BFUG membership is based on the membership of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The EHEA currently has three categories: member, consultative member and partner.

Members

The Bologna Follow-Up Group (BFUG) is the executive structure supporting the Bologna Process in-between the Ministerial Conferences. BFUG membership is based on the membership of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA).

The BFUG / EHEA members are 49 countries and the European Commission. As of the BFUG Meeting LXXX, held in Strasbourg on the 11th and 12th of April 2022, it was decided by the BFUG members to suspend the rights of representation of the Russian Federation and Belarus in the EHEA.

To become a member of the EHEA, countries have to be party to the European Cultural Convention and to declare their willingness to pursue and implement the objectives of the Bologna Process in their own systems of higher education. Further information is available on the How to apply for becoming a member page.

Consultative members

This is a non-voting category of members who represent stakeholder organisations and other institutions that have a European scope to their work and are instrumental in the implementation of the Bologna Process.

The current eight EHEA consultative members are: Council of Europe (CoE), UNESCO, European University Association (EUA), European Association of Institutions of Higher Education (EURASHE), European Students’ Union (ESU), European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), Education International (EI) and BUSINESS EUROPE.

EQAR has a similar status to the consultative members (non-voting member of BFUG), but has so far not been officially named consultative member.

Partners

Partners are organisations that wish to be associated with the Bologna Process/the BFUG but are not included in the Consultative member category. At present, the following five organisations are BFUG partners: the Association Européenne des Conservatoires, Académies de Musique et Musikhochschulen (AEC), the European Association for International Education (EAIE), the Council of European professional and managerial staff (Eurocadres), Eurodoc, the European Association for Promotion of Science and Technology (Euroscience). They can, upon request, attend BFUG events and may be invited by a WG/AG to send an expert who will participate to the work.

Further technical experts, such as Eurostat, Eurostudent or Eurydice may be associated to the BFUG and invited to events upon specific request.

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