The Yerevan Conference in May this year will conclude another round of the Bologna Process. Given the Bologna Follow-up Group’s role in finalising documents that will be adopted by Ministers, the discussion on the future of the Process is particularly high on EUA’s agenda.
It’s good news that the host for the next round (2015-2018) has already been decided: in 2018 Ministers will gather in Paris, probably at the Sorbonne, where it all began, back in 1998.
The following documents have been finalised by the BFUG, but would yet have to be adopted by the Bologna Ministers at the Yerevan Conference in May this year:  

• The Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG)
• As reported the ESG are finalised, but still subject to adoption of Bologna Ministers. Until then, the “old” ESG are still valid. Further information is available here.
• Structural Reforms Working Group report
• Pathfinder Group report on automatic recognition
• A European approach for simplified QA of Joint programmes
• ECTS Users’ Guide. More...

On 22-23 January, around 80 delegates gathered in Marseille at Aix-Marseille University for the 8th EUA-CDE thematic workshop to discuss the role universities play in developing their regions. The event was based on the premise that, as well as ensuring local employers have a pool of skilled candidates who can facilitate an exchange of knowledge with society, universities are also in a good position to establish initiatives and dialogue with regional authorities.
Finally, the workshop also formed part of the consultation process of the new EUA-CDE policy initiative, The Shape of Things to Come, which is identifying the challenges doctoral education will likely face in the future and examining how it can be used to help develop universities and society at large. The policy document will be published in 2016.
The presentations from the 8th EUA-CDE Workshop are now available here. More...

Following EUA’s second Funding Forum, held at the University of Bergamo in October 2014, General Rapporteur Liviu Matei authored an analytical summary of the discussions, highlighting the main elements debated by the 250 stakeholders participating in the event.
The report also considers how the topic of university funding has evolved since the first Forum held in 2012, in a context of enduring financial constraints for the sector in many parts of Europe. More...

The ESN network consists at this moment out of 37 countries and 480 local sections.

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