Pascal Convert critiques Bologna reforms for art schools

Artist and historian Pascal Convert argues that the Bologna Process, signed by France in 1999 and extended to art schools under the Ministry of Culture, has subordinated art education to university standards. The equivalence of diplomas was managed by the AERES, whose council includes no artists—only university researchers. Convert notes that prestigious European schools like the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and the Royal College of Art refused to comply. He asserts that art school pedagogy, rooted in the Bauhaus tradition, centers on heuristic learning and 'savvy improvisation,' contrasting with university prerequisites. Convert calls for a refounding of art schools' mission to foster collective singularization rather than market value, warning that the Ministry of Culture must not abandon its oversight role, as 'culture for all' (Enlightenment ideal) is threatened by 'culture for each' (nationalism).