BOLOGNA PROCESS

Podgorica/Skopje/Strasbourg, July 15, 2008

REGIONAL NETWORK FOR QUALIFICATIONS

FRAMEWORKS FOR SOUTH EAST EUROPE

Launching meeting
Cetinje, July 8 – 9, 2008

MEETING REPORT

Distribution: the Regional Network

BFUG
Bologna Coordination Group on Qualifications Frameworks
General
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MEETING REPORT

The meeting was coorganized by the Ministry of Education of Montenegro and the
Council of Europe. It was opened by Professor Sreten Škuletić, Minister of Education of
Montenegro.

The launching meeting was attended by delegations from Albania, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Romania, “the former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia” and Turkey as well as by the Council of Europe. Greece, Serbia and
Slovenia were unable to participate in the meeting.

The programme of the meeting is reproduced in Appendix 1 and the list of participants in
Appendix 2.

In the first part of the meeting, Mr. Sjur Bergan, Head of the Council of Europe’s
Department of Higher Education and History teaching and Chair of the Bologna
Coordination Group on Qualifications Frameworks, gave an overview of issues and
developments regarding qualifications frameworks in the European Higher Education
Area.

Ms. Nadežda Uzelac of the Ministry of Education of “the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia” and a member of the Bologna Coordination Group on Qualifications
Frameworks gave a presentation on the role and importance of qualifications frameworks
from a regional perspective. Each delegation then provided an overview of the status and
development of its national qualifications framework.

All presentations as well as other material form the conference will be made available at
the web site of the Council of Europe
http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/highereducation/Default_en.asp and the Bologna Process
http://www.ond.vlaanderen.be/hogeronderwijs/bologna/.

DECISIONS AND REDCOMMENDATIONS

On the second day of the meeting, participants focused on establishing the regional
network and on defining its tasks and priorities. The meeting adopted the terms of
reference of the network as reproduced in Appendix 3 and elected Ms. Nadežda Uzelac,
“the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, Coordinator of the Network.

The meeting further decided to appoint three dedicated teams to address specific issues
and to submit their proposals to the Network. One team should plan and conduct a
comparative analysis of qualifications frameworks and education systems of the countries
participating in the Network. As its first task, the team should develop a structure and
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format for the information needed and submit this to the network for approval before
proceeding to gather and analyze the information. The meeting appointed the following
team members:

Professor Novica Nosović, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Professor Sorin Eugen Zaharia, Romania
Professor Selda Önderoğlu, Turkey

The second dedicated team should offer assistance and guidelines in developing national
web sites for qualifications frameworks and consider whether it would be useful and
feasible to develop a web site for the Network. It should submit its proposals to the
Network. The meeting appointed the following team members:

Ms. Edit Dibra, Albania

Ms. Marina Tatalović, Croatia
A third member from Bulgaria, to be identified by Ms. Svetomira Apostolova-
Kaloyanova

The third dedicated team should develop one or more project proposals that may be
submitted to external sources for support. In this context, support may be sought from
relevant European Union programmes or any other sources. This dedicated team should
in particular consider project proposals that may help train higher education policy
makers and practitioners in the region in key aspects of qualifications frameworks. The
meeting appointed the following team members:

Professor Aleksander Xhuvani, Albania

Ms. Vanja Srdanović, Montenegro
A third member from Romania, to be identified by Professor Sorin Eugen Zaharia

Finally, the meeting decided to transmit the meeting report and terms of reference to the
members of the Bologna Follow Up group of the countries invited to participate in the
Regional network and to ask them to (re)confirm their representatives to the network.
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APPENDIX 1

PROGRAMME

Monday, July 7

Arrival of participants

Tuesday, July 8

09 00 – 09 30 Registration

09 30 Opening

Prof. dr. Sreten Škuletic, Minister of Education and Science of Montenegro

Ms. Nadežda Uzelac, Ministry of Education of “the former Yugoslav

Republic of Macedonia”, member of the Bologna Coordination Group on
Qualifications Frameworks and member of the Bologna Follow Up group
and Board (2008 – 2009)

Mr. Sjur Bergan, Council of Europe, Chair of the Bologna Coordination

Group on Qualifications Frameworks

Chair of the morning session: Slobodanka Koprivica, Deputy Minister

10 00 Qualifications Frameworks in the European Higher Education Area:

developments and overview of the issues

Sjur Bergan

Discussion

11 15 Coffee
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11 45 Qualifications frameworks: role and importance from a regional

perspective

Nadežda Uzelac

Discussion

13 00 Lunch

Chair of the afternoon session: Professor Selda Önderoğlu, Turkey

14 30 Developing national qualifications frameworks in South East Europe

Presentation by participating countries, with emphasis on:

• the current state of development of their national qualifications

frameworks
• developments since the regional conference in Beograd in November
2007
• issues and challenges in the development of their national
frameworks on which regional cooperation would be useful

Each presentation should be kept to 10 minutes. There will be possibilities to ask brief
questions for clarification after each presentation, and there will be possibilities for
debate after all countries have presented their developments

17 30 End of discussion

Wednesday, July 9

Chair of the session : Professor Aleksander Xhuvani, Albania

09 30 Articulating the work on national qualifications frameworks with work on

quality assurance and recognition

Prof. Mira Vukčević, University of Montenegro

10 00 Establishing a regional network on qualifications frameworks: a discussion

of issues and tasks

Introduction to the debate on the basis of the discussions and presentations of

the first day
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11 30 Coffee

12 00 Establishing a regional network on qualifications frameworks: decision,

adoption of terms of reference, election of chair

Participants will be invited to proceed to establishing the regional network and to make
the necessary decisions.

