The Bologna Process is a series of ministerial meetings and agreements between European countries to ensure comparability in the standards and quality of higher-education qualifications. The process has created the European Higher Education Area under the Lisbon Recognition Convention. It is named after the University of Bologna, where the Bologna declaration was signed by education ministers from 29 European countries in 1999. The process was opened to other countries in the European Cultural Convention of the Council of Europe, and government meetings have been held in Prague (2001), Berlin (2003), Bergen (2005), London (2007), Leuven (2009), Budapest-Vienna (2010), Bucharest (2012), Yerevan (2015), Paris (2018), and Rome (2020).
Before the signing of the Bologna declaration, the Magna Charta Universitatum was issued at a meeting of university rectors celebrating the 900th anniversary of the University of Bologna (and European universities) in 1988. One year before the declaration, education ministers Claude Allègre (France), Jürgen Rüttgers (Germany), Luigi Berlinguer (Italy) and Baroness Blackstone (UK) signed the Sorbonne declaration in Paris in 1998, committing themselves to "harmonising the architecture of the European Higher Education system". The Bologna Process has 49 participating countries.
Signatories
Signatories of the Bologna Accord, members of the European Higher Education Area, are:
1999: Austria, Belgium (Flemish Community and French Community of Belgium separately), Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom. 2001: Croatia, Cyprus, Liechtenstein, Turkey, European Commission 2003: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Russia, Serbia, Vatican City 2005: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine May 2007: Montenegro 2010: Kazakhstan May 2015: Belarus All member states of the EU are participating in the process, with the European Commission also a signatory. Monaco and San Marino are the only members of the Council of Europe which did not adopt the process.
The ESU, EUA, EURASHE, EI, ENQA, UNICE, the Council of Europe and UNESCO are part of the process' follow-up. Other groups at this level are ENIC, NARIC and EURODOC.
Rejected countries
Four countries, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, and the unrecognized Northern Cyprus and Kosovo, have applied to join but did not meet the membership criteria.
Israel is not a party to the European Cultural Convention of the Council of Europe, although it has observer status. Although Israel is not geographically part of Europe, it is part of the UNESCO European Region (although not a UNESCO member). Israel has also ratified the Lisbon Recognition Convention but, under the criteria of the 2003 Berlin Communiqué, it is ineligible for the Bologna Process.
Kosovo is not a party to the European Cultural Convention of the Council of Europe. Although Serbia is a party, Kosovo declared independence from it and has theoretically been a part of the Bologna Process since the Kosovo War. It was suggested that Kosovo could be associated with the process in a category appropriate to its situation, such as guest or special-observer status.
Kyrgyzstan is not a party to the European Cultural Convention of the Council of Europe, although has also ratified the Lisbon Recognition Convention.
Northern Cyprus is not a party to the European Cultural Convention of the Council of Europe and not recognized as an independent political entity by any member of the Bologna Process except Turkey.
Qualifications framework
The basic framework is three cycles of higher-education qualifications. The framework adopted by the ministers at their meeting in Bergen in 2005 defines the qualifications in terms of learning outcomes, which are statements of what students know and can do on completing their degrees. In describing the cycles, the framework uses the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS):