“The Bologna Process” A European Response to Global Competition in Higher Education

Abstract

The Bologna Process is the most important recent development in higher education policy at the European level. Initially North America observed this reorganisation of Europe’s higher education architecture with some scepticism and even mild irony – if not outright ignoring it. More recently, however, the obvious success of attempts to create a “European Higher Education Area” has increased the interest on the other side of the Atlantic. This paper provides a short overview of the initial goals of the Bologna Process, the present state of implementation, and of the diffi culties this process faces. I begin by asking to what extent a European level of higher education policy making exists at all and what is its signifi cance.