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The Bologna Declaration was a common declaration of the European education ministers singed in 1999 in Bologna, which marked the process of higher education reform known today as the Bologna Process.

The Republic of Croatia signed the Bologna Declaration in 2001.  


The aims of the Bologna Process are: 

  • Adoption of a system of easily readable and comparable degrees, among other things by introducing Diploma Supplements, in order to improve the employability of the European citizens and the international competitiveness of the European Higher Education Area. 
  • Adoption of a system essentially based on two main cycles, undergraduate and graduate.  Graduation from the first cycle, in the duration of at least three years, is a precondition for enrolment to the second cycle.  The qualification awarded after the first cycle should be aligned with the levels recognized at the European labour market.  The second cycle leads to the master/doctoral cycle, as is the case in many European countries. 
  • Establishment of a system of credits, such as the ECTS, as an adequate mechanism for promoting student mobility.  The credits can be awarded outside the higher education system, and within the lifelong learning, if they are recognized by the host institution. 
  • Facilitation of mobility includes removing obstacles to free movement, especially for: students, in access to higher education institutions and the connected services; teachers, researchers and administrative staff, in recognition and valorisation of periods spent in a European context researching, teaching and training, without prejudicing their statutory rights. 
  • Promotion of European cooperation in quality assurance, aimed at assuring comparable standards and methodologies. Promoting the important European dimensions of higher education, especially in the development of curricula, interinstitutional cooperation, mobility programmes and joint study, education and research programmes.