Brussels, 14/05/2007 (Agence Europe) - On 17-18 May, ministers responsible for higher education will meet in London to discuss progress made in the Bologna process, which aims to establish a European Higher Education Area by 2010. Ministers will also adopt a strategy on how to reach out to other continents, and will approve the creation of a Register of European Higher Education Quality Assurance Agencies.
The Bologna process has grown from 29 countries in 1999 to 45 today, and an additional country - Montenegro - will join at the ministerial meeting in London. The latest Bologna Stocktaking Report, which is to be presented to ministers in London, concludes that “good progress” has been made in implementing the Bologna reforms. The Commission's own Eurydice report supports this positive conclusion.
The main Bologna reforms concentrate on: - the three-cycle degree structure (bachelor, master, doctorate); - quality assurance in higher education; - and recognition of qualifications and periods of study. The Commission believes that these reform efforts have, together, created new opportunities for universities and students, and that the creation of a new Register of European Higher Education Quality Assurance Agencies will help to raise the visibility of European higher education and boost confidence in institutions and programmes within Europe and worldwide. Despite this rather positive assessment, European Education Commissioner Ján Figel' feels that “Europe should now go beyond them (Ed: the Bologna reforms), as universities should also modernise the content of their curricula, create virtual campuses and reform their governance. They should also professionalise their management, diversify their funding and open up to new types of learners, businesses and society at large, in Europe and beyond. Countries should modernise their higher education systems in all their areas of activity - education, research and innovation - making them more coherent, more flexible, and more responsive to the needs of society. These would be great steps towards the goals of the European Higher Education Area as well as the European Research Area”. These words are likely to find a great deal of support in the academic world, insofar as they are very much in line with the current concerns of reaching professionals in higher education, who broadly support higher education reform.
On eve of the London meeting, the Commission accepts, however, that more work is needed to implement “lifelong learning” in everyday university practice. It notes that it works with member states and the higher education sector to help implement the modernisation agenda for universities in the framework of the Lisbon strategy for growth and jobs. Grant support is provided through the new Lifelong Learning Programme (Erasmus actions), the 7th EU Framework Programme for Research and the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme, as well as the Structural Funds and EIB loans. The Commission also stresses that an important task will be the implementation of the proposed European Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning (from the EU), which corresponds with the framework of qualifications for the European Higher Education Area (provided for in the Bologna process).
In London, ministers will adopt a strategy to help position European higher education in a global context. According to the Commission, international dialogue, comparison and competition are strong drivers for quality enhancement in the field of higher education. Activities will include better information provision, promoting attractiveness and competitiveness of European higher education establishments, enhancing partnerships, strengthening policy dialogue, and improving recognition arrangements. The Commission supports the global strategy in concrete terms through its policies and programmes. For example, help with higher education reforms in the EU's neighbouring countries is available through various programmes, and more particularly through the Tempus Programme. Relations with other continents are supported through a series of bilateral or multilateral cooperation programmes: EU-USA/Canada, Asia-Link, Edu-Link, ALFA and ALBAN for Latin America and the new Nyerere Programme for Africa. Finally, there is also the Erasmus Mundus Programme, which provides scholarships for students from across the world to study on integrated master-level programmes in different European countries. Increased attention to cooperation with non-European institutions is also a hallmark of the Commission's support to higher education institutions' research activities through the 7th EU Framework Programme for Research. (ol)