Diversifying University Studies

Joint Degrees as a New Model of Academic Mobility

As one of the first “Joint Bologna Master Programmes” in Europe, the Graz project has been considered a forerunner in the European Higher Education Area. This article discusses its background and development, using its successes and the lessons learned in Graz as an example. Although there is no such thing as a generic recipe for joint degree development, and despite the diversity of the range of joint degrees developed in the project, some of the issues and challenges were recurrent. This article summarises the main problems: terminology, coordination, curriculum design / length of programmes, finding a common language, tuition fees and funding, mobility, and issuing a joint diploma.