The European Students’ Union released Bologna with Student Eyes 2015 in light of the Ministerial Conference and Fourth Bologna Process that took place in Yerevan, Armenia between 14 and 15 May 2015.  The event concluded with an endorsement of the Yerevan Communique, an agreement which sets higher education priorities, including students’ rights, for the period up to 2018.
According to the newly released Bologna With Student Eyes, after more than 15 years, the goals of the Bologna Declaration remain largely unfulfilled. The major challenge for the Bologna Process today from the student perspective is the uneven implementation of reforms and countries’ poor follow-up on previous commitments. Additionally, unrelated, and at times unpopular national reforms have been pushed using the Bologna-name. Cuts in funding have also stopped or delayed the implementation process necessary for transforming the learning process.

For more information : http://bwse2015.esu-online.org/IntroductionStatement to the Ministerial Conference, adopted at Board Meeting 68 in Yerevan, 11 May 2015 . For more information: http://www.esu-online.org/news/article/6065/Statement-on-the-Ministerial-Conference/ESU’s Policy Paper on the Bologna Process and the European Higher Education Area, adopted at the Board Meeting 66 in Vienna, in May 2014) as part of the ESU Policy Book. For more information: http://bologna-yerevan2015.ehea.info/files/ESU%20Policy%20Paper%20on%20Bologna%20Process.pdfYerevan Communiqué, adopted on the 15^th May 2015, during EHEA Ministerial Summit and Fourth Bologna Policy Forum
http://bologna-yerevan2015.ehea.info/files/YerevanCommuniqueFinal.pdf. More...

