The purpose of the move towards a European Higher Education Area is by no means to implement a single system throughout Europe. The aim is to establish criteria and mechanisms which facilitate the adoption of both a comparable system of university qualifications as well as common objectives and which give support wherever necessary in order to make European universities more attractive and internationally competitive.

Therefore, the major criteria or values promoted by the European Higher Education Area are:

• Respect for educational and cultural diversity in Europe
• Promotion of the competitiveness of the European university system in the international arena.
• Adoption of a comparable system of university qualifications in Europe and, thanks to this, mobility for professional people and students. .
• Promotion of quality and excellence as inherent values of European higher education.

In order to achieve these criteria, the Bologna Declaration and other general documents produced over the last few years establish the following recommendations or specific measures:

1. Adoption of a comprehensible and comparable system of qualifications, by means, principally, of what is known as the European Diploma Supplement.
   The European Supplement is a document, which will accompany every European certificate of higher education and which will describe the nature, level, context, content and status of the studies completed. The adoption of a comparable system of university qualifications aims to promote access to the job market, in order to make it an attractive destination for students and university graduates and increase competitiveness.
   
2. Adoption of a system based, principally, on two main cycles (graduate and postgraduate). Students will need to successfully complete their first cycle studies in a minimum of three years in order to gain access to the second cycle. The diploma obtained at the end of the first cycle will also be considered an adequate level of qualification in the European job market. The second cycle will lead to the master’s degree and/or doctorate, as in many European countries.
   
3. Setting up of a compatible credits system, similar to the European Credit Transfer System, ECTS, or a unit for assessing academic activity, which integrates theoretical and practical teaching, other supervised academic activity and the individual work of the student. The compatible credit system must promote mobility by allowing transfer or accumulation. The credits must also be obtainable through life-long professional experience and learning.
   
4. Promotion of European cooperation in order to ensure the quality of higher education, with comparable criteria and methodologies.
   
5. Promotion of mobility for students, teaching staff and administrative and services personnel at universities and other institutions of higher education.



6. Promotion of the necessary European dimensions in higher education, in particular those aimed at curricular development, cooperation between institutions, mobility schemes and study plans, as well as the integration of training and research.