Motion for a recommendation | Doc. 12289 | 09 June 2010

The extension of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) to all countries

Signatories: Mr Luca VOLONTÈ, Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr Francis AGIUS, Malta, EPP/CD ; Mr Pedro AGRAMUNT, Spain, EPP/CD ; Ms Anne BRASSEUR, Luxembourg, ALDE ; Mr Patrick BREEN, Ireland, EPP/CD ; Mr Erol Aslan CEBECİ, Turkey, EPP/CD ; Ms Anna ČURDOVÁ, Czech Republic ; Mr Frank FAHEY, Ireland, ALDE ; Mr Jean-Charles GARDETTO, Monaco, EPP/CD ; Mr John GREENWAY, United Kingdom ; Mr Davit HARUTYUNYAN, Armenia, EDG ; Mr Andres HERKEL, Estonia, EPP/CD ; Ms Sinikka HURSKAINEN, Finland, SOC ; Mr Dariusz LIPIŃSKI, Poland, EPP/CD ; Mr Theo MAISSEN, Switzerland, EPP/CD ; Mr Bernard MARQUET, Monaco, ALDE ; Mr Andrew McINTOSH, United Kingdom ; Mr José MENDES BOTA, Portugal, EPP/CD ; Mr Juan MOSCOSO DEL PRADO, Spain, SOC ; Mr Aleksandar NIKOLOSKI, ''The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia'', EPP/CD ; Mr Christos POURGOURIDES, Cyprus, EPP/CD

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only those who have signed it.

The creation of a truly European Higher Education Area (EHEA) will be essential to meet the goals that were set out in the Lisbon Declaration.

However, the goals of this process have been undermined by the immature implementation, sometimes even by the misconception, of the aims of the Bologna process. ln many countries this has led to a situation which is harmful to the attainment of the original objectives, while putting the future of young people and of the whole process at risk.

Mobility is essential to the creation of a European Higher Education Area; it has also been at the very core of the Bologna process right from the beginning.

As to concrete steps aimed at increasing mobility, we ask to promote active measures for the integration of exchange students into local student populations, as well as detailed information for outgoing students.

Curricula need to be redesigned according to the Bologna concept and should not be a mere reduction of study times or a renaming of former diplomas. Higher education is not only the acquisition or knowledge, but is essentially about choosing the right sources of information and application of adequate methodology to process the information obtained.

The main goal of any social policy should be to ensure equal access to higher education, in full respect for the socio-economic background, but based upon the principles of merit and capacity.

Extending the EHEA must be a primary objective of both the Parliamentary Assembly and the Committee of Ministers.

The Committee of Ministers should enhance training and experience exchanges for university students by means of a new specific Convention, which could expand the current declaration signed by the 27 member states of the European Union, to all 47 Council of Europe member states.