About the Bologna Process
(О болонском процессе)

1. Прочитайте текст, предложите свой перевод. Составьте аннотацию, подготовьте устное сообщение.

The Official Bologna Process Website

A European reform process aimed at creating the European Higher Education Area

The aim of the Bologna Process is to create a European Higher Education Area (EHEA) based on international cooperation and academic exchange that is attractive to European students and staff as well as to students and staff from other parts of the world.

The envisaged European Higher Education Area will

• facilitate mobility of students, graduates and higher education staff;

• prepare students for their future careers and for life as active citizens in democratic societies, and support their personal development;

• offer broad access to high-quality higher education, based on democratic principles and academic freedom.

Why is it called Bologna Process and who participates?

The Bologna Process is named after the Bologna Declaration, which was signed in the Italian city of Bologna on 19 June 1999 by ministers in charge of higher education from 29 European countries. Today, the Process unites 46 countries - all party to the European Cultural Convention and committed to the goals of the European Higher Education Area. An important characteristic of the Bologna Process - and key to its success - is that it also involves European Commission, Council of Europe and UNESCO-CEPES, as well as representatives of higher education institutions, students, staff, employers and quality assurance agencies.

What are the reforms all about?

• Easily readable and comparable degrees organised in a three-cycle structure (e.g. bachelor-master-doctorate): Countries are currently setting up national qualifications frameworks that are compatible with the overarching framework of qualifications for the European Higher Education Area and define learning outcomes for each of the three cycles.

• Quality assurance in accordance with the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG).

• Fair recognition of foreign degrees and other higher education qualifications in accordance with the Council of Europe/UNESCO Recognition Convention.

• Work is also undertaken in areas of broader societal relevance, such as the links between higher education, research and innovation; equitable participation and lifelong learning.

The ongoing reforms will have a strong impact on how European higher education relates to higher education in other parts of the world, which is why Ministers have adopted a Strategy for the European Higher Education Area in a Global Setting.