European Commission

The European Commission has been a full member of the Bologna Follow-Up Group since 1999.

The European Commission has been supporting the development of the European Higher Education Area through its' sustained engagement in the Bologna Follow-Up Group, funding the BFUG working structures and Bologna Process implementation projects and activities through Erasmus+, as well as through capacity building and ensuring the synergies of the European Union's European Education Area and European Research Area with the goals, objectives and tools of the Bologna Process. Furthermore, the implementation of Bologna Process policies is taken into account in the European Union's accession process. 

As the main programme supporting higher education mobility and one of the flagship initiatives of the European Commission, the Erasmus+ has offered an invaluable contribution to the European Higher Education Area.

In 1987, through the joint efforts of the European Commission, national authorities, higher education institutions, and students, the Erasmus programme was born to promote closer cooperation between higher education institutions across Europe, facilitating student exchanges and mobility. This lay the ground for greater and better-structured cooperation between higher education institutions and has become one of the biggest success stories of the EU.

The Erasmus+ Programme also provides support to the Bologna process through a targeted call for project proposals to support the implementation of the Bologna commitments. These are crucial to consolidate the trust necessary for the further evolution of the European Higher Education Area, on which the EU builds its own strategies. Through this call, the EU also kindly co-funds the EHEA Secretariat.

As Erasmus+ has grown in scope and impact, the European Commission has co-developed several tools crucial to delivering on Bologna commitments and the European Higher Education Area, including:

• The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS)
• The European Qualifications' Framework
• The network of National Academic Recognition Information Centres (NARICs)
• Eurostudent
• Eurograduate
• the European Higher Education Sector Observatory (EHESO)
• Europass
• Regulation on the recognition of professional qualifications (Directive 2013/55/EU)

The evolution ahead

The European Commission is working towards a European Education Area by 2025, where inclusiveness and excellence will go hand in hand, and where mobility be a reality for all. Alongside a bigger and more inclusive Erasmus programme, three key initiatives are driving this vision in the field of higher education:

• Automatic mutual recognition of diplomas and learning periods abroad
• The European Universities Initiative
• The European Student Card

The Bologna Process and the European Union’s ambitions for the creation of a European Education Area by 2025 and for the implementation of the renewed EU agenda for higher education are mutually reinforcing.  The European Education Area will build on the achievements of the European Higher Education Area. It will enable EU Member States to do more and move faster to make their education systems better, more competitive and inclusive, while providing inspiration to non-EU countries and the European Higher Education Area as a whole.