CETSIS'2005, Nancy, 25-27 octobre 2005 Tuning Higher Education Harmonisation in Europe Maria João Martins 1 , Jean-Marc Thiriet 2 , Olivier Bonnaud 3 , Michel Robert 2 1 Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal, pcjoaom@mail.ist.utl.pt 2 ESSTIN, Univ. H. Poincaré, Vandoeuvre les Nancy, France, jean-marc.thiriet@esstin.uhp-nancy.fr 3 GM-IETR, Univ Rennes 1, Campus de Beaulieu, France, olivier.bonnaud@univ-rennes1.fr RESUMÉ New forms of practice must be devised to prepare students to compete in an open market where information and communication technologies are key features. The association of teachers and researchers in wide networks where exchange of practices and information can take place is an essential step towards better teaching praxis and to curricula harmonisation. The THEIERE (Thematic Harmonisation in Electrical and Information EngineeRing in Europe) Thematic Network began in 2000 as the result of converging interests between the EAEEIE (European Association for Education in Electrical and Information Engineering), and the European Commission, through DG “Education and Culture”. The main objective is the co-operation between the partner institutions in order to contribute to the harmonisation of curricula at an European level, with the contribution of 87 European universities and some observers: Bogazici University in Istanbul (Turkey), University of Mariupol (Ukraine), and University Abdelmalek Saadi from Tangiers (Morocco). We will describe the objective and expected results of the last years of activity obtained in na extension of the project entitled THEIERE-DISS. Mots clés : curricula harmonisation, Bologna proposal, B-M-D model, Life Long Learning, ECTS, ECAS. 1 INTRODUCTION In Electrical and Information Engineering, as in other fields, a lot of non compatible curricula are available throughout Europe (classical academic studies, engineer schools, technological institutes) with all the kinds of curricula structures or diploma we can imagine.The present situation is problematic in the sense that it is really difficult for a student to move from a university to another one and to get an equivalence either for a diploma (end of a curriculum) or during his/her studies (equivalence for a module or set of modules). Two types of answers has been proposed by HEIs tdeal with this aspect:  Some universities have launched some co- operations giving their students the possibility to go abroad for one semester and then validating this semester within their own curricula.  Implementation of ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) is another mean given to universities to propose to foreign students some "standardised" modules. In 1998, in the Sorbonne meeting and in 1999,in the Bologna convention some European countries adopted a declaration [1] for a common effort to obtain a curricular harmonisation to promote convergence between educational systems. The proposal commonly referred as the “B-M-D Model” contemplates two main common levels, Bachelor and Master, corresponding more or less to the classical “undergraduate” and “post graduate” degrees used in most countries in the world. The Bolo gna meeting also adopted a common regime of credits, designated by ECTS. The implementation of this document is not easy given the different levels and curricular structures of higher education in Europe. 2 THE THEIERE-DISS TN Built in the framework of the SOCRATES European program, the THEIERE (Thematic Harmonisation in Electrical and Information EngineeRing in Europe) Thematic Network [2] began in 2000 as the result of converging interests between the EAEEIE (European Association for Education in Electrical and Information Engineering) and the European Comission and aims at fostering harmonisation of European Curricula, either in presential courses as well as in a distant learning context The main objective is the co-operation between the partner institutions in order to contribute to the harmonisation of curricula at an European level, [3] with the contribution of 83 European universities and