Recommendation 1620 (2003)1
Council of Europe contribution to the higher education area
1. The Bologna Process, the
most important and wide-ranging reform of higher education in Europe since
1968, was launched in June 1999 when the education ministers from twenty-nine
European countries signed the Bologna Declaration, aimed at establishing a
European higher education area by 2010.
2. In 2001, the ministers
responsible for higher education in the “Bologna” countries met in Prague to
take stock of the progress made and to establish guidelines and priorities for
implementing the process in the years ahead. They reasserted their commitment
to achieving the goal of establishing a European higher education area by
2010. At the same time, the number of participating countries was increased to
thirty-three.
3. The Bologna Declaration
and the Prague Communiqué set as goals the adoption of a system of easily
identifiable and comparable degrees, essentially based on two main cycles, the
promotion of mobility, European co-operation in quality assurance and the
enhancement of the attractiveness of the European higher education area.
4. The Parliamentary
Assembly welcomes the Council of Europe’s contribution to the Bologna Process
through its involvement in the process follow-up arrangements, its role as a
link between the states in the process and the other States Parties to the
European Cultural Convention and its higher education programme.
5. In this connection, the
Council of Europe/Unesco Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications
concerning Higher Education in the European Region (the Lisbon Recognition
Convention) adopted in 1997, which has now been signed by forty-three states
and ratified by thirty-three, is particularly important, because recognition
issues play a key role in the implementation of the European higher education
area.
6. With a view to the next
meeting of the ministers responsible for higher education in Berlin in
September 2003, the Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers:
i. study the means of
enabling the Council of Europe to continue and step up its contribution to
the establishment of the European higher education area, in particular:
a.
by further developing its activities concerning the recognition of
qualifications with regard to the Bologna Process, notably the
implementation of the Lisbon Recognition Convention;
b.
by analysing the links between the recognition of qualifications and
quality assurance in higher education;
c.
by considering the issue of good governance in higher education, focusing
especially on student involvement;
d.
by underlining the fundamental role of research in universities and the
need to link the European higher education area with the European Research
Area mentioned in
Recommendation 1541 (2001)
on young scientists in Europe;
e.
by safeguarding cultural diversity, regional education powers and the
autonomy of universities;
f.
by studying the role of the Steering Committee for Higher Education and
Research as a link between the signatories of the Bologna Declaration and
non-signatories and between ministry and academic representatives, as well
as the student representatives with observer status on the committee;
ii. call on all European
states in the Bologna Process to ratify the Lisbon Recognition Convention as
an essential means of facilitating the establishment of the European higher
education area;
iii. urge all member
states that have not yet done so to base their higher education policies and
reforms on the guidelines and priorities of the Bologna Process;
iv. study the possibility
of also involving states that are not signatories to the European Cultural
Convention, such as the countries on the southern shore of the
Mediterranean;
v. initiate discussion on
the definition of public authorities’ responsibilities in higher education
and research and on governance in higher education.