On Friday 15 May, European Education Ministers adopted a new Bologna Communiqué. It acknowledges achievements since their last meeting in Bucharest in 2012, and sets out their commitments for the next phase. Together with representatives of countries from outside the EHEA, they also adopted the Bologna Policy Forum Statement.
While some Ministers may feel that there are more urgent issues than Bologna, university leaders tend to be more positive about the process today than some years ago. This is one of the conclusions from the recently launched EUA Trends 2015 Report.
There was also a strong and unanimous agreement that higher education has a broader and multiple role to play, and that the Bologna Process should include the issue of civic education, and also focus on conditions and factors that can support the quality of education, and of the student experience, including the link between education and research, the role of university staff and digitalisation. In this regard, EUA presented the 2014 study on e-learning and similar results from the Trends 2015 Report during the conference. The report confirms that universities devote increased attention to learning and teaching and that ICT is perceived – next to internationalisation – as one of the key drivers for change and enhancement.
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This report gives a snapshot of the state of implementation of the Bologna Process from various perspectives across the 47 countries of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). It provides comprehensive qualitative information and statistical data, and covers all main aspects of higher education reforms aiming at a well-functioning EHEA. The report has been developed by Eurydice, Eurostat and Eurostudent for the Ministerial Conference in Yerevan (14-15 May 2015) and the work has been overseen by the Bologna Follow-Up Group (BFUG). For the 2015 Bologna Process Implementation Report, please click here.
INTRODUCTION
The Bologna Process
The Bologna Declaration was signed in 1999 by ministers responsible for higher education from 29 European countries. However its origins lie a year further back in the Sorbonne Conference and Declaration of 1998. These events and texts set in motion a European cooperation process that has radically changed higher education. Reforms have affected countries within and beyond Europe, and the number of official signatory countries has risen to 47.
The chart above outlines the main milestones and commitments of the ministerial conferences within the Bologna Process up to 2012. It illustrates that several main themes can be followed throughout the process – mobility of students and staff, a common degree system, the social dimension, lifelong learning, a European system of credits, quality assurance, the social dimension of higher education and the development of Europe as an attractive knowledge region.
The Bucharest Communiqué (1) sets clear policy goals for these main action lines. These goals and objectives are all addressed in the report, and the combined analysis across the seven chapters aims to present a picture of the current reality of the European Higher Education Area.
Report outline
This report has been prepared for the European Ministerial Conference in Yerevan, Armenia on 14-15 May 2015. It provides a snapshot of the state of implementation of the Bologna Process from various perspectives using data collected in the first half of 2014. It provides both qualitative information and statistical data, and covers all main aspects of higher education reforms aiming at a well-functioning European Higher Education Area.
The report is a successor to the first Bologna Process Implementation Report (2012) and has been developed through collaboration between the Bologna Follow-up Group (BFUG) and Eurostat, Eurostudent and Eurydice, commonly referred to as 'the data collectors'.
The work of the data collectors has been overseen by the Bologna Follow-up Group (BFUG), and specifically by a working group established to guide all aspects of the reporting process. The group was co-chaired by Germain Dondelinger (Luxembourg) and Andrejs Rauhvargers (Latvia). Close collaboration was also established with all BFUG working groups.
Qualitative information was gathered through an extensive questionnaire addressed to BFUG members. This was submitted, after consultation with all relevant national actors, by the Bologna representatives in 46 countries between February and May 2014. No information was provided by Ukraine. For the United Kingdom and Belgium, two responses each were submitted. The United Kingdom (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) is therefore treated as a separate higher education system to that of Scotland, while the Flemish and French Communities of Belgium are also considered as distinct higher education systems. However where statistical data is combined for Belgium and the United Kingdom in Eurostat's database, it is also presented in a combined form in this report.
The qualitative data is based mainly on official information about legislation, regulations and national policies, and in some cases country representatives are asked to report on their perception of specific aspects of higher education reality. Eurostat data is extracted from the UOE, LFS and EU-SILC data collections (2). Moreover, Eurostat, working through a consortium led by Sogeti, Luxembourg, undertook a specific data collection in 2014 for the EHEA countries that are not part of regular data gathering exercises. Eurostudent data is provided by the Eurostudent V survey and focuses on the social and economic conditions of student life in Europe.
The reference year 2013/14 is applicable for qualitative data throughout the report, as well as for Eurostudent indicators. Eurostat statistical indicators use 2012 as the most recent reference year, with other years shown where relevant to provide an overview of trends.
The report is divided into seven thematic chapters, based largely on the structure established for the 2012 Implementation Report. Each chapter has an introduction presenting the relevance of the topic in the Bologna Process, the commitments made in the Bucharest Communiqué, and the main findings of the 2012 Implementation Report. The chapter then presents information through comparative indicators whose purpose is to describe the state of implementation in all countries from various perspectives. The text explains main developments, highlights issues regarding implementation, and provides examples of practice that may be of general interest.
The majority of indicators were developed for the 2012 Implementation Report, and are updated in this report to allow changes to be more easily visible. A number of new indicators have also been developed to investigate more recent policy priorities more thoroughly. These can be found particularly in chapters 6 (Effective Outcomes and Employability) and 7 (Internationalisation and Mobility). Among the indicators presented in the report are 13 ‘scorecard indicators’ that are designed to track country progress in implementing Bologna policy commitments. Nine of these indicators were established in the first decade of the Bologna Process. The other four have been developed for this report to reflect more recent priority commitments. These are, Figure 3.7, Scorecard indicator n°6: Level of openness to cross border quality assurance activity of EQAR registered agencies; Figure 4.10, Scorecard indicator n°10: Measures to support the participation of disadvantaged students, 2013/14; Figure 7.35, Scorecard indicator n°12: Portability of public grants and publicly subsidised loans and Figure 7.38: Scorecard indicator n°13: Financial mobility support to disadvantaged students.
The Reporting Working Group also began work on developing scorecard indicators on the topics of ‘automatic’ recognition of qualifications and internationalisation. However, the data collected in relation to these topics was not sufficiently precise to produce new scorecard indicators at this stage. This work will therefore be continued and refined for the next edition of the Implementation Report. For the 2015 Bologna Process Implementation Report, please click here.

Isabella Albert im Gespräch mit Benedikt Schulz. Vor der Bologna-Folgekonferenz im armenischen Jerewan treffen sich die europäischen Studierendenvertretungen. Isabella Albert vom Freien Zusammenschluss der StudentInnenschaften erhofft sich, dass Themen diskutier werden, die Einfluss auf die Studierenden haben. Bei der Umstellung auf den Bachelor sei weder der Name noch die Studiendauer das Problem, sondern was die Hochschulen daraus machen würden. Mehr...

Timely planned after the Regional Benchmarking Forum and on the eve of the Bologna Ministerial Conference, ATHENA Dissemination Event will take place on 13 March (17:00-18.30) at Yerevan State University.
On 12 and 13 May about 100 representatives from Tempus ATHENA partner universities and ministries will come together for the Regional Benchmarking Forum in Yerevan, Armenia. The purpose of the event which will be hosted by Yerevan State University, is to take stock of the progress achieved with regard to university autonomy, governance and funding in the three partner countries Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine throughout the past three years. The event will look both at policy development at system level as well as the implementation at institutional level showcasing concrete examples from the universities that are part of the consortium. Besides this representatives from the partner universities in the EU will provide their perspectives on how to continue the reform processes. The aim is to fill the national policy road-maps that have been developed as part of the project with life and propose some concrete steps for further action beyond the projects lifetime. More...