ADOPTION OF THE STATEMENT BY THE BOLOGNA FOLLOW UP GROUP AND THE SUSPENSION OF THE RIGHTS OF PARTICIPATION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION AND BELARUS

 BFUG Meeting LXXX, held in Strasbourg, France on 11-12- April 2022

At the BFUG Meeting LXXX, held in Strasbourg, France on 11-12- April 2022, the BFUG members decided, in the context of the Statement by members and consultive members of the Bologna Follow Up Group on Consequences of the Russian Federation invasion of Ukraine and the Bologna Declaration (1999), which underlines the importance of education and educational cooperation in the development and strengthening of stable, peaceful and democratic societies, that the rights of representation of the Russian Federation and Belarus have been suspended as of 11 April 2022.

As Ministers underlined in their Rome Communiqué of November 2020, “the EHEA of our vision will fully respect the fundamental values of higher education and democracy and the rule of law. It will encourage creativity, critical thinking, free circulation of knowledge and will expand the opportunities offered by technological development for research-based learning and teaching”. As the Rome Communiqué further underlines, the EHEA builds on the fundamental values of institutional autonomy, academic freedom and integrity, participation of students and staff in higher education governance, and public responsibility for and of higher education. 

The Russian Federation invasion of Ukraine – an EHEA member since 2005 – disregards the values and goals of the EHEA and fundamentally violates all the obligations and commitments the Russian Federation has undertaken since it joined the EHEA in 2003. It has also undermined the trust that is fundamental to European higher education cooperation.  

The Russian Federation invasion of Ukraine is seen as a fundamental violation of the values on which the European Higher Education Area is built upon. As a result, the Russian Federation’s rights to representation in all EHEA institutions and activities, including the BFUG, working groups, task forces, peer learning groups, and similar structures have been suspended. The same sanctions have been applied to Belarus, an EHEA member state that supports the Russian Federation in its invasion of Ukraine. 

The BFUG fully supports Ukraine and encourages EHEA members and consultative members to offer, in accordance with their national legislation and policies, and in accordance with the principles of institutional autonomy, support for higher education in Ukraine.