The Bologna conference celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the Bologna Declaration in Bologna, Italy. The participants gave inputs on the post-2020 agenda.
For the twentieth anniversary of the Bologna process, the University of Bologna and the Italian Ministry for Education, Universities and Research, under the aegis of the Observatory of the Magna Charta Universitatum, the European University Association (EUA) and the European Students’ Union (ESU) held the academic conference ‘Bologna Process Beyond 2020: fundamental values of the EHEA’ in the city of the same name. The UNESCO and the Council of Europe also featured guest speakers on this two-day event. The first day of the conference opened on an academic procession of 200 rectors across the city. The second day was split between morning parallel sessions and an afternoon plenary. The topics covered by the different panels ranged from academic and related civic values in changing societies, student-centered Learning, providing Leadership for Sustainable Development, the Role of Higher Education, the Social Dimension of Higher Education and careers and Skills for the Labour Market of the future. The afternoon focused on the role of universities in educating the most vulnerable students. This analytical part of the conference had a strong agenda-setting function, insofar as it aimed to gather inputs on universities’ future challenges, in light of the forthcoming the 2020 EHEA Ministerial Meeting in Rome, which will take place on 23-25 June 2020. Occurring every three years, Ministerial Conferences have the purpose to assess the progress made within the EHEA and decide on the future agenda. The Bologna Follow-up Group (BFUG) oversees the implementation of the Bologna Process between ministerial meeting and the implementation of the ministerial Communiqués. On 24 September 2019, the BFUG will hold its sixty-sixth meeting in Istanbul, Turkey.
The European Higher Education Area (EHEA) was launched in 2010 with the Budapest-Vienna declaration, eleven years after the inception of the Bologna Process and the signing of the Bologna declaration (1999). The process led to substantial reforms in 48 countries, including the establishment of the ECTS credit system and the three cycle system (i.e. Bachelor’s/Master’s/PhD degree). Switzerland is an original signatory member and adopted a national qualifications framework for the higher Swiss education sector in the context of the Bologna process.
The promotion of shared values of freedom of expression, institutional autonomy, academic freedom and freedom of movement for students and staff remain key for the post-2020 EHEA agenda. Increasing staff and students’ mobility, as well as facilitating employability are still high on the agenda, as echoed by the discussion on new skills and labour market during the conference. Swiss universities celebrated the 20th anniversary already in May.