Reflections on the Bologna Process: the making of an Asia Pacific Higher Education Area

Abstract

The Brisbane Communiqué's goals and initiatives seem to follow the Bologna Process' normative path towards the creation of a common regional higher education space. However, comparing demography, socio-economics, student mobility, political economy framework and the initiatives undertaken by both the Brisbane Communiqué and the Bologna Process show both a convergence and a divergence between the two participating regional groups of countries. A number of rationales were pointed out why the Bologna Process cannot simply be emulated within the region but can only serve as an example. This includes the different demographic and socio-economic make-up of the Asia Pacific region, the fact that the region, especially with China and Korea, account for the significant number of outbound student mobility, and the divergence of the two initiatives’ evolutionary paths.

Keywords:

• Brisbane Communiqué
• Bologna Process
• Asia Pacific
• higher education
• Asia Pacific Higher Education Area