The Bologna Process official seminar on Mobility of staff and students was very well attended by stakeholders at national level. A Steering Committee and a rapporteur were appointed and two studies on mobility of staff and students were commissioned. Over 180 participants from 35 countries were present.

The first part of the agenda included a presentation of the two studies on mobility of staff and students, a presentation by Annika Persson-Pontén (the chair of the BFUG Working Group on Social Dimension and Mobility), and a panel discussion on “Increasing Academic Staff and Student Mobility: From Individual to Institutional Responsibility”. Parallel workshop sessions followed, on:

• social rights and conditions – tools or obstacles
• mobility, the external dimension and brain drain
• recognition of qualifications
• student mobility: factor for societal and economic growth?

After the workshop reports, the final panel then discussed “Realising the Potential of Mobility”,
and was followed by the closing presentation on the general report, and a discussion and adoption of recommendations.

The report and conclusions of the seminar, which were welcomed with a large degree of consensus, referred to the need for data collection; the need to ease visa regulations for students and staff and
to address economic and social conditions in which mobility takes place; a positive attitude towards staff and students taking matters into their own hands; and a suggestion that ESIB and EI undertake
a project on mobility under the authority of BFUG, for the period 2007-2009, to build on the constructive work they have undertaken so far.
As a follow up to this work, EI is currently working with EUA on the possibility of producing a section on mobility of staff and students for the EUA Bologna Handbook.

Monique Fouilhoux, Education International

Source: Bergen to London 2007 - Secretariat Report on the Bologna Work Programme 2005-2007
Bologna Process between Bergen and London