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Bologna process

The purpose of the Bologna process is to harmonise academic degree standards throughout Europe. The name comes because the process was proposed at the University of Bologna with the signing of the Magna Carta Universitatum at a meeting of university rectors celebrating the 900th anniversary of that institution - and thus of European universities - in 1988. This led to the Sorbonne Declaration in 1998, signed by the education ministers of the UK, France, Italy, and Germany, where they committeed themselves to "harmonising the architecture of the European Higher Education system". This was opened up to other countries, and further governmental meetings have been held in Prague (2001) and Berlin (2003). The Council of Europe and UNESCO have jointly issued the Lisbon Convention on recognition of academic qualifications as part of the process.

The basic framework adopted is of three levels of higher education qualification: (the current model in the UK and the US): bachelors, masters, and doctors, taking 3, 2, and 3 years respectively to complete. UK master's degrees currently do not fit this, normally taking only one year to complete, nor do the UK's undergraduate masters. However, this is minor compared to the changes in much of Europe, where 5+ year first degrees are common - leading to many not completing their studies. Many of these countries are now introducing bachelor-level qualifications. However, the process is now moving away from a strict convergence in terms of time spent on qualifications, towards a competency-based system.

Current signatories (and thus members of the European Higher Education Area) are: UK, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Croatia, Cyprus, Turkey, Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Holy See, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, and FYR Macedonia.