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Date of print: 23/09/23
Page: http://ehea.hyperion.education.gouv.fr/cid101085/bfug-chairs-and-vice-chair.html

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.

Content for Bologna Expert - 06/05/2016
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Chairs and Vice-Chair from the creation of the EHEA

SemesterEU-PresidencyChair from non-EU countryVice-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)
Published: 06/05/2016 - Last modified: 28/06/2017
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