimeisen vuosikymmenen aikana. Tämänkaltaisella uudelleenorganisoitumisella on kuitenkin syvällisempiä vaikutuksia kuin pelkästään koulutuksellisen polun muuttaminen. Se vaikuttaa etenkin koulutuksesta työelämään tapahtuvaan siirtymisprosessiin. Aiempi Suomessa ja Ranskassa tehty vertaileva tutkimus osoittaa, että Bolognan prosessin toimintaohjeet saattavat helpottamisen sijaan vaikeuttaa opiskelijoiden integroitumista työmarkkinoille. Nuorten ranskalaisten oppipolku vastaa Bolognan prosessin tavoitteita, sillä se on melko lyhyt, lineaarinen ja ennalta-arvattava.

Todistukset vaikuttavat tällöin ratkaisevasti siihen, että niitä vastaavaan työhön sopeu-dutaan. Ranskalaisilla korkeakouluista valmistuneilla on kuitenkin enemmän vaikeuksia saavuttaa vakaata asemaa työmarkkinoilla kuin suomalaisilla korkeakouluista valmistu-neilla. Siirtymiset koulutuksesta työelämään ovat pidempiä Suomessa, mutta opiskelijat ovat paremmin varautuneita niin yksilöllisesti kuin ammatillisesti pyrkiessään työmark-kinoille. Perinteinen ja nopea siirtymismalli koulutuksesta työelämään ei näytä enää tarjoavan riittäviä työkaluja integroitumiselle nykyisessä yhteiskunnallis-taloudellisessa kontekstissa. Samaan aikaan yhä tärkeämmäksi nousee pidempi ja moninaisempi ”kou-lutus ja työelämä” -malli.

The Bologna Declaration of 1999 initiated new reforms in order to create a European Higher-Education Area (EHEA). The purpose is to facilitate international student and staff academic mobility and cooperation (Bologna Process 2007–2010)³³. This entails the restructuring of the higher-education systems in individual European societies involved in the EHEA into a standardised higher-education model. Nonetheless, this procedure suggests that individual member states’ societal backgrounds are sufficiently flexible to adopt the new measures, and that young people’s patterns of transition and living conditions are homogeneous across Europe. Yet clear distinctions between European countries are visible at the educational, socio-economic, political and cultural levels,

33 Bologna Process – Towards the European Higher Education Area (2007–2010). http://www.ond.

vlaanderen.be/hogeronderwijs/bologna/about/ (Viitattu 28.3.2014.)

which in turn affect young people’s integration into society. Establishing a common European higher-education system implies more than simply restructuring education systems. Each country’s education model is constructed on particular ideologies. As such, in France, the higher-education system is based on a hierarchical division between universities, vocational institutions and elite specialised schools (Grandes Ecoles). These offer diverging possibilities in terms of admission and socio-economic integration after graduation. In Finland, the higher-education system presents a dual model divided between universities and vocational institutions. This arrangement provides fairly equal opportunities to students regarding access and integration opportunities after graduation.

Recent empirical research conducted with Finnish and French female university students about to graduate³⁴ shows evidence of the possible harmfulness of aligning the Finnish higher education system on the required European standard (Mary 2012)³⁵. The French university system was modified in accordance with the Bologna process between 2003 and 2006. However, it did not alter the number of study years or the composition of the various institutions drastically. French research participants appre-ciated the knowledge they received at university, yet they openly criticised the system.

They described it as obsolete and out of touch with current employability requirements, and emphasised its inaptness to prepare students for integrating in the labour market.

Students accumulate theoretical knowledge and individual capital, but once outside of university, many graduates face problems with integration, as their qualifications are not always convertible into concrete employment. University and the labour market oper-ate as two separoper-ate entities that work in parallel with each other rather than together.

Students from vocational and technological institutions obtain more working experience through professional training and are consequently better prepared.

[University] is a very good system for general knowledge. But after, concretely, in terms of job opportunities, (…) to be honest, I think it’s a bit catastrophic. (…) Frankly, when you graduate from university, I wonder, apart from going into teaching, what you can do.

Florence (22, France)

The Finnish research participants showed satisfaction with the university system and the possibilities of integration in the labour market after graduation. They made positive remarks concerning the organisation of their study schedules. The system was perceived as comprehensive and flexible, and as helping them to gain work experience, related to their studies or otherwise, through the possibility to work part-time alongside their studies.

34 Twenty-two qualitative in-depth interviews (eleven in Finland and eleven in France) were conducted in 2008 with female university students aged 21–30 and about to complete their Bachelors or Masters.

35 Mary, A. (2012) The Illusion of the Prolongation of Youth – Transition to Adulthood among Finnish and French Female University Students. Tampere: Tampere University Press.

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Finnish students need to accumulate credits to receive their Bachelors or Masters degree.

They are not constrained by yearly examinations and academic years; the total of credits is what counts. French students are compelled to actively contribute to a certain number of courses and to pass biannual exams if they want to be admitted to the subsequent academic year. Some informants felt frustrated by the rigid approaches to teaching and learning, comparing them to secondary-school methods. They also stressed the difficulties and sometimes the impossibility of combining studies and part-time jobs, due to the lack of flexibility from both employers and the study schedule.

I don’t like the direction it’s going to. (…) I always thought that universities [were] something more like a service than a business. (…) They are sort of directing it towards a business way of thinking.

Päivi (25, Finland)

Although Finnish informants showed satisfaction with the current system, they were deeply concerned by the new direction it was taking following the 2009 Universities Act.

They straightforwardly disagreed with the new directives and perceived the changes as harmful and hindering the quality of the service that universities were initially designed to provide. They considered the new laws were about to damage a well-functioning ins¬titution by transforming it into business and a standard organisation. Several young women who had been exchange students in France and England hoped that the Finnish system would not be changed to follow a more European model. One may wonder why a system that was working efficiently, at least in the opinion of the Finnish students who have been using it, deserves to be eradicated. It would have been sensible to thoroughly enquire the perspectives of students before imposing such reforms.

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The most significant difference between the Finnish and French university systems lies at the level of the transition from school to work. The Finnish university system appears to work alongside the labour market and to lead students towards working life. Most students become familiarised with the labour market during gap years and/or when working alongside their studies. By contrast, the French system is more rigid, and works independently from the labour market. It provides students exclusively with academic knowledge but omits practical skills.

A large proportion of Finnish students stay in higher education and training until their late 20s or early 30s, but they often work at the same time, and many have a job connected to their studies. Transition from school to work can already occur during studies, rather than following a clear-cut pattern as seems to be the case in France. The Finns may study for longer, but their route to integration is smoother and more direct

(Kivinen and Nurmi 2011).³⁶ A large number of French university students are more at risk of precarity and unemployment after graduation due to their lack of relevant professional experience. The French respondents pointed out employers’ discrimina-tion against university graduates due to their lack of professional skills. French students follow a shorter and more straightforward school-to-work process, in which they first study and graduate, and then enter the labour market. However, their position as new entrants on the market greatly hinders their finding a stable job.