Brussels, 26/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - At the biennial meeting of the education ministers of the 47 countries taking part in the Bologna Process, in Bucharest on 26-27 April (see EUROPE 10602), the Eurydice network, the statistical office Eurostat and Eurostudent published a report on progress made by the Process. A broad range of issues are covered: the demographic and funding context for higher education, degree structures and qualifications, quality assurance, the social dimension of higher education, outcomes and employability, and lifelong learning and mobility. In these crisis-hit times, it is above all the funding of higher education that grabs the attention. While some governments have been imposing severe budgetary restrictions on the higher education sector since 2008, others - unfortunately, not the majority, the report says - have opted to follow the opposite course and increase spending on the sector.
Since its inception in June 1999, the Bologna Process has changed the face of higher education in the participant countries: structures have been changed, quality assurance systems developed, mechanisms to encourage mobility created and the parameters of the social dimension of education identified. Yet the reforms do not go far enough. The report notes that there are still persistent problems over the recognition of qualifications from one country to another. On quality assurance, several countries still do not allow their universities to be assessed by non-national agencies. The situation with regard to the social dimension and assistance for students varies widely, with some countries not charging tuition fees and even granting financial aid to students, when others charge fees while giving very little aid. Finally, while several countries have identified the obstacles to mobility, for the most part they have not adopted a strategy to overcome them. At the ministerial meeting in Louvain in 2009, ministers established four priority objectives to be achieved over the coming decade. The Bucharest meeting will re-assess these objectives: (1) finalising the structural reform and deepening its implementation process; (2) putting in place quality higher education, connected with research and lifelong learning and promoting employability; (3) making the social dimension a reality by ensuring that the higher education student population reflects the diverse student body of Europe's populations; (4) ensuring that at least 20% of those graduating from the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) have had a study or training period abroad. (IL/transl.rt)