Education Lisbon Declaration

Armenia invited Turkey, Azerbaijan to participate in Bologna Process events

As Armen Ashotyan told a news conference in Yerevan, a number of events were planned in this connection, including Bologna 2020 international student school aiming to consolidate students from Bologna Process member states.

Ashotyan further noted that his Azerbaijani and Turkish counterparts were invited to participate in two events to be hosted by Armenia. However, the countries denied receiving any invitation, which, as Armenian Foreign Ministry confirmed they did receive.

The purpose of the Bologna Process (or Bologna Accords) is the creation of the European Higher Education Area by making academic degree standards and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe, in particular under the Lisbon Recognition Convention. It is named after the place it was proposed, the University of Bologna, with the signing in 1999 of the Bologna declaration by Education Ministers from 29 European countries.

Armenia became a signatory and thus a member of the European Higher Education Area in 2005.

Reflection: International Education Policy:

Teacher Training Reform By Colin Cramer and Marcelo Parreira do Amaral

Teacher education traditionally falls under the responsibility of national or regional educational governance and legislation. There are no centralized political requirements, guidelines, or competences on a law giving sense at the European or global level. Nonetheless, currently one may observe international trends in reforming teacher education globally and within Europe across the different national teacher education systems. A starting point to understanding this may be seen in the fact that all European countries have provisions of compulsory schooling. It implies the necessity of educational policy and research to be engaged in reflecting, evaluating and reforming teacher education, thus providing the basis for a successful education system. The increasing competition among nations in providing their labour markets with highly educated and qualified professionals leads to an increased political attention to reforming teacher education. In general, a close link between school quality and teacher training is assumed. However, there are many controversies over whether and if then how teacher training has a direct impact on the quality of instruction and on student outcomes.

Also, it is important noting that globalization and the knowledge society are important contexts for the current discourse on reforming teacher education worldwide. These contexts have been influencing how on-going reform processes are discussed and implemented on the national level, but also the reason for many similar debates, ideas, and policies across the countries. A commonly held assumption undergirding the international discourse on teacher education reform is that teacher education is key to quality education and, in turn, to a successful society in terms of an effective and efficient economy. As such, it is part of a globalization process that affects almost every area of modern societies – such as policy, economy, culture or religious pluralism. This is why the reform of teacher education within a specific country may also be seen as a case of reforming teacher training worldwide. Apart from common beliefs and knowledge about teacher education, reform pressure result from the activities of international organisations such as the OECD, the World Bank, and not least the European Union. For instance, the TALIS project (the OECD’s Teaching and Learning International Survey) provides a range of structural and statistical Information regarding teacher training all over the world. Periodic reports such as the ‘Education at a Glance’ series also by the OECD supply the system with additional information on teacher education. Further, the report ‘Teachers Matter: Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers’ provides a comprehensive, international analysis of trends and developments in the teacher workforce. The World Bank is a key disseminator of ‘evidence’ about teacher education reforms all over the world. Moreover, the European Commission also supports ‘peer learning’ on teacher education; a group of experts from EU Member States and other European countries meets regularly to examine specific aspects of teacher education, discuss common challenges and exchange good practice.

Eu Higher Education Law.the Bologna Process and Harmonization by Stealth

European integration and the governance of higher education and research

Labour productivity, investment in human capital and youth employment, comparative developments and global responses

Achieving the Lisbon Goals in Cyprus: The Role of a National Youth Policy

From vocational to higher education, an international perspective