Foreword to the EFCE Statement on Bologna Process

On June 19th, 1999, the Ministers in charge of higher Education of 29 European countries signed in Bologna a declaration, known henceforth as "The Bologna Declaration", in order to start a process of establishing a European Higher Education Area within the first decade of the century. The aim of this process is to strengthen the European dimension in higher education by promoting the mobility of students, teachers, researchers and administrative staff of universities, and the cooperation in quality assurance. The declaration foresees adopting a system of easily readable and comparable degrees, adopting a system essentially based on two main cycles of study, undergraduate and graduate, establishing a system of credits, and developing comparable criteria and methodologies in the higher education, particularly with regard to curricula development, inter-institution cooperation, mobility schemes and integrated programs of study, training and research.

From its very beginning in 1953 the European Federation of Chemical Engineering has set itself the objective to be a platform for communication and a source of advice and support for the European institutions seeking contacts with their counterparts in the field of chemical engineering teaching and research. It is therefore natural that EFCE welcomes and supports the ideas expressed in the Bologna Declaration.

In the same time EFCE is vitally interested in maintaining the high standards of European chemical engineering education. For these reasons the Executive Board of EFCE decided on September 20th, 2003, to publish a Federation statement on the Bologna Process. This statement is presented below.

May I use this opportunity to express thanks to the members of the EFCE Working Party on Education for their efforts to prepare the text of the statement.

Ryszard Pohorecki
EFCE Scientific Vice-President

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