Bologna Follow-up Group Meeting, from 24 August 2010 to 25 August 2010, Congrescentrum Alden Biesen, Kasteelstraat 6, 3740 Bilzen The Bologna Follow-up Group (BFUG) meets at least once every six months. During the Belgian Presidency the meeting will take place on the 24 and 25 August 2010 in Alden Biesen. The BFUG monitors the development of the Bologna process. The body is composed of 47 countries in the European higher education zone, as well as the European Commission and 8 consultative international organisations.
The Bologna Follow-up Group (BFUG) is the body thatwhich monitors the Bologna process in between ministerial conferences, and is. The BFUG has a mandatede to make decisions. The body is composed of representatives offrom the 47 countries in the European higher education zone, as well as supplemented by the European Commission and 8 consultative members, namely:
• The European University Association (EUA);
• The European Association of Institutions in Higher Education (EURASHE);
• The European Students’ Union (ESU);
• The European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA);
• The Council of Europe;
• The UNESCO - European Centre for Higher Education (UNESCO/CEPES);
• Education International;
• BUSINESSEUROPE.
The group meets at least once every six months. It prepares the ministerial conferences and implements the decisions that are taken at the conferences. This includes the introduction of the work programme, as well as the reference terms for the BFUG-working groups and the Bologna secretariat. The group is also a forum for discussion and for the sharing of experiences between various countries and organisations. As of 1 July 2010 the presiding country of the European Union and a non-EU country (in alphabetical order, starting with Albania) will jointly chair the Bologna process and the Bologna Follow-up Group.
Making the European Higher Education Area more transparent, from 12 September 2010 to 14 September 2010, Château de Namur, Avenue de l'Ermitage 1, 5000 Namur The Directors General of higher education will work on the agenda of modernising higher education, mainly by sharing experience and the best practices identified by the Member States.
This meeting will allow directors general, the European Commission, stakeholder representatives and experts to exchange views on the implementation of multidimensional transparency tools.
Breaking the cycle of disadvantage – Social inclusion in and through education
from 28 September 2010 to 29 September 2010, Het Pand, Onderbergen straat 1, 9000 Ghent
There are still major differences in social inclusion within the European Union. Putting an end to inequality, poverty and social exclusion is therefore a key challenge and must remain a priority. This challenge applies to every policy area, but education plays a crucial role in this regard. Policy makers, social partners, experts, researchers, and education and training providers will debate this issue at the conference. This two-day conference will put European, national and regional policy under the microscope, together with good practice models. Equality and inclusion across all levels of education are paramount.
The varying degree of social inclusion in the European Member States is indicative of the fact that putting an end to inequality and exclusion is still a major challenge. Meeting this challenge calls for both structural changes and additional support for pupils and students at greater risk of exclusion. Equality and excellence go hand in hand: they complement each other and must be pursued at both national and European level. Even though the situation in each Member State is different, European cooperation can help with finding new ways of achieving social inclusion and fostering fairness without sacrificing excellence.
Education and training promote social inclusion, as do active citizenship and personal development. High-quality education increases the chances of social mobility and of breaking the vicious circle of poverty and social exclusion. Unfortunately, education and training schemes are still all too frequently based on inequality, for example as regards access to high-quality education.
This conference will put European, national and regional policy and models of good practice under the spotlight with a view to promoting equality and inclusion across all levels of education (preschool, compulsory, higher and adult education).
Policy makers, social partners, experts, researchers, education and training providers and civil society will have the opportunity to debate this issue.
The 30th anniversary of the European Eurydice network will also be celebrated at this conference.
Flexicurity benefiting workers: strengthening positive transitions, from 4 October 2010 to 5 October 2010, Congrescentrum Het Pand - De Refter, Onderbergen 1, 9000 Ghent As part of this conference (supported by the European Commission) devoted to flexicurity, the Belgian Presidency intends to demonstrate the benefit of the concept of “positive transition” – a central concept in the new job market paradigm. It consists of identifying the factors that bolster the success of various types of transitions experienced by workers or future workers and of examining the various tools liable to strengthen these mechanisms. The indicators enabling the analysis of transitions will be presented.
The conference will be based around four sessions held over two days. The sessions will be devoted to various elements making up positive transitions:
• Quality of work as a key element in the quality of transitions. This session will provide an opportunity to check that previous work on job quality remains relevant to approach issues relating to professional transitions today. There will also be a chance to better understand how these topics resonate in employees’ daily lives and how these employees can incorporate them.
• Lifelong training and transitions. In this huge topic, the aim will be to identify the elements which can contribute to supporting employee careers throughout their working lives and to clarify the responsibilities of the various people involved in such a context.
• The de-segmentation of the job market Over the course of this session, we will tackle the impact of the development of certain forms of employment contract on the segmentation of the job market, and we will see which factors can contribute to enable these different forms of jobs to constitute a positive development rather than an obstacle to professional careers, with increased attention being paid to poverty experienced among salaried workers.
• Instruments supporting a transition to and within employment. Transitions are intrinsically linked to support, and therefore to regulatory measures, to institutional frameworks which can support or direct employees in their career paths, especially young people, into work or from one job to another.
Informal Council of Training and Education Ministers, 7 December 2010, Provinciaal Hof, Markt 3, 8000 Bruges The Belgian presidency is organizing this two-yearly ministerial conference for the Copenhagen process (European collaboration in the field of vocational training and education). The ministers from 33 countries (the EU, EER and candidate member states) will look at the evaluation report for the last decade and set the priorities of the working programme for the new decade (2010-2020). The aim is to achieve strengthened European collaboration in the field of vocational training and education.
European collaboration in the field of vocational training and education is called the Copenhagen process. The collaborative agreement was signed in Copenhagen in November 2002. The Belgian presidency organises the two-yearly conference for this Copenhagen process. This takes place on 7 December 2010 in the Provinciaal Hof in Bruges. The process finds its origin in the agreements that were made during the previous Belgian presidency in 2001 in Bruges.
This symbolic location has therefore also been chosen this time. In Bruges, the ministers from 33 countries (the EU, EER and candidate member states) will look at the evaluation report for the last decade and set the priorities of the working programme for the new decade (2010-2020). The aim of this council of ministers is to achieve strengthened European collaboration in the field of vocational training and education.
Every day during the ministerial meeting, there will be a conference, also in Bruges, on themes from the Copenhagen process that appear in the Bologna process (European collaboration in the field of higher education). This conference will look at how quality assurance and transparency can close the gap between vocational training and education, schools and higher education, and so promote mobility and lifelong learning.