London Communiqué
Overview: In May of 2007, thirty-eight educational representatives met in London to review the progress their countries made on applying the Bologna Process over the previous two years. The discussion concerned supporting institutional autonomy, academic freedom, equal opportunities and democratic principles so as to facilitate mobility, increase employability, and strengthen Europe's attractiveness to both its own and international students, and enhance the competitiveness of the EU economy. The participants reviewed their progress toward building an overarching Framework for Qualifications (See Bergen Agreement), which are key to achieving comparability and transparency throughout the EHEA.
Participants and Signatories: The thirty-eight education ministers of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) were in attendance.
Mission, Goals, and Achievements: The central objectives of the Bologna Process: the mobility of students and staff, and the three-cycle degree system coordinated throughout the EHEA, was reaffirmed. The ministers also emphasized the importance of emphasizing educational outcomes, rather than just time served, and set the goal of making education more student-centered and less instructor-driven. These action Items were planned:
- Promotion of mobility of students and staff
- Enhancement and measurable evaluation of the social dimension of this work
- Improvement of the availability of data collected
- Intensifying a commitment to improve employability through lifelong learning
- Extending the goals of the EHEA globally
- Developing qualitative analysis in the stocktaking process
The EHEA ministers set up their next full-scale meeting, to be hosted by the Benelux countries, Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve for May of 2009.
