European Areas of Higher Education and Research

In May 1988 the Ministers of Education of France, Italy, Great Britain and Germany signed in Paris the so-called Sorbonne Declaration on the creation of a common framework for the European higher education systems. Other countries later joined the declaration.

The Sorbonne Declaration aims in particular at

Increasing the convergence of general framework conditions for study programmes and degrees within an open European higher education area
Creating a joint system of degrees (Bachelor, Master, Doctor)
Increasing and facilitating the mobility of students and professors (students should spend at least one semester abroad)
Removing obstacles to mobility and improving recognition of academic degrees and achievements.

These reform measures met with great interest everywhere in Europe. Therefore the Ministers of Education of 29 European states signed in June 1999 the so-called Bologna Declaration on the creation of a European Higher Education Area by the year 2010 and on the strengthening of Europe as a centre for higher education on a global scale.

In the Declaration the Ministers confirmed their commitment to realise the following objectives:

The creation of a system of easily readable and comparable degrees
The creation of a degree system structured in two cycles, undergraduate and graduate
The introduction of a credit point system (like ECTS)
The promotion of mobility by removing obstacles
The strengthening of European cooperation in Quality Assurance
The promotion of a European dimension in higher education.

Convinced that the creation of a European Higher Education Area required the continuing support, monitoring and adjustment to the changing circumstances, the Ministers decided to meet again two years later in Prague to review what had been achieved by then and decide on the next steps to take.

At their meeting on 19 May 2001 in Prague the Ministers of Education of – by then – 33 European states signed the so-called Prague Communiqué. In it

They confirmed the objectives of the Bologna Declaration
Welcomed the active participation of the European University Association (EUA) and the National Unions of Students in Europe (ESIB)
Mentioned the constructive role of the European Commission
Commented on the further proceedings regarding the different goals of the Bologna Declaration
Underlined the specific importance of the following aspects of a European Higher Education Area:

Life-long learning
Involving the students
Increasing the attractiveness and competitiveness of the European Higher Education Area (including transnational education)

The Ministers decided to have the next follow-up meeting to the Bologna Conference in Berlin in 2003. This meeting will provide another opportunity to assess what has been achieved by then and to define the next priorities for the creation of a European Higher Education Area for the following years.

The Conference of the European Higher Education Ministers will take place in Berlin on 18/19 September 2003. Detailed information on the Bologna Process and the Berlin Conference can be found under www.bologna-berlin2003.de

Inspired by the idea of a European Higher Education Area the European Commission developed the concept of a European Research Area a few months later. This was based on the analysis that European top research centres, although internationally competitive, were dispersed across the continent and often linked in inadequate ways. This means that they can frequently not benefit from synergy effects that could be derived from a better coordination and tuning of their activities.

The EU Commissioner for Research Busquin therefore considered the time right to go beyond the regular EU framework programmes for research: by further coordination and tuning of research activities it should be possible to create an equivalent to the common market for goods and services.

Such a network, called the European Research Area, implies the concentration of all the EU activities that support research and the convergence of the research and innovation policies of the member states and the European Union.

Presently the EU Commission is discussing ways of better linking the two concepts of the European Higher Education Area and the European Research Area. The results of these discussions will be taken into account in the preparation of the Berlin Conference in 2003. One obvious point of contact between the two projects is the doctoral phase in European higher education. Several proposals for the creation of structured doctoral studies in the member states, the increase of mobility of doctoral students and the creation of European doctoral degrees have so far been presented and are being discussed. For more information on the European Research Area see

http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/era/index_en.html

"Von Bologna nach Berlin" - DUZ Special zum Bologna-Prozess

"Von Bologna nach Berlin. Eine Vision gewinnt Kontur" - unter diesem Motto haben die wichtigsten Akteure des Bologna-Prozesses im In- und Ausland im Vorfeld der Berlin-Konferenz beschrieben, mit welchen Erwartungen sie auf das Ministertreffen am 18. und 19. September in Berlin blickten. Das von BMBF, DAAD, HRK und KMK gemeinsam konzipierte DUZ Special ist inzwischen vergriffen. Die Broschüre wird aber hier noch zum kostenlosen Download zur Verfügung gestellt.

DUZ Special "Von Bologna nach Berlin" [size 6.33 MB, type pdf]

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