Academics unite for safe and inclusive quality higher education
Trade unions of higher education and research sectors present a list of demands to the Ministers of the Bologna Process countries ahead of the Iasi-Chisinau Ministerial Conference in May 2027
Today, on 5 March 2026, ETUCE’s Higher Education and Research Standing Committee adopted a call to the ministers of the Bologna Process countries. While higher education and research are key to social, cultural, economic, and political development, trade unions of the higher education and research sectors see growing threats to the core values and goals of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Austerity, authoritarianism, and automation are increasingly threatening the EHEA, higher education and research personnel, and the essential quality of higher education.
In the run up to the 2027 Iasi-Chisinau Ministerial Conference of the Bologna Process countries, trade unions of the higher education and research sectors call on ministers to commit to the following goals in the forthcoming Communique:
Assert the EHEA as a safe and supportive place for quality teaching and learning distinguished by critical thinking and democracy, equity, inclusion and solidarity, cultural exchange, knowledge sharing and understanding, free from coercion, polarisation, and harassment.
Protect, strengthen and guarantee academic freedom, institutional autonomy, and other fundamental values such as freedom of knowledge, science, and speech, participation of students and staff in higher education governance, and public responsibility for and of higher education, and ensure they are effectively monitored nationally and across the EHEA with structured involvement of the staff and their trade unions in the process.
Guarantee sustainable and long-term public investment and funding in higher education and research to ensure high quality education and research across all fields of knowledge and a supportive working and learning environment for staff and students.
Recognise the student-teacher relationship as a permanent, key constituent of higher education institutions and reaffirm the crucial role of teaching staff in supporting high-quality, learner-centred and innovative learning and teaching.
Prioritise decent working conditions and well-being that increase the attractiveness of the academic profession by guaranteeing to all staff permanent contracts, decent salaries, fair pension and provision and opportunities for professional development and innovation throughout the academic career.
Ensure a human-centred, ethical, and rights-based approach to AI – one that ensures transparency, mitigates bias, protects privacy, respects academic freedom and intellectual property, and safeguards educational equity and quality.
Strengthen collaboration among institutions, staff and students, enforce democratic participation; establish transparent and systemic mechanisms for effective and structural social dialogue and collegial governance; involve the academics in shaping and transforming higher education both within EHEA and at national and institutional level.
Earlier ETUCE representing academic staff unions in 49 countries, called on the Bologna Follow-Up Group and the Romanian and Moldovan Ministries of Education, as co‑hosts of the 2027 Iasi–Chisinau Ministerial Conference and Global Policy Forum, to increase the size of national delegations and formally include a representative of academics’ trade unions in every national delegation.
This request is fully aligned with EHEA commitments: the Tirana Communiqué reaffirmed a clear commitment by EHEA Ministers to protect, promote, and uphold academic freedom, and to strengthen the participation of students and staff in higher education governance by, among other ways, by having their views represented and taken into account, and participate in all debates and decision-making processes “in all governing bodies”. These principles recognise that academics play a central role in ensuring the quality of teaching and learning and in implementing the fundamental values and social dimensions of higher education. Academic freedom remains a core value that academics and their representative organisations continuously defend and promote within the EHEA.
