Work programme of the Bologna Follow-Up Group 2003-2005
Seminar on the employability and its links to the objectives of the Bologna Process
Approximately 115 participants from 24 countries and a number of organisations attended the seminar. General Rapporteur was Martina Vukasović.
This was the first Bologna Seminar to discuss employability. One major step forward was that the participants agreed on a definition on the term “employability”:
A set of achievements – skills, understandings and personal attributes – that make graduates more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations, which benefits themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy.
The participants concluded that there are problems in many countries getting acceptance for the first degree in the labour market. This implies that there are challenges in fulfilling the Bologna action line Adoption of a system essentially based on two main cycles, undergraduate and graduate. It is a goal in the Bologna Process that the degree awarded on completion of the first cycle shall be relevant to the European labour market as an appropriate level of qualification.
To achieve the goal of strengthening employability, several measures must be taken. Employers, trade unions and professional associations must be involved in the development and creation of new types of qualifications and new curricula. The BFUG must strengthen the participation of these stakeholders.
The seminar participants also recommended that the notion of employability is included as a reference point in further Bologna Seminars and other activities, in particular those dealing with learning outcomes and an overarching framework of qualifications for the EHEA.
Source: General Report to the Bologna Follow-Up Group to the Conference of European Ministers Responsible for Higher Education - Bergen 19/20 May 2005
Bologna Process between Berlin and Bergen
Related documents
Seminar on Employability in the context of the Bologna process - Bled, Slovenia 2004
Recommendations
Conclusions
General report
Programme
Background materials
Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA): Memorandum on the tiered study structure (September 2003)
Dr Guy Haug, European Commission: Preparation for the labour market (Strasbourg, 23 September 2004)
Presentations and Speeches
Prof. Eric Froment, President, EUA
Dr. Mantz Yorke, Liverpool John Moores University, UK
Dr. Christoph Anz, UNICE and Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA), Germany
Predrag Lazetić, ESIB
Käthe Munk Ryom, Vice-President, Eurocadres (Council of European Professional and Managerial Staff)
Dr. Marcela Smidova, Centre for Higher Education Studies, Czech Republic
Dr. Jürgen Kohler, University of Greifswald, Germany
Dr. Alistair Robertson, Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, Scotland, UK
Stamenka Uvalić-Trumbić, UNESCO
Other information
Seminar Questions
Participants