At their meeting in Bergen in 2005, the Ministers of Education of the European Higher Education Area adopted the overarching framework of qualifications for the Area and committed to elaborating national qualifications frameworks by 2010. Ministers reconfirmed their commitment at the Bologna Ministerial meeting in London in 2007 and they charged the Council of Europe with the task of coordinating the sharing of experience in the development of national qualifications frameworks.
The Council of Europe has provided advice on higher education reform to many countries in the region on a bilateral basis. In December 2006 an Informal conference of Ministers from the countries, which acceded to the Bologna Process in 2005, took place in Strasbourg.

The following delegations will be invited to participate in the conference: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine.
The delegations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tadjikistan, as well as the EUA, EURASHE, ESU and EU will be invited to participate in the conference as observers.

The first day will emphasise the political aspects of the development of qualifications frameworks as essential instruments of higher education reform and as an important part of the establishment of the European Higher Education Area by 2010. The participation of Ministers will underline the strong commitment of the countries of the region to higher education reform within the Bologna Process and will also make an important contribution to the preparation of the next Ministerial conference of the Bologna Process, to be held in Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve in April 2009.

The second day of the conference will be aimed at those directly involved in the development of national qualifications frameworks: Ministry officials, academics, students and possibly other stakeholders.
This part of the programme will give more in-depth consideration to various aspects of the development of national qualifications frameworks.