Global impacts of the Bologna Process: international perspectives, local particularities

Abstract

The paper examines the transfer of the Bologna Process (BP) outside Europe, focusing on its ‘external dimension’ and dynamics in global settings. It argues that the BP impacts on the internationalisation activities of universities, especially with regard to cross-border transparency of qualifications, transnational improvement of quality assurance and interregional mobility of students or scholars. However, the outcomes following the international transfer of the BP-model are unclear. As the BP-model makes its way to regional, national and local contexts, it meets existing policy discourses and practices, whose priorities may in fact differ from its postulates. The paper asserts that the non-linear conceptualisation of this model outside Europe is significantly affected by the socio-economic, political, historical and cultural context of each region. National visions, economic demands, political will, social objectives, administrative regulations, cultural traditions, ideological norms and philosophical ideals transform the BP-model as it is incorporated into each system of higher education.

Keywords:

• global impacts of Bologna Process
• transfer and transformation of higher education policy
• international perspectives
• local particularities

Acknowledgements

The author thanks the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper.