Abstract

AbstractThe Bologna Process stands as both an exemplar of regional cooperation in the higher education policy sector and as a comparatively successful instance of the use of so-called ‘soft law governance’ policy instruments. While the formal launch of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) in 2010 represents a significant milestone in the process, it nevertheless left many politically sensitive questions unanswered. Today, as this pan-European process now marks two decades of existence, many of the questions concerned with the direction and purpose of the process are being addressed with increasing urgency. Against this background, the present paper specifically focuses on recent debates surrounding the (non-)implementation of key commitments; on the functioning of the EHEA as a policy forum in relation to both its own membership and the wider international higher education policy landscape; and on the manner in which the EHEA may respond to increasingly serious challenges to the fundamental values that underpin the process. The authors draw on both the substantial body of scholarship that has emerged on the process and practitioner insights to examine its past achievements and current challenges, while having in mind the specificity of the EHEA as a policy process in a complex European context. Finally, the paper underlines the need for a more nuanced understanding of the EHEA governance model, based on an overall balance sheet that suggests the likely direction(s) of the process going forward.

Highlights

  • The Bologna Process has been widely portrayed as a ‘success story’

  • A key strategy document submitted to the 2015 Yerevan ministerial meeting, on the basis of deliberations in the Bologna Follow-Up Group (BFUG), affirmed in its opening sentence that the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) ‘has come to a turning point where a new sense of direction is needed in order to move ahead’ (EHEA 2015a)

  • While the previous section discussed the tensions between those wishing to move to stricter interpretations of what it means to be an EHEA member country and those emphasizing the need to focus on policy dialogue as a tool to reach the commonly assumed goals, this section will look at this wider dimension, taking stock of how the Bologna Process has developed itself as a policy forum in recent years

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Summary

Deca (B)

It may look less appetising than the smoörgaåsbord but its constituent parts have been carefully thought through so that unless you consume all the individual components you miss out on its full benefits and it will function less than optimally The presentation of these two positions is necessarily somewhat stylised, and an understanding of the underlying dynamics of (non-)compliance within the EHEA undoubtedly requires a more fine-grained analysis of the possibilities and limits offered by the full spectrum of instruments—including positive socialisation, ‘name and shame’ mechanisms and the adoption of more formal sanctions—potentially operable within a soft governance framework.

From Bucharest to Yerevan
The Advisory Group on Non-Implementation
From Paris to Rome
The EHEA as a Policy Forum
The Social Dimension
The Bologna Policy Fora—Between Policy Export and Global Dialogue
Is the EHEA a Successful Policy Forum in All of Its Dimensions?
The EHEA as a Community of Values
Findings
Conclusion
Full Text
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