Doc. 9591

14 October 2002

Council of Europe contribution to the Higher Education Area

Motion for a recommendation

presented by Mr Varela i Serra and others

1.       The Bologna Process was launched in June 1999, when the ministers of education of 29 European countries signed the Bologna Declaration aimed at establishing a European Higher Education Area by 2010.

2.       In 2001, 33 ministers in charge of higher education met in Prague in order to review the progress achieved and to set directions and priorities for the coming years of the process. Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to the objective of establishing the European Higher Education Area by 2010.

3.       The goals expressed in the Bologna Declaration and the Prague Communiqué are the adoption of a system of easily readable and comparable degrees, essentially based on two main cycles and the promotion of mobility, of European cooperation in quality assurances and of the attractiveness of the European Higher Education Area.

4.       The Council of Europe contributes to the Bologna Process through its participation in the follow up structures of the Process, as a link between the countries party to the Process and the remaining 15 countries party to the European Cultural Convention and through its higher education programme.

5.       In this context 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 and now signed by 40 countries and ratified by 28 of these, is particularly important, as recognition issues will play a crucial role in the ongoing development 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.        explore how the Council of Europe could continue and strengthen its contribution to the establishment of the European Higher Education Area, in particular by:

      - developing further its activities on the recognition of qualifications in the light of the Bologna Process, in particular as concerns the implementation of the Lisbon Recognition Convention;

      - exploring the links between the recognition of qualifications and quality assurance in higher education;

      - exploring the issue of higher education governance, with particular emphasis on student participation;

      - exploring the function of the Steering Committee of Higher Education and Research as a platform uniting “Bologna” and “non-Bologna” countries as well as ministry and academic representatives, with student representatives as observers on the committee;

ii.       invite all European States of the Bologna Process to ratify the Lisbon Recognition Convention, as a major element to facilitate the creation of a European Higher Education Area.

Signed: ¹

Varela I Serra, Spain, LDR

Abbasov, Azerbaijan, EDG

Agudo, Spain, SOC

Asciak, Malta, EPP

Fehr, Switzerland, LDR

Frey, Switzerland, LDR

González de Txabarri, Spain EPP

Guardans, Spain, LDR

Hegyi, Hungary, SOC

Hooper, United Kingdom, SOC

Jařab, Czech Republic, LDR

Lopez, Spain, SOC

Martinez Casán, Spain, EPP

Marty, Switzerland, LDR

O’Hara, United Kingdom, DOC

Tiuri, Finland, EPP

Torrado, Spain, SOC

¹ .       SOC: Socialist Group

      EPP: 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