On Some Aspects of the European Knowledge Economy

Abstract

We survey some of the consequences of the managerialism of science and education as practiced in European countries and its main results: the Bologna declaration and the Bologna process. One notable feature of this process is the gradual introduction of currently fashionable management terms into school curricula. These linguistic changes are the direct result of the neoliberal philosophy behind the concept of knowledge economy, namely, that all sciences must justify their economic value; moreover, the introduction of such terms is via government “strategic documents” that are never the result of a democratic public debate. As a case in point, we examine two such strategic documents issued by the Bulgarian ministry of education.