Biomedical Engineering Education, Virtual Campuses and the Bologna Process

Higher education in Europe can be divided into before and after the Bologna Declaration, the most revolutionary process in modern education. Biomedical engineering, an emerging “subject” during the last 40 years, strongly interdisciplinary, fragmented and lacking of international coordination, may benefit from this harmonization process. An early initiative such as BIOMEDEA has made a contribution through proposing biomedical engineering foundations for building a common curriculum among higher education institutions. A common curriculum would presumably contribute to student and teacher mobility, certification and accreditation and as a consequence promote increased international employability. The virtual campus action extends or adds values to already existing educational exchange networks such as Erasmus, important in student mobility and educational harmonization and recognition. A virtual education dimension is added to European co-operation, encouraged through the development of new organisational models for European institutions, promoting virtual mobility and recognition. Virtual campuses may have a possibility to bridge the gaps in national BME curricula all with respect to the action towards a consensus on European guidelines for the harmonization. The evaluation of the e-curricula is conformant with the roadmap of BME courses as defined by BIOMEDEA. Most courses are classified as second cycle courses on a Master level, supporting that studies in BME could be a continuation from cycle one. Learning environment and the students learning outcome, points towards a strong teacher-centred approach to learning. The transparency at all levels are low, a factor that might influence recruiting potential students to a programme, especially those students with working experience and an international background. To fulfil the Bologna Declaration and other steering documents for the higher education in an expanding European future there are still tasks to be solved regarding recognition, legalisation, pedagogical issues and employability looking for a harmonized solution.