Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve Communiqué, April 2009
The Bologna Process 2020 -
The European Higher Education Area in the new decade
Communiqué of the Conference of
European Ministers Responsible for Higher Education,
Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve, 28-29 April 2009
We, the Ministers responsible for higher education in the 46 countries of the Bologna
Process convened in Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, on April 28 and 29,2009 to
take stock of the achievements of the Bologna Process and to establish the priorities
for the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) for the next decade.
Preamble
1. In the decade up to 2020 European higher education has a vital contribution to
make in realising a Europe of knowledge that is highly creative and innovative. Faced
with the challenge of an ageing population Europe can only succeed in this endeavour
if it maximises the talents and capacities of all its citizens and fully engages in lifelong
learning as well as in widening participation in higher education.
2. European higher education also faces the major challenge and the ensuing
opportunities of globalisation and accelerated technological developments with new
providers, new learners and new types of learning. Student-centred learning and
mobility will help students develop the competences they need in a changing labour
market and will empower them to become active and responsible citizens.
3. Our societies currently face the consequences of a global financial and economic
crisis. In order to bring about sustainable economic recovery and development, a
dynamic and flexible European higher education will strive for innovation on the basis
of the integration between education and research at all levels. We recognise that
higher education has a key role to play if we are to successfully meet the challenges
we face and if we are to promote the cultural and social development of our societies.
Therefore, we consider public investment in higher education of utmost priority.
4. We pledge our full commitment to the goals of the European Higher Education
Area, which is an area where higher education is a public responsibility, and where all
higher education institutions are responsive to the wider needs of society through the
diversity of their missions. The aim is to ensure that higher education institutions have
the necessary resources to continue to fulfil their full range of purposes such as
preparing students for life as active citizens in a democratic society; preparing
students for their future careers and enabling their personal development; creating
and maintaining a broad, advanced knowledge base and stimulating research and
innovation. The necessary ongoing reform of higher education systems and policies
will continue to be firmly embedded in the European values of institutional autonomy,
academic freedom and social equity and will require full participation of students and
staff.
I. Achievements and consolidation
5. Over the past decade we have developed the European Higher Education Area
ensuring that it remains firmly rooted in Europe’s intellectual, scientific and cultural
heritage and ambitions; characterised by permanent cooperation between
governments, higher education institutions, students, staff, employers and other
stakeholders. The contribution from European institutions and organisations to the
reform process has also been a significant one.
6. The Bologna Process is leading to greater compatibility and comparability of the
systems of higher education and is making it easier for learners to be mobile and for
institutions to attract students and scholars from other continents. Higher education is
being modernized with the adoption of a three-cycle structure including, within
national contexts, the possibility of intermediate qualifications linked to the first cycle
and with the adoption of the European Standards and Guidelines for quality
assurance. We have also seen the creation of a European register for quality
assurance agencies and the establishment of national qualifications frameworks linked
to the overarching European Higher Education Area framework, based on learning
outcomes and workload. Moreover, the Bologna Process has promoted the Diploma
Supplement and the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System to further
increase transparency and recognition.
7. The objectives set out by the Bologna Declaration and the policies developed in the
subsequent years are still valid today. Since not all the objectives have been
completely achieved, the full and proper implementation of these objectives at
European, national and institutional level will require increased momentum and
commitment beyond 2010.
II. Learning for the future: higher education priorities for the decade to come
8. Striving for excellence in all aspects of higher education, we address the challenges
of the new era. This requires a constant focus on quality. Moreover, upholding the
highly valued diversity of our education systems, public policies will fully recognise the
value of various missions of higher education, ranging from teaching and research to
community service and engagement in social cohesion and cultural development. All
students and staff of higher education institutions should be equipped to respond to
the changing demands of the fast evolving society.
• Social dimension: equitable access and completion
9. The student body within higher education should reflect the diversity of Europe’s
populations. We therefore emphasize the social characteristics of higher education and
aim to provide equal opportunities to quality education. Access into higher education
should be widened by fostering the potential of students from underrepresented
groups and by providing adequate conditions for the completion of their studies. This
involves improving the learning environment, removing all barriers to study, and
creating the appropriate economic conditions for students to be able to benefit from
the study opportunities at all levels. Each participating country will set measurable
targets for widening overall participation and increasing participation of
underrepresented groups in higher education, to be reached by the end of the next
decade. Efforts to achieve equity in higher education should be complemented by
actions in other parts of the educational system.
