Implementation and Monitoring

MONITORING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE BOLOGNA PROCESS

Since the early ministerial conferences within the Bologna Process, the ministers mandated the Bologna Follow-Up Group with the oversighting and organising the implementation of their commitments and requested that the BFUG reports on the implementation of their commitments at the upcoming ministerial conference.

The monitoring of the implementation of the Bologna Process is conducted between Ministerial Conferences by a dedicated working group, in collaboration with Eurydice, Eurostat, Eurostudent and other stakeholders.

The Bologna Process Implementation Reports provide both qualitative information and statistical data, and cover all the main policy areas included in the Bologna Process.

As predecessors of the Bologna Process Implementation Reports, the BFUG undertook stocktaking exercises on the progress made in the priority lines determined by the ministers.

During several work cycles, the ministers committed to elaborating and implementing national action plans on various topics, such as mobility or the social dimension of higher education. In the Tirana Communiqué, ministers committed to devising and publishing national action plans for the implementation of the key commitments and sharing knowledge about the Bologna Process. The BFUG further invited member states to also include social dimension in their national action plans, with several countries further integrating topics such as learning and teaching, mobility or digitalisation. The National Action Plans for the 2024-2027 working period can be found here, under each EHEA full member.

Alongside the official monitoring exercise carried by the BFUG, a crucial role in understanding the implementation and impact of Bologna Process policies at national and institutional levels is played by the reports published by consultative members. Most notably, the European University Association and the European Students’ Union collects data from their membership and prepares reports to inform the decisions of ministers.

Traditionally, consultative members also submit formal written messages in preparation for the ministerial conferences, which outline both their view on the implementation of the Bologna Process and the proposed future priorities. They can be found on the section dedicated to Ministerial Conferences.

Apart from the regular monitoring exercises, the ministers mandated an independent assessment of the Bologna Process which was carried in 2010, in the context of launching the European Higher Education Area:

The assessment followed the future-oriented perspective on the development of the EHEA, which was discussed by ministers in the Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve Ministerial Conference based on the background paper Bologna beyond 2010 Report on the development of the European Higher Education Area.

Furthermore, the Bologna Follow-Up Group established working structures to deal with improving the implementation of the key commitments, the implementation gap as well as the promotion of transparency tools:

Based on the work carried out in the 2015-2018 period, the ministers adopted as an annex to the Paris Communiqué (2018) the Annex I - Structured peer-based support for the implementation of the Bologna key commitments, which established the Bologna Implementation Coordination Group to provide additional support and impetus to the implementation of the Bologna key commitments in the fields of qualifications, recognition and quality assurance.

Spaces to discuss the Bologna Process and exchange good practice between countries, stakeholders, and experts, are provided through various initiatives:

  • Bologna Process Researchers’ Conference aims at providing a unique forum for dialogue between researchers, experts and policymakers in the field of higher education. Initiated by the Romanian BFUG Secretariat in 2012, it focuses on scholarship around the Bologna Process, its development and impact. The event is usually held prior to the Ministerial Conferences and results in a collection of open access publications that ensures the dissemination of the researchers’ perspective to European policy and decision makers.
  • Projects funded by the European Commission to support the implementation of the key tools and principles of the Bologna Process, such as the Bologna Hub Peer Support initiative by DAAD;
  • Bologna Seminars gathering national and/or European stakeholders to discuss the implementation of the Bologna Process, examples of good practices, challenges and emerging topics in the field;
  • Bologna networks of experts that offer peer-support at institutional level for the adequate, meaningful and impactful implementation of European tools and frameworks;
  • Bologna national groups which serve as stakeholder-based bodies through which some BFUG members engage the national level stakeholders in the EHEA processes;

The BFUG also considered ways for improving the connection between the EHEA and the wider community, boosted by the strong commitments in the Rome Communiqué (2020). Thus, in the 2021-2024 cycle the BFUG established a Task Force on enhancing knowledge sharing which developed Recommendations for BFUG members to encourage active involvement of the academic community in developing and addressing EHEA goals.

Working Group on Monitoring (WG1) 2018-2020

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Working Group on Monitoring the Implementation of the Bologna Process 2024-2027

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Implementing the Bologna Process

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