European Higher Education Area & Bologna Process

The European Higher Education Area (EHEA) was launched along with the Bologna Process' decade anniversary, in March 2010. With the Bologna Process implementation, higher education systems in European countries are to be organized in such a way that :

• it is easy to move from one country to the other (within the European Higher Education Area) – for the purpose of further study or employment;
• The attractiveness of European higher education has increased, so that many people from non-European countries also come to study and/or work in Europe;
• The European Higher Education Area provides Europe with a broad, high-quality advanced knowledge base, and ensures the further development of Europe as a stable, peaceful and tolerant community benefiting from a cutting-edge European Research Area;
• There will also be a greater convergence between the U.S. and Europe as European higher education adopts aspects of the American system.

EHEA has been expanded to 47 countries;

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria,the CzechRepublic, Denmark,Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland,Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland,Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,United Kingdom. Croatia, Cyprus, Liechtenstein, TurkeyAlbania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Holy See, Russia,Serbia, Macedonia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine Montenegro Kazakhstan. Thus the members of the Bologna process are these 47 countries, together with the European Commission, and the consultative members, namely the Council of Europe, UNESCO-CEPES, EUA, ESU, EURASHE, ENQA, Education International and BUSINESSEUROPE.

Free Education in Europe:

Many Universities in Europe; Finland, Norway, Germany offer tuition fees free or low fees education to international students as well. They are still in a position to do it because; higher education cost is subsidized in these countries Sweden has stopped it recently but planning to offer Scholarships instead, to foreign students who are still looking for concessional tuition fees at Swedish Universities.