• Lifelong learning
10. Widening participation shall also be achieved through lifelong learning as an
integral part of our education systems. Lifelong learning is subject to the principle of
public responsibility. The accessibility, quality of provision and transparency of
information shall be assured. Lifelong learning involves obtaining qualifications,
extending knowledge and understanding, gaining new skills and competences or
enriching personal growth. Lifelong learning implies that qualifications may be
obtained through flexible learning paths, including part-time studies, as well as workbased
routes.
11. The implementation of lifelong learning policies requires strong partnerships
between public authorities, higher education institutions, students, employers and
employees. The European Universities’ Charter on Lifelong Learning developed by the
European University Association provides a useful input for defining such partnerships.
Successful policies for lifelong learning will include basic principles and procedures for
recognition of prior learning on the basis of learning outcomes regardless of whether
the knowledge, skills and competences were acquired through formal, non-formal, or
informal learning paths. Lifelong learning will be supported by adequate organisational
structures and funding. Lifelong learning encouraged by national policies should
inform the practice of higher education institutions.
12. The development of national qualifications frameworks is an important step
towards the implementation of lifelong learning. We aim at having them implemented
and prepared for self-certification against the overarching Qualifications Framework
for the European Higher Education Area by 2012. This will require continued
coordination at the level of the EHEA and with the European Qualifications Framework
for Lifelong Learning. Within national contexts, intermediate qualifications within the
first cycle can be a means of widening access to higher education.
• Employability
13. With labour markets increasingly relying on higher skill levels and transversal
competences, higher education should equip students with the advanced knowledge,
skills and competences they need throughout their professional lives. Employability
empowers the individual to fully seize the opportunities in changing labour markets.
We aim at raising initial qualifications as well as maintaining and renewing a skilled
workforce through close cooperation between governments, higher education
institutions, social partners and students. This will allow institutions to be more
responsive to employers needs and employers to better understand the educational
perspective. Higher education institutions, together with governments, government
agencies and employers, shall improve the provision, accessibility and quality of their
careers and employment related guidance services to students and alumni. We
encourage work placements embedded in study programmes as well as on-the-job
learning.
• Student-centred learning and the teaching mission of higher education
14. We reassert the importance of the teaching mission of higher education
institutions and the necessity for ongoing curricular reform geared toward the
development of learning outcomes. Student-centred learning requires empowering
individual learners, new approaches to teaching and learning, effective support and
guidance structures and a curriculum focused more clearly on the learner in all three
cycles. Curricular reform will thus be an ongoing process leading to high quality,
flexible and more individually tailored education paths. Academics, in close cooperation with student and employer representatives, will continue to develop
learning outcomes and international reference points for a growing number of subject
areas. We ask the higher education institutions to pay particular attention to
improving the teaching quality of their study programmes at all levels. This should be
a priority in the further implementation of the European Standards and Guidelines for
quality assurance.
• Education, research and innovation
15. Higher education should be based at all levels on state of the art research and
development thus fostering innovation and creativity in society. We recognise the
potential of higher education programmes, including those based on applied science,
to foster innovation. Consequently, the number of people with research competences
should increase. Doctoral programmes should provide high quality disciplinary
research and increasingly be complemented by inter-disciplinary and inter-sectoral
programmes. Moreover, public authorities and institutions of higher education will
make the career development of early stage researchers more attractive.
• International openness
16. We call upon European higher education institutions to further internationalise
their activities and to engage in global collaboration for sustainable development. The
attractiveness and openness of European higher education will be highlighted by joint
European actions. Competition on a global scale will be complemented by enhanced
policy dialogue and cooperation based on partnership with other regions of the world,
in particular through the organisation of Bologna Policy Fora, involving a variety of
stakeholders.
17. Transnational education should be governed by the European Standards and
Guidelines for quality assurance as applicable within the European Higher Education
Area and be in line with the UNESCO/OECD Guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross-
Border Higher Education.
• Mobility
18. We believe that mobility of students, early stage researchers and staff enhances
the quality of programmes and excellence in research; it strengthens the academic
and cultural internationalization of European higher education. Mobility is important
for personal development and employability, it fosters respect for diversity and a
capacity to deal with other cultures. It encourages linguistic pluralism, thus
underpinning the multilingual tradition of the European Higher Education Area and it
increases cooperation and competition between higher education institutions.
