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.
Highlights
It is no longer a secret that the implementation of the Bologna Process in Croatia has gone wrong.3 The higher education reform displays a significant level of anti-liberal conservative statism, which has support in parts of the academic community and in both leading parties: SDP (Social Democratic Party) and HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union)
The system created by the reform is a bastard combining some elements of the old system with some concepts of the Bologna Process in a model that is in sync with neither the European surroundings nor Croatian society
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 European Qualifications Framework, and a lack of international pressure, resulting from the nature of the open method of coordination
Summary
Zoran Kurelić and Siniša Rodin*2 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 European Qualifications 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.
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