13 00 Closing of the conference

Slobodanka Koprivica, Deputy Minister of Education of Montenegro

Sjur Bergan, Council of Europe

The newly elected Coordinator of the regional network

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APPENDIX 2

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

Albania

Ms. Edit Dibra, Ministry of Education and Science

Professor Aleksander Xhuvani, QF coordinator

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Professor Novica Nosović, University of Sarajevo

Ms. Sanela Turković, Ministry of Civil Affairs

Bulgaria

Ms. Svetomira Apostolova-Kaloyanova, Ministry of Education and Science

Croatia

Ms. Marina Tatalović, Deputy Prime Minister’s Office, Croatian Government

Montenegro

Professor Slobodanka Koprivica, Deputy Minister of Education and Science

Mr. Ćazim Fetahović, Ministry of Education and Science
Ms. Biljana Mišović, Ministry of Education and Science
Ms. Nada Kovač, Ministry of Education and Science
Ms. Mubera Kurpejović, Ministry of Education and Science
Ms. Tatjana Knežević, Ministry of Education and Science
Ms. Vanja Srdanović, Ministry of Education and Science
Professor Mira Vukčević, University of Montenegro

Romania

Professor Sorin Eugen Zaharia, ACPART

Professor Toma Leonida Dragomir, Politehnika University of Timioara
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“The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”

Ms. Suzana Dinevska-Kovkarovska, “Cyril and Methodius” University

Ms. Nadežda Uzelac, Ministry of Education

Turkey

Professor Selda Önderoğlu, Bologna Promoter, Hacettepe University

Council of Europe

Mr. Sjur Bergan, Head, Department of Higher Education and History Teaching, Chair of
the Bologna Coordination Group on Qualifications Frameworks
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APPENDIX 3

SOUTH EAST EUROPE REGIONAL NETWORK FOR QUALIFICATIONS

FRAMEWORKS

Terms of reference

Adopted by the launching meeting of the Network, Cetinje, July 8 – 9, 2008

Article 1 Purpose

The purpose of the South East European Regional Network for Qualifications
Frameworks (hereafter: the Network) shall be to exchange experience and promote good
practice among the participating countries in the development and implementation of
their national qualifications frameworks compatible with the overarching framework of
qualifications of the European Higher Education Area (hereafter QF-EHEA).
Participating countries shall offer mutual assistance and support in the development and
implementation of their national frameworks and shall consider issues of regional
concern. The Network shall assist in keeping its members informed of relevant
developments within European Higher Education Area (EHEA).

Article 2 Relationship to the European Higher Education Area

The Network shall operate in accordance with relevant decisions and policies of the
EHEA. It shall keep the relevant bodies of the EHEA informed of its activities. It may
seek cooperation with relevant bodies, organizations and other partners within or outside
of the EHEA.

Article 3 Membership

The Network shall be open to participation by the competent authorities of Albania,

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia,
Slovenia, “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” and Turkey. The competent
authorities of each country shall appoint its representative(s) to the Network.

Article 4 Organization

The Network shall operate through electronic exchange as well as meetings and
conferences.
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The Network shall elect a Coordinator, who shall represent one of the competent
authorities participating in the network. The Coordinator shall be elected by a majority
of the competent authorities that participate in the Network and shall coordinate the
activities of the Network. The term of office of the Coordinator shall run from the end of
one annual meeting of the Network until the end of the following annual meeting.

If the Coordinator leaves his/her position or is otherwise unable to continue his/her

activities on its behalf, the Network shall appoint a new Coordinator to complete his/her
term.

The Network may appoint dedicated teams to address specific issues. The dedicated
teams shall submit their proposals to the Network.

Article 5 Meetings

The Network shall seek to organize an annual meeting and may otherwise meet as
required. Meetings shall be called by the Coordinator at his/her own initiative or at the
request of 1/3 of the members of the Network. Ordinary meetings of the Networks shall
normally be called with at least four weeks’ notice.

The Coordinator shall submit a draft agenda for each meeting.

Article 6 Finances

Each competent authority represented in the network shall be responsible for covering the
costs of its participation. The cost of Network activities shall be agreed among the
members.

The Network as well as its members may seek financial support for network activities
from appropriate sources.

Article 7 Amendments to the terms of reference

The terms of reference may be amended by the decision of 2/3 of the Network members
participating in a duly called meeting of the network. Proposals for amendments shall be
submitted to the Coordinators and disseminated by the Coordinator to embers of the
network at least three weeks prior to the meeting.

Article 8 Dissolution

The Network may be dissolved by decision of a majority its participating members. Any
such decision shall make provision for the disposal of any funds, archives, documents or
other property or material held by the network. The Coordinator serving at the time of
the dissolution shall inform the appropriate body of the EHEA of the Network’s decision.