An informal meeting of ministers for education in the European member states will analyse the progress of the Copenhages process.

The meeting is convened by the French EU presidency, on November 25-26.

This meeting will bring together the ministers for education, vocational training and higher education from the Member States.

The aim of this meeting is to take stock of the implementation of the various instruments set up in the context of the 'Copenhagen Process', to review the transformation of the national training systems following the introduction of the EU instruments, and to outline the future priorities in the area of education and vocational training for the 2008-2010 period.

The inclusion of the ministers for higher education at this informal meeting will facilitate the development of the contribution of higher education to life-long learning and employability.

The outcome of this meeting should be the adoption of a 'Bordeaux communiqué'. The meeting will be preceded, on 25 November, by a meeting of the directors-general for vocational training.

What is the Copenhagen process?

The Copenhagen process was launched in November 2002 by the ministers for education and vocational training of the European Union and the countries belonging to the European Economic Area (EEA) and the European Free Trade Area (EFTA), the European social partners and the European Commission. The Copenhagen process set ambitious priorities at European and national level. It led to the creation of major tools for increasing the transparency and recognition of knowledge, aptitudes and skills, and for the quality of the systems: the common European principles for the identification and validation of non-formal and informal learning, Europass, the European qualifications framework (EQF), the future European Credit system for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET), and the future European common quality assurance framework for vocational education and training.

The Copenhagen process led to significant developments in national policies. For the majority of countries, the European instruments support modernising the systems, making qualifications more transparent and encourage increased mobility.

(www.ue2008.fr)