B

Bologna Process: concerns Higher Education throughout Europe. Puts forward a scheme to facilitate the movement of students in Europe. This scheme defines 3 levels in Higher Education: Bachelor (3 years), Master (5 years), Doctorate (8 years).

D

DG: Directorate General, an administrative subdivision of the European Commission.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directorate-General

Directive: a legally binding regulation within the European Union. When agreed by the Council of ministers and the European Parliament, directives must be usually translated in national law within 2 years. The European Commission is the watchdog for their implementation.

E

EC: European Commission. It currently comprises 25 commissioners and is headed by its president Mr Barroso.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Commission

ECTS: European Credit and Accumulation Transfer System. ECTS is a measurement system to allow easy mobility of students in Europe. Every course and every degree is awarded a number of Credits. In order to be awarded a degree, students must attend as many courses to accumulate as Credits are required.
http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/socrates/ects/index_en.html

EIT: European Institute of Technology. A recent project allegedly instigated by Barroso to create in the European Union an institution similar to the famous Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT) in the USA.

ENQA: European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education. It disseminates information, experiences and good practices in the field of quality assurance (QA) in higher education to European QA agencies, public authorities and higher education institutions.
http://www.enqa.eu.

EP: European Parliament. There are currently 732 MEPs which are elected every 5 years (next election in 2009).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_parliament

EQF: European Qualifications Framework.
http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/educ/eqf/index_en.html

ERA: European Research Area. The goal of the ERA is to coordinate and integrate at the EU level the resources for research and innovation.
http://ec.europa.eu/research/era/index_en.html

ERC: European Research Council. A recently created funding agency of the European Union which gets its money from FP7 but is managed by scientists independently of the European Commission.
http://erc.europa.eu/index_en.cfm

ESIB: The national unions of students in Europe.
www.esib.org

EUA: European University Association. Can be simply referred to as the European federation of universities. Is the result of the merger of two former european bodies:the Association of European Universities and the Confederation of European Union Rectors' Conferences.
www.eua.be

Eurodoc: Can be simply referred to as the European federation of young researchers' national organisations.
www.eurodoc.net

F

FP: Framework Programme. The funding programme for research and innovation agreed for a given period in the European Union. Currently, we are looking at the 7th FP (FP7) for 2007-2013. The decision process to adopt the FP is complex:
http://cordis.Europa.eu/fp7/flowchart.htm

L

Lisbon Process/Agenda: economic strategy for the EU only. According to the Lisbon agenda, EU member countries pledge to dedicate 3% of their GDP (Growth Domestic Product) for research and innovation by 2010. This investment is necessary to preserve economic growth and activity (jobs).
http://ec.europa.eu/growthandjobs/areas/fiche05_en.htm

M

MEP: Member of the European Parliament.

R

Recommendation: a non-legally binding regulation within the European Union. Recommendations can however have a real impact on legislation as they can be used to clarify the context in which a directive is interpreted.