Bologna Process
Bologna Process.
Background.
First joint declaration of the European Ministers of Education took place in 19th of June 1999.
Initial document (1999) signed by the Ministers of; Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Estonia, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Greece, Ireland, Iceland, Latvia, Italy, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Netherlands, Malta, Poland, Norway, Romania, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovak Republic, Sweden, Spain, United Kingdom, Swiss Confederation.
Presidency and coordination is undertaken by the current state presiding over the European Parliament and a non-European Union state (as of 2011, Poland and Armenia).
The Bologna Process is an agreement between the states’ governments and not the European Union, as commonly mistaken, thus it does not have as an agreement the legitimacy and binding properties of EU agreements.
General Aims and Purpose
Its purpose is to increase the international competitiveness of the European higher education and to create a European Higher Education Area by 2010.
This is to be performed by setting a number of aims to be completed by each signatory Minister of Education from each respective state.
The aims are:
* Adoption of a system of easily readable and comparable degrees, also through the implementation of the Diploma Supplement, in order to promote European citizens employability and the international competitiveness of the European higher education system
* Adoption of a system essentially based on two main cycles, undergraduate and graduate. Access to the second cycle shall require successful completion of first cycle studies, lasting a minimum of three years. The degree awarded after the first cycle shall also be relevant to the European labour market as an appropriate level of qualification. The second cycle should lead to the master and/or doctorate degree as in many European countries.
* Establishment of a system of credits - such as in the ECTS system () - as a
Background.
First joint declaration of the European Ministers of Education took place in 19th of June 1999.
Initial document (1999) signed by the Ministers of; Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Estonia, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Greece, Ireland, Iceland, Latvia, Italy, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Netherlands, Malta, Poland, Norway, Romania, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovak Republic, Sweden, Spain, United Kingdom, Swiss Confederation.
Presidency and coordination is undertaken by the current state presiding over the European Parliament and a non-European Union state (as of 2011, Poland and Armenia).
The Bologna Process is an agreement between the states’ governments and not the European Union, as commonly mistaken, thus it does not have as an agreement the legitimacy and binding properties of EU agreements.
General Aims and Purpose
Its purpose is to increase the international competitiveness of the European higher education and to create a European Higher Education Area by 2010.
This is to be performed by setting a number of aims to be completed by each signatory Minister of Education from each respective state.
The aims are:
* Adoption of a system of easily readable and comparable degrees, also through the implementation of the Diploma Supplement, in order to promote European citizens employability and the international competitiveness of the European higher education system
* Adoption of a system essentially based on two main cycles, undergraduate and graduate. Access to the second cycle shall require successful completion of first cycle studies, lasting a minimum of three years. The degree awarded after the first cycle shall also be relevant to the European labour market as an appropriate level of qualification. The second cycle should lead to the master and/or doctorate degree as in many European countries.
* Establishment of a system of credits - such as in the ECTS system () - as a