Failure of the Croatian Higher Education Reform

Abstract

The authors analyse the reasons for Croatian higher education reform since 2003, as well as its consequences. The main proposition of the paper is that the implementation of the Bologna Process in Croatia has failed due  to a fundamental misunderstanding of the goals of the process, a lack of correspondence between the cycles of higher education and the EuropeanQualifications Framework, and a lack of international pressure, resulting from the nature of the open method of coordination. The authors present the internal market rules of the European Union and how they affect the national regulation of higher education. The paper deals with the main characteristics of the higher education reform and how it has affected thestructure of higher education programmes, the comparability of degrees and qualifications, and student mobility. The authors propose an agenda for a “reform of the reform” that could bring the Croatian system of higher education back onto the European track.