Progress has been made, but there is still a long way to go.  That is a summary of the implementation of the Bologna Process, the single most significant reform of higher education across the whole of Europe.  To aid the implementation process and to ensure that student voices are fully represented within it, ESU is launching a new project with the support of the Commission's Education and Culture Directorate.  ESCBI, or 'Enhancing the Student Contribution to Bologna Implementation', will be delivered over the next two years in partnership with several national unions of students (NUSes), OBESSU (Organising Bureau of School Student Unions) and the University of Ljubljana. 

The project will seek to address the fact that, while the Bologna Process has had a positive impact on the higher education systems across Europe with systems becoming more aligned, qualitative and attractive to foreign students, studies have found a tendency towards an 'à la carte' and inconsistent approach to implementation in some countries.  Equally, it has been revealed that the student experience on the ground at universities across Europe has not changed is often failing to match the progress highlighted on paper at high-level meetings. 

The aim of the project is fourfold:

- to give an accurate assessment from the student perspective of the state of the implementation of the Bologna Process reforms in all signatory countries.

- to allow the student movement to develop a common strategy towards the reform priorities outlined by the Louvain ministerial communiqué set to be issued in 2009.

- to train student representatives so as to give them the capacity to actively contribute towards the implementation of reforms at national level.

- to produce a comprehensive picture of the effect of the Bologna Process on higher education systems, students and wider society since its inception.  

These objectives will be delivered through a range of complimentary actions.  Firstly, a package of training materials will be developed to train student representatives on the Bologna Process at a major event to be organised in April 2009, timed to coincide with the Leuven Ministerial Conference.  Each NUS is also going to be developing a National Action Plan which assesses the state of the Bologna implementation in their own country, and the key obstacles to be overcome and how the key action lines can be delivered. Other actions include producing a reader and a range of communications materials for the Leuven Ministerial Conference to ensure that students' voices are heard as clearly at possible at this key milestone event.  With Bologna Phase I coming to an end in 2010, the project will see the production of a major evaluation report, 'Bologna at the Finish Line' which will provide a comprehensive analysis of the implementation process and a clear outline of where it needs to go from here.  There is also a plan to hold a series of Bologna Information Days at national level to empower and raise awareness among students in the countries affected by the Process.  The final milestone of the project is hoped to be a joint ESU-EUA holding of the next Bologna Ministerial Conference in Austria in 2010, to mark the official end of the first phase of the Process.

With so many strands and deliverables, the ESCBI project is going to be one of the top work priorities of ESU in 2009.  Watch this space - there promises to be A LOT more news emanating from this one !