Even though in the recent period people speak of the process of Bologna much, most part of the society don’t know what it really means. It is very surprising that even the people involved in the sector of education, especially students, don’t know anything about this process.
It is the process creating a common education area by European countries, which started in Bologna city of Italy in 1999 by signing the Resolution of Bologna. The resolutions defines the main goals and issues resulting in common values of education systems in European countries, and the national values will become harmonic as well.
When and how
The genesis of this process started in mid 1970s, when the council of ministers of the European Union adopted the first protocol on Cooperation in the System of Education. In 1988 the mechanisms of cooperation were more concretized and the rectors of European universities signed the University Big Charter (Magna Charta Universitatum) by defining the principles, which later become the ground of the process of Bologna. The next important step was the signing of the Sorbonne declaration in 1998 (it was signed by the education ministers of France, Germany, Italy and United Kingdom). In one year, in 1999 the declaration of Bologna was signed.
Participants
Currently the process of Bologna involves 45 countries such as the Great Britain, Germany, Italy, France, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece, Denmark, Ireland, Iceland, Spain, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Holland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Finland, Check, Switzerland, Sweden, Estonia, Cyprus, Lichtenstein, Turkey, Croatia, Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Vatican, Macedonia, Russia, Serbia, Montenegro, Moldova, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. Armenia joined the process of Bologna in 2005.
Issues
The declaration of Bologna includes the issues, the solution of which will support the unity of Europe in the issue of education.
-Adoption of common, comparative education levels in the sector of higher education;
-Transformation to two-level education system (BA, MA);
-Adoption of credit system of evaluation;
-Raise the mobility of lecturers, students and administrative staff;
-Provision of the quality necessary for higher education;
-Mutual recognition of qualifications and higher education documents;
-Provision of self-management of universities.
Some more provisions have been added to the above-mentioned as the following:
-Adoption of post-graduate studies as the third level of education;
-European evaluation of the educational system;
-Increase the competitiveness and interest toward the European education, implementation of the social role of higher education, provide availability and affordability;
-Development of additional education system (LLL-Lifelong Learning);
How the process is administered
The highest body of the Bologna process, which adopts decisions concerning the structure and development of the process, is the meeting of the education ministers of the member countries (takes place once within two years). In the periods in between the meetings the management of the process is carried out by the Bologna Follow-up Group, which consists of 2-3 representatives from each country. The Bologna group is presided by the representative of the country, which presides in the European Union at the same time.
The university of Bologna is one of the most famous universities in the world. It was founded in the 11th century as a result of joint efforts of jurisprudence students from different places. The first charter of the university was published in 1158 by the Frederick Barbosa. In the 13th century it had about 10.000 students. In the 20th century the university gave a place to the universities of Rome and Napoli, but it is still one of the most important educational centers of Italy.