Therefore, mobility shall be the hallmark of the European Higher Education Area. We
call upon each country to increase mobility, to ensure its high quality and to diversify
its types and scope. In 2020, at least 20% of those graduating in the European Higher
Education Area should have had a study or training period abroad.
19. Within each of the three cycles, opportunities for mobility shall be created in the
structure of degree programmes. Joint degrees and programmes as well as mobility
windows shall become more common practice. Moreover, mobility policies shall be
based on a range of practical measures pertaining to the funding of mobility,
recognition, available infrastructure, visa and work permit regulations. Flexible study
paths and active information policies, full recognition of study achievements, study
support and the full portability of grants and loans are necessary requirements.
Mobility should also lead to a more balanced flow of incoming and outgoing students
across the European Higher Education Area and we aim for an improved participation
rate from diverse student groups.
20. Attractive working conditions and career paths as well as open international
recruitment are necessary to attract highly qualified teachers and researchers to
higher education institutions. Considering that teachers are key players, career
structures should be adapted to facilitate mobility of teachers, early stage researchers
and other staff; framework conditions will be established to ensure appropriate access
to social security and to facilitate the portability of pensions and supplementary
pension rights for mobile staff, making the best use of existing legal frameworks.
• Data collection
21. Improved and enhanced data collection will help monitor progress made in the
attainment of the objectives set out in the social dimension, employability and
mobility agendas, as well as in other policy areas, and will serve as a basis for both
stocktaking and benchmarking.
• Multidimensional transparency tools
22. We note that there are several current initiatives designed to develop
mechanisms for providing more detailed information about higher education
institutions across the EHEA to make their diversity more transparent. We believe that
any such mechanisms, including those helping higher education systems and
institutions to identify and compare their respective strengths, should be developed in
close consultation with the key stakeholders. These transparency tools need to relate
closely to the principles of the Bologna Process, in particular quality assurance and
recognition, which will remain our priority, and should be based on comparable data
and adequate indicators to describe the diverse profiles of higher education
institutions and their programmes.
• Funding
23. Higher education institutions have gained greater autonomy along with rapidly
growing expectations to be responsive to societal needs and to be accountable. Within
a framework of public responsibility we confirm that public funding remains the main
priority to guarantee equitable access and further sustainable development of
autonomous higher education institutions. Greater attention should be paid to seeking
new and diversified funding sources and methods.
III. The organisational structure and follow-up
24. The present organisational structure of the Bologna Process, characterised by the
cooperation between governments, the academic community with its representative
organisations, and other stakeholders, is endorsed as being fit for purpose. In the
future, the Bologna Process will be co-chaired by the country holding the EU
presidency and a non-EU country.
25. In order to interact with other policy areas, the BFUG will liaise with experts and
policy makers from other fields, such as research, immigration, social security and
employment.
26. We entrust the Bologna Follow-up Group to prepare a work plan up to 2012 to
take forward the priorities identified in this Communiqué and the recommendations of
the reports submitted to this Ministerial conference, allowing the future integration of
the outcome of the independent assessment of the Bologna Process.
In particular the BFUG is asked:
- To define the indicators used for measuring and monitoring mobility and the social dimension in conjunction with the data collection;
- To consider how balanced mobility could be achieved within the EHEA;
- To monitor the development of the transparency mechanisms and to report back to the 2012 ministerial conference;
- To set up a network, making optimal use of existing structures, for better information on and promotion of the Bologna Process outside the EHEA;
- To follow-up on the recommendations of analysis of the national action plans on recognition.
27. Reporting on the progress of the implementation of the Bologna Process will be
carried out in a coordinated way.
- Stocktaking will further refine its evidence-based methodology.
- Eurostat together with Eurostudent and in cooperation with Eurydice will be asked to contribute through relevant data collection.
- The work of reporting will be overseen by the Bologna Follow-up Group and will lead to an overall report integrating the aforementioned sources for the 2012 ministerial conference
28. We ask the E4 group (ENQA-EUA-EURASHE-ESU) to continue its cooperation in
further developing the European dimension of quality assurance and in particular to
ensure that the European Quality Assurance Register is evaluated externally, taking
into account the views of the stakeholders.
29. We will meet again at the Bologna anniversary conference jointly hosted by
Austria and Hungary in Budapest and Vienna on 11-12 March 2010. The next regular
ministerial conference will be hosted by Romania in Bucharest on 27-28 April 2012.
The following ministerial conferences will be held in 2015,2018 and 2020.
