How does the Bologna Process work?
BFUG Chairs and Vice-Chair
With the Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve Ministerial Conference in 2009, the Bologna Process is co-chaired by the country holding the EU presidency and a non-EU country. Moreover, the host country of the next Ministerial conference is nominated as the Vice-Chair.
Chairs and Vice-Chair from the creation of the EHEA
| Semester | EU-Presidency | Chair from non-EU country | Vice-Chair |
|---|---|---|---|
| From Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve to Bucharest/Vienna | |||
| 1 July - 31 December 2010 | Belgium | Albania | Romania |
| 1 January - 30 June 2011 | Hungary | Andorra | |
| 1 July - 31 December 2011 | Poland | Armenia | |
| 1 January - 30 June 2012 | Denmark | Azerbaijan | |
| From Bucharest/Vienna to Yerevan | |||
| 1 July - 31 December 2012 | Cyprus | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Armenia |
| 1 January - 30 June 2013 | Ireland | Croatia | |
| 1 July - 31 December 2013 | Lithuania | Georgia | |
| 1 January - 30 June 2014 | Greece | Kazakhstan | |
| 1 July - 31 December 2014 | Italy | Holy See | |
| 1 January - 30 June 2015 | Latvia | Iceland | |
| From Yerevan to Paris | |||
| 1 July - 31 December 2015 | Luxembourg | Liechtenstein | France |
| 1 January - 30 June 2016 | Netherlands | Moldova | |
| 1 July - 31 December 2016 | Slovakia | Montenegro | |
| 1 January - 30 June 2017 | Malta | Norway | |
| 1 July - 31 December 2017 | Estonia | Russian Federation | |
| 1 January - 30 June 2018 | Bulgaria | Serbia | |
| From Paris to ... | |||
| 1 July - 31 December 2018 | Austria | Switzerland | Italy |
| 1 January - 30 June 2019 | Romania | "The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" | |
| 1 July - 31 December 2019 | Finland | Turkey | |
| 1 January - 30 June 2020 | Croatia | Ukraine | |
Each country is responsible to nominate a person who will be in charge of fulfilling the tasks of the chairmanship. The Chairs have a joint responsibility to take forward the aims and actions laid down by the Ministers responsible for Higher Education in the Bologna Declaration and subsequent Communiqués of ministerial conferences. The Co-Chairs, in close cooperation with the Vice-Chair, chair the Bologna Ministerial Meetings and the Bologna Policy Forum as well as the sessions of the BFUG and the BFUG board. The Co-Chairs jointly represent the EHEA in European and international meetings. In the decision-making process the Chairs assume the responsibility to lead the way towards compromise and to provide political impetus for moving the Bologna Process forward.
The Co-Chairs may delegate tasks, such as external representation, to the Vice-Chair. The Vice-Chair ensures continuity between the rotating chairmanships.
Chairs before the creation of the EHEA (before 2010)
From Leuven-Louvain-la-Neuve 2009
With the Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve Communiqué in 2009 the Ministers decided that in the future, the Bologna Process would be co-chaired by the country holding the EU presidency and a non-EU country. To put this decision into practice, the Bologna Follow-up Group at its meeting in Stockholm on 28-29 September 2009 agreed:
- to treat the EU Presidency and the non-EU country as two chairs (rather than as chair and co-chair) to signal very clearly that the Bologna Process will be chaired on equal footing by the EU Presidency and a non-EU country.
- to leave it to each chairing team to define the exact division of tasks between the two chairs and the vice chair(s)
- to start the new chairing arrangement on 1 July 2010.
- to apply the alphabetical order when designating the chair from a non-EU country.
- to adjust the composition of the BFUG Board by replacing the three elected members with the outgoing, present and incoming non-EU chairs.
From Prague to Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve 2001-2009
Immediately after Prague, inter-governmental structures for the Bologna process were established. Based on decisions of the Prague Communiqué, the former “enlarged group” became the Follow-up Group of the Bologna Process (BFUG). The group was presided by the consecutive EU-Presidencies.
- Belgium (2nd semester 2001)
- Spain (1st semester 2002)
- Denmark (2nd semester 2002)
- Greece (1st semester 2003)
- Italy (2nd semester 2003)
- Ireland (1st semester 2004)
- Netherlands (2nd semester 2004)
- Luxembourg (1st semester 2005)
- United Kingdom (2nd semester 2005)
- Austria (1st semester 2006)
- Finland (2nd semester 2006)
- Germany (1st semester 2007)
- Portugal (2nd semester 2007)
- Slovenia (1st semester 2008)
- France (2nd semester 2008)
- Czech Republic (1st semester 2009)