THE FINAL PROJECT PAPER OF THE BWSE FORWARD HIGHLIGHTS AND RECOMMENDS SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE THE BOLOGNA PROCESS IMPLEMENTATION
An Erasmus+ Project, Bologna with Stakeholders Eyes For a Stronger Future of the Bologna Process (BWSE FORward), published its Final Project Paper, Bologna Process Commitments: A Way Forward, which wraps up an intense 24-month work of the entire consortium composed of the European Students’ Union (ESU-leader), European University Association (EUA), European Association of Institutions in Higher Education (EURASHE), European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), Ministry of Science and Education of Croatia, Malta Further and Higher Education Authority, Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia and European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR-associate partner).
The Bologna Process has been instrumental in enhancing the coherence of higher education as a whole. The purpose of this paper is to be ambitious, forward-thinking, and to provide proposals to ensure that the Bologna Process continues to meet the expectations of academic and administrative personnel, students, and other stakeholders, despite the fact that challenges remain. This paper, based on the Bologna with Student Eyes (BWSE) and the results of two Peer Learning Activities (PLAs), explored the practical strategies applied by different stakeholders, as well as the fact that excellence can be achieved when institutions of higher education are wide-ranging and reflect the diversity of society. Several key members of the higher education community, including governments, universities, student organisations, quality assurance agencies, and ENIC-NARIC centres, are targeted by the report’s recommendations.
Based on the aforementioned fundaments for the final paper, the following areas have been identified as obstacles to the implementation of Bologna Process commitments:
- Student participation in internal quality assurance
- Student-centred learning
- Implementation of ECTS
- Recognition of prior learning
- Internationalisation and mobility
The publication is made available on the websites of all project partners and distributed to project-related target audiences through a variety of channels and means. The publication, for instance, is available on the website of the European Students’ Union.
In case of any questions or needs linked to the publication, please contact the project manager of the European Students’ Union, María Sierra de las Heras, at maria.sierra@esu-online.org.
