EURASHE Seminar on RPL Report

Click here (or on the picture directly!) to access the Report of EURASHE's Seminar on RPL.

It contains the report of the various sessions and workshops of the Seminar, dedicated to Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL): Flexible Ties within Higher Education as well as information on the keynote speeches and the social programme proposed to the participants.

With the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union

Bologna Follow-up Group (BFUG)

On this page you will be able to learn more on the Bologna Process, the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), the Bologna Follow-up Group (BFUG), the Ministerial Conferences (including the 2012 Ministerial Conference in Bucharest, Romania), and EURASHE’s involvement in its activities.

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The Bologna Process

The Bologna Process, launched with the Bologna Declaration of 1999, is one of the main voluntary processes at European level, as it is nowadays implemented in 47 states, which together make the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The main follow-up structure is the Bologna Follow-up Group (BFUG) that is composed of the representatives of all member countries of the Bologna Process and the European Commission, and eight Consultative Members, i.e. EURASHE, EUA, ESU, the Council of Europe, UNESCO.

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The European Higher Education Area (EHEA)

The EHEA was launched in March 2010, marking the 10th Anniversary of the Bologna Process, during the 2010 Budapest-Vienna Ministerial Conference.

The EHEA was the main objective of the Bologna Process since its inception in 1999. Ensuring more compatible, more comparable and coherent systems of higher education in
Europe is one of the reasons behind its creation.

You can learn more on the Bologna Process and the European Higher Education Area on the official website of the EHEA

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The Bologna Follow-up Group (BFUG)

The BFUG, which gathers representatives of all member countries, the European Commission and consultative members: EURASHE with the other partners of the E4 group (ENQA, ESU, EUA), the Council of Europe, the UNESCO Centre Européen pour l’enseignement supérieur (UNESCO/CEPES), Education International (EI) and Business Europe, is the main follow-up structure of the Bologna Process

The BFUG oversees the implementation of the Bologna Process between the ministerial meetings, and all its members actively participate in the current Working Agenda of the BFUG 2009-2012.

As a member of the BFUG, EURASHE is invited to represent the voice of Professional Higher Education (PHE) during meetings of the BFUG Working Groups, the BFUG Board but also BFUG meetings.

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EHEA Ministerial Conferences

2012 Ministerial Conference and Third Bologna Policy Forum on 26 & 27 April 2012 in Bucharest, Romania

EURASHE was represented at the Conference by a delegation of 5 people, comprising:

Andreas G. Orphanides, EURASHE’s President,

Michal Karpíšek, EURASHE’s Vice-President,

Stefan Delplace, EURASHE Secretary General,

Nicolae Dură from Ovidius University (member of EURASHE),

and Tim Creedon of Institutes of Technology Ireland (IOTI; member of EURASHE) and President of UASnet (partner of EURASHE)

EURASHE is pleased to announce that its overarching policy paper, which summarises EURASHE’s viewpoints on key priority areas (Employability and Lifelong Learning; Quality Assurance and Transparency Tools; Mobility and International Openness; Qualification Frameworks and Student Centred Learning; Research, Development, and Innovation in PHE) was officially presented at the Bucharest Ministerial Conference held on 26 – 27 April 2012.

These are also be available in our library.

You can learn more on the Ministerial Conference in Bucharest on the official website

2009 Ministerial Conference on 28 & 29 April 2009, in Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

As a member of the Bologna process EURASHE had an official delegation of five persons present at the 2009 Ministerial Bologna Conference in Leuven-Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium) on 28-29 April.

The delegation was led by President L.L Nielsen, and further consisted of Vice-President Andreas Orphanides (in charge of the Bologna Process follow-up in EURASHE), Vice-President Michal Karpísek, Secretary General Stefan Delplace and Ann Verreth, Secretary General of the Flemish Council of University Colleges, as a representative of the national member associations of EURASHE.

Apart from the above delegation, there was a strong representation of EURASHE members in the national delegations, among others Gintautas Braziunas (Lithuania), James Calleja (Malta), Mati Lukas (Estonia), and Razis Panos (Cyprus).

