The role of the Bologna Process in defining Europe

Abstract

The question of what Europe is remains under-explored in the literature on European matters, and this suggests a need to formulate a definition of ‘Europe’. This paper suggests that it is not possible to resolve the problem of the meaning of Europe without considering its higher education developments. The Bologna Process is a recent European intergovernmental higher education project having the aim of forming the European Higher Education Area by making degrees compatible in its signatory countries. In addition, other countries beyond this Area also intend to adopt the Bologna Process in order to converge their higher education structures. It is argued that the Bologna Process is an essential consideration in approaching the definition of Europe because it expands European borders and promotes the idea of a common European identity within them. These changes are supplemented by building up tensions in the development of territory–identity compatibility in the growing European community. The difficulty, if not impossibility, of solving these problems makes Europe dynamic in the Bologna Process, and suggests the depth of the meaning the borders, delineated by the Bologna Process, convey.