Project Overview

Context

The Bologna Process Implementation Report 2020 emphasises that “it is clear that reforms only benefit the higher education community and society at large when they are fully implemented on the ground”. Stating that there is no country in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) “that can legitimately claim that it has successfully accomplished all policy objectives agreed throughout the Bologna Process”, the report concludes that the strengthening of the implementation of agreed commitments needs to be part and parcel of the agenda for the coming years.

Accordingly, the ministers reconfirmed in the Rome Communiqué 2020 their determination to further implement the Bologna key commitments and to “continue to employ the peer support method to achieve this”.

Correspondingly, the EU-Commission and the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) have supported over many years the development of higher education reforms and the implementation of Bologna principles at Higher Education Institutions (HEI) in Europe. To this end, the EACEA published a call for proposals “European Higher Education Area (EHEA) - Initiative to support the implementation of reforms” in 2021. In this context, the project proposal ”Bologna Hub Peer Support II“ was selected for funding by the European Commission. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), as the Erasmus+ National Agency for Higher Education, is coordinating the project and ensures the implementation of the activities as lead partner of the international consortium. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), as the Erasmus+ National Authority, is involved as project partner in an advisory capacity.

Project Information

The Idea of Peer Support

With the adoption of a structured peer support approach in the Paris Communiqué 2018 and its reinforcement in the Rome Communiqué 2020, there is a momentum in the Bologna process to further engage in developing comprehensive peer support structures that benefit HEI in all EHEA member countries.

Building on the achievements of the project “Bologna Hub Peer Support” (2020-2022), the main objective of the project “Bologna Hub Peer Support II“ (2022-2024) is to continue to foster the implementation of the Bologna key commitments and the application of the Bologna tools at higher education institutions throughout the EHEA. By featuring a pool of European Bologna Experts (including national Bologna Experts, Higher Education Reform Experts and other higher education experts) who support institutions in the entire EHEA with the implementation of Bologna reforms through methods of peer-learning, the project ”Bologna Hub Peer Support II“ takes up this approach. To further pursue “a structured peer support approach based on solidarity, cooperation and mutual learning”, this project builds on the already existing pool of experts which has been set up in the context of the previous project, while similarly enabling the inclusion of additional experts. At least 30 HEI in the entire EHEA will be supported in the implementation of Bologna reforms through methods of peer-learning. Based on the individual needs of higher education institutions, the experts will provide tailor-made counselling during the meetings with those institutions that apply for an expert peer support mission.

The Bologna key commitments

• three-cycle system compatible with the QF-EHEA and first and second cycle degrees scaled by ECTS
• recognition of qualifications in compliance with the Lisbon Recognition Convention
• quality assurance in compliance with the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area

Further issues will be addressed such as:

• formulation of learning outcomes
• curriculum development/modularisation
• innovative approaches to learning and teaching (e.g. digitalisation)
• mobility and internationalisation

The broad range of topics will be covered by European Bologna Experts with different profiles to adequately address the specific need of each higher education institution.