The countries participating in the Bologna process include the 27 EU member states as well as Russia, Albania, Turkey, Switzerland, Serbia, Ukraine and the Holy See. The Leuven Declaration is the first time in Bologna’s 10-year history that a quantifiable goal has been set. Nor is it a token goal: at present the number of students who take time to study abroad barely reaches 11%, with Flanders lagging behind at less than 10%.

The target, however, applies to the 46 countries as a whole and not to individual member states. Anything more binding would have been impossible: offering exchange programmes to students involves subsidies and support for students going abroad. Many poorer countries are a long way from reaching the 20% target, and, in the current economic climate, any major increase on a national level would be too much to expect.

Security precautions were tight in the two university towns as students gathered to protest at the summit. Students in Leuven and elsewhere in Europe are concerned at the increase in study costs and claim governments are in the process of turning higher education from a right into a privilege available only to the well-off. An Erasmus grant offered by the EU for study abroad amounts to a maximum of about €200 a month, which is not enough to survive, particularly in Northern Europe.

The agreement adopted by ministers goes some way to meeting these concerns, and student organisations said they were “satisfied” with the result. The text contains an assurance that “higher education should reflect the diversity of Europe’s populations…. Access into higher education should be widened by fostering the potential of students from under-represented groups and by providing adequate conditions for the completion of their studies. This involves improving the learning environment, removing all barriers to study and creating the appropriate economic conditions for students to be able to benefit from the study opportunities at all levels.”

Ministers also agreed to make an effort to increase spending on higher education by 10% over the same period.

The other main higher education priorities in the Leuven Declaration include:

• Harmonisation of educational structures and levels. In future, all institutions will offer bachelor’s degrees after three years and master’s after four or five years
• Increasing participation in higher education by encouraging life-long learning, work-based education and part-time studies
• Equipping students with the knowledge, skills and competence they require for their future professional lives, with higher education providing improved career guidance
• An increased emphasis on student-centred learning, with teaching, support and guidance focused on the learner
• Greater global cooperation between higher education establishments and increased student mobility