Meanings of the transition for the Bologna Process at the University of Porto The vision of professors and students

Abstract

This article aims to present and discuss the lived experiences of students and teachers from two study cycles of the University of Porto around the transition towards the so-called the Bologna Process. This exploratory qualitative study presented involved semi-directive interviews with graduate students and course directors from two faculties in the field of technologies and social sciences. Both courses were integrated masters, a new typology of degree introduced by the Bologna Process. Data
from the interviews suggest that there were timid changes, seemingly shallow, not exactly in the line
that is commonly associated with a «paradigm shift» that policy documents seem to announce regarding this process. However, and in spite of obvious differences between the two study cycles – with changes being anticipated, in one case, and managed, in the other –, the discourses of both students and course directors suggest a relative appropriation of some of the assumptions of the process, particularly regarding learning processes and outcomes.