Doc. 8721
14 April 2000

Higher education in South-Eastern Europe

Motion for a recommendation

presented by Mr Ivanov and others

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only the members who have signed it

1.        Higher education is an area where national identities and common interests can interact for the benefit of students, society and, more generally, future generations.

2.        The Sorbonne Declaration, signed by the French, German, Italian and British ministers for education on 25 May 1998, provided a frame of reference designed to make qualifications easier to compare and to facilitate student mobility and employment.

3.        The Bologna Declaration of 19 June 1999, signed by the education ministers of 29 European countries, is a key document concerning higher education policy and reform in Europe, based on the following principles:

-        reinforcement of the intellectual, cultural, social, scientific and technological aspects;

-        the importance attached to knowledge, as a basis for European citizenship;

-        the key role played by universities in developing European culture;

-        promotion of European co-operation in the field of quality assessment.

4.        Higher education in the countries of South-Eastern Europe is a crucial factor in building and strengthening stability, peace and democracy in the region, particularly today, in view of the current situation.

5.        The Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe provides, in its first Round Table, for several activities in the field of education, including in the region’s higher education system.

6.        A number of international institutions have already expressed their support and willingness to contribute to the Stability Pact - the European Union, UNESCO, the UN, etc.

7.        Over the past ten years, the Assembly has discussed the situation as regards higher education in South-Eastern Europe on several occasions, while continuing its ongoing activities in co-operation with the Education Committee (CC-ED) and the Higher Education and Research Committee (CC-HER) in the field of legislative and structural reform.

8.        Given the importance of higher education for South-Eastern Europe and the need to further the objectives of the Stability Pact, the Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers:

i.        ask the member states of South-Eastern Europe to take practical steps to engage in the Bologna process and more specifically:

a.        to create a higher education system based mainly on two programmes prior to doctoral studies;

b.        to introduce a system of credits based on the European system for transferring course credits (ECTS);

c.        to adopt a system of comprehensible, readily comparable qualifications based on the Lisbon Convention on the recognition of qualifications;

d.        to encourage any measures that promote reciprocal mobility between academics and students in the region, as a way of building trust between the younger generations and a means whereby the various ethnic cultures in this part of Europe can learn about each other and develop mutual respect;

e.        to facilitate any lifelong education projects in the field of higher education in order to encourage staff who have lost their jobs through cutbacks or economic and structural changes to retrain;

f.        to assist any legislative reform in their respective countries which aims to introduce into higher education transparent, easy-to-use, universal procedures for scientific evaluation and to gradually forge closer links between higher education and research;

g.        to assist the introduction of effective, independent social sciences, capable of contributing to a fully-fledged form of democratic citizenship ;

ii.        request the member states of the European Union to step up co-operation with the university network in South-Eastern Europe under the various transnational programmes (LEONARDO, SOCRATES, etc), with special emphasis on projects which involve several parts of the region at the same time;

iii.        encourage international financial institutions (the World Bank, EBRD, OECD, etc) to provide assistance for any legislative and structural reform projects which seek to improve the infrastructure and functioning of higher education in the region.

Signed : ¹

Ivanov, Bulgaria, EPPE/CD

Besostri, Italy, SOC

Gligoroski, "the formerYugoslav Republic of Macedonia", EPP/CD

Goulet, France, EDG

Hadjidemetriou, Cyprus, SOC

Hoeffel, France, EPP/CD

Kitov, Bulgaria, EPP/CD

Lupu, Romania, EPP/CD

Roseta, Portugal, EPP/CD

Toshev, Bulgaria, EPP/CD

Zingeris, Lithuania, EDG

¹        SOC: Socialist Group

      EPP/CD: Group of the European People’s Party

      EDG: European Democratic Group

      LDR : Liberal, Democratic and Reformers’ Group

      UEL: Group of the Unified European Left

      NR: not registered in a group