Bologna process
Overview
European Higher Education Area
The European Higher Education Area was launched along with the Bologna Process' decade anniversary, in March 2010, during the Budapest-Vienna Ministerial Conference....
by making academic degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
standards and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe, in particular under the Lisbon Recognition Convention
Lisbon Recognition Convention
The Lisbon Recognition Convention is an international convention of the Council of Europe elaborated together with the UNESCO. The Convention has been signed by all 47 member states of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg except for Greece, Monaco, and San Marino. It has been signed, but not...
. It is named after the place it was proposed, the University of Bologna
University of Bologna
The Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna is the oldest continually operating university in the world, the word 'universitas' being first used by this institution at its foundation. The true date of its founding is uncertain, but believed by most accounts to have been 1088...
, with the signing in 1999 of the Bologna declaration
Bologna declaration
The Bologna declaration is the main guiding document of the Bologna process...
by Education Ministers from 29 European countries. It was opened up to other countries signatory to the European Cultural Convention of the Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
; further governmental meetings have been held in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
(2001), Berlin (2003), Bergen (2005), London (2007), and Leuven
Leuven
Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...
(2009).
Before the signing of the Bologna declaration, the Magna Charta Universitatum had been issued at a meeting of university rectors celebrating the 900th anniversary of the University of Bologna
University of Bologna
The Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna is the oldest continually operating university in the world, the word 'universitas' being first used by this institution at its foundation. The true date of its founding is uncertain, but believed by most accounts to have been 1088...
– and thus of (Western) European universities – in 1988.