During the plenary debates and the scheduled 10 minutes intervention reserved for the three consultative members representing institutions and students (EUA, ESU, EURASHE), the President of EURASHE gave voice to the priorities from the part of EURASHE and the entire professional higher education, especially with the prospect of ‘post-Bologna 2010’.

You can download the following documents:

Presentation by Lars Lynge Nielsen on Lifelong Learning [PDF]
EURASHE’s Statement for the Ministerial Conference “Moving Professional Higher Education into Bologna post 2010” [PDF]
Communique of the Conference of Ministers responsible for Higher Education, Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve, 28 & 29 April 2009 [PDF]

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EURASHE’s involvement in the BFUG activities

EURASHE’s involvement in the BFUG activities can be described as external representation through the different meetings organised by the BFUG.

As a member of the BFUG, EURASHE is invited to represent the voice of Professional Higher Education (PHE) during meetings of the BFUG Working Groups, the BFUG Board but also BFUG meetings.

EURASHE’s involvement in 2011:

In 2011 EURASHE’s delegates were part of the Executive Board and of several official working groups and networks, namely International Openness, Social Dimension, Reporting on the implementation of the Bologna Process, Network for Information and Promotion of the EHEA, Quality assurance and Transparency Tools, National Qualifications Frameworks.

In 2011, EURASHE has had 7 members from 7 member organisations coming from 7 countries, and more external representatives of EURASHE, taking part in the activities of the BFUG.

Thanks to them EURASHE is able to have a constant overview on the implementation of the ‘action lines’ of the Process.

EURASHE’s involvement in the BFUG activities allowed:

- EURASHE to represent the position of Professional Higher Education in Working Groups addressing quality assurance (QA)and transparency tools (TT), international openness (IO), national qualifications frameworks (NQF), recognition of prior learning (RPL), reporting on the implementation of the Bologna process, as well as Social Dimension all of which are closely linked to the Association’s own core priorities

- EURASHE to keep informed of the latest policy development and passed the information on to its members

- EURASHE to monitor the implementation of Bologna action lines in member states, adopting a PHE perspective which it represents

- EURASHE to organise a specific Seminar on the implementation of the Bologna Process in Moscow, Russia

- EURASHE’s findings of our research together with our efforts and policy inputs to be introduced to the European Higher Education Area policy makers and as such to be reflected and adopted in the draft of the next Bucharest Ministerial Communiqué 2012

The following are the events organised under the BFUG in 2011 and attended by a representative of EURASHE, in total these make up 19 events in 11 countries:

You can click on the following events in order to get redirected to the specific page of the event and to learn more on the agenda, the participants, and the outcomes.

1. BFUG WG on International Openness (1st meeting 2011); 18 January 2011; Vienna, Austria

2. BFUG Board (1st meeting 2011); 11 February 2011; Andorra, Andorra

3. BFUG Meeting; 17 – 18 March 2011; Gödöllö, Hungary

4. BFUG Meeting of the Directors General of Higher education; 11 – 13 April 2011; Budapest, Hungary

5. BFUG WG on International Openness (2nd meeting 2011); 19 May 2011; Brussels, Belgium

6. BFUG WG on Qualifications Frameworks (1st meeting 2011); 27 May 2011; Budapest, Hungary

7. BFUG WG on Transparency Tools; 9 June 2011; Brussels, Belgium

8. BFUG RPL Networking Group – European Recognition of Prior Learning; 23 June 2011; Glasgow, United Kingdom

9. BFUG WG on Reporting on the implementation of the Bologna Process; 1 July 2011; Riga, Latvia

10. BFUG Board (2nd meeting 2011); 7 September 2011; Yerevan, Armenia

11. BFUG Mini-seminar organised by the Transparency Tools Working Group for the BFUG Cracow; 12 October 2011; Cracow, Poland

12. BFUG Meeting; 13 – 14 October 2011; Cracow, Poland