It was agreed that the report to Ministers should not be prescriptive but should help to extend understanding of the meaning of the concept of employability and provide practical examples of good practice from a range of areas but in particular in relation to Bachelor degrees.

In order to inform the work of the group, individual members of the group agreed to contact a number of Bologna countries to conduct short informal surveys, covering the following questions:

• What are the main challenges for your country in terms of employability? (eg Is graduate unemployment a problem? Are there restrictions on access to certain jobs? Is there a careers and guidance service?) What would help you most as an output from this working group?
• Is there a dialogue in your country between higher education institutions and employers? If so, at what level does this take place – national, regional, institutional etc? What sort of issues does it cover?
• Can you provide two examples of good practice in your country in relation to any of the themes to be covered by the report?

The survey produced information about some 19 countries and work is in hand to get information from as many countries as possible to ensure that the eventual report of the group responds to identified needs.

Source: BFUG13_11_2 Working group on employability - report