Beyond the limits of the European Higher Education Area: the case of Belarus

Abstract

All European Union (EU) member states and many former post-Soviet countries joined the Bologna Process without major obstacles during the 2000s and today belong to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The only European country which was refused membership in the EHEA was Belarus, whose demand was rejected in 2012. The case study of this failed accession provides a unique opportunity to analyse the interaction between European and national levels in the process of higher education (HE) transformations. This paper examines various strategic uses of the Bologna Process by different national and European actors. If the Belarusian officials perceived Bologna mainly as an opportunity to improve their relations with the EU by cooperating on a politically neutral issue, other domestic actors such as the Public Bologna Committee saw EHEA accession as an instrument for radically reforming the existing HE system. The refusal of the Belarusian application also reveals a complex interplay between the increasing importance of ‘technical’ criteria inside the EHEA and EU external policy considerations.

Keywords:

• EHEA
• Bologna Process
• higher education policies
• Belarus
• internationalisation
• Europeanization

Notes

1. This policy covers six countries: Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

2. These projects include the Commonwealth of Independent States (1991), the Russia–Belarusian Union (1999), the Eurasian Economic Community (2001) and the Eurasian Economic Union (2014).

3. Without being a member of the Council of Europe, in 1993, Belarus signed the Council's European Cultural Convention (1954), which later became a formal condition for participating in the Bologna Process. In 2002, Belarus also signed the Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications (Lisbon Convention, 1997) concerning HE in the European Region, which stipulates that signatory countries should guarantee fair procedures for recognizing degrees and study periods. As a UN member Belarus also actively participates in various UNESCO education programmes.

4. The BFUG is the main follow-up structure overseeing the Bologna Process between the ministerial meetings. It comprises representatives of all Bologna Process member states, European Commission representatives and consultative members. The BFUG is co-chaired by the country holding the EU Presidency together with a non-EU country, which rotate every six months. The vice-chair is the country organizing the next Ministerial Conference. At the time of Belarus's application, the BFUG was under Danish and Azeri co-chairmanship, and Romania was vice-chairman.

5. Statement published on 24 January 2012 on the website of the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science. http://ufm.dk/en/newsroom/press-releases/2012/belarus-not-yet-ready-to-join-the-european-higher-education-area

6. Their main method could be described as policy ‘borrowing’ that is carried out voluntarily and explicitly, and involves particular policies that one country seeks to imitate or copy, bilaterally, from another (Dale 1999, 9–10).

7. The Commission on Education, Culture and Science in the lower chamber and the Commission on Education, science, culture and social affairs in the upper chamber.

8. For a general description of HE in Belarus see MO 2013; OBK 2013; Dunaev 2013; OBK 2011.

9. The III level (Ph.D.) retained its structure inherited from the Soviet period: with aspirantura preparing in 3 or 4 years Kandidat nauk, and doktorantura preparing after a long academic career Doktor nauk.

10. On 17 January 1997, the council of the heads of government of the CIS's eight member states approved the ‘conception of a common higher education area’ (edinoe obŝeobrazovatel'noe prostranstvo), providing for the harmonization of national systems and the coordination of the education policies of signatory countries.

11. These tensions are due mainly to the EU's authorities desire to change the authoritarian nature of the Belarusian regime under the Presidency of Alexander Lukashenko, elected in 1994. Lukashenko's first term of office was extended by constitutional modifications in a November 1996. He was then re-elected in 2001, 2006 and 2010, but the election's results have been contested due to violent repression against the opposition leaders.

12. The EHU is an international social science research university founded in 1991 with the support of international organizations and foreign governments and it is largely financed by the European Commission.

13. Interview of EHU Rector, Analoliï Mikhaïlov to Zautra.by on 8 November 2007.

14. Interview of ex BSU Rector, Aleksandr Kozulin to Belorusskiï partisan on 11 February 2010.

15. For example, the EHU was refused the renewal of its accreditation in 2004 and moved to Vilnius (Lithuania). As for Kozulin, he was dismissed in 2003 from the BSU Rector position, and in 2006, he was even imprisoned because of his political engagement in the BSDP opposition party and his participation as a candidate in the 2006 presidential elections.

16. This expression was used for describing massive street protests that generally followed disputed elections and led to major political leadership changes. In the post-Soviet space, this was the case in Georgia (‘Rose revolution’ in 2003), Ukraine (‘Orange revolution’ in 2004) and Kirghizstan (‘Tulip revolution’ in 2005).

17. President's declaration broadcast by BelTA on 7 June 2010.

18. The working group was headed by Vice-Minister Aleksanr Žuk (since 2001) and composed of 21 members, mainly officials from the Ministry of Education and RIVS, representatives of four other ministries, three rectors and three representatives of civil society: one student, one private company manager and one professional union's leader.

19. This argument was of particular importance because, after having significantly expanded in the 2000s, the HE system had been threatened since 2009 by a demographic crisis as the number of pupils finishing secondary school diminished dramatically.

20. These arguments were systematically developed in different publications and interviews of the Education Minister Rad'kov, his Vice-Minister, Alexandre Žuk, and RIVS Rector, Mikhail Demčuk. See for example Demčuk 2009, 2011, 2012; RSR 2009; Žuk 2009, 2011.

21. Interview of the Chairman of the Commission on Education Zdanovič to BelTA on 8 June 2010; interview of the Chairman of the Parliament's upper chamber Rubinov to BelTA on 9 June 2010.

22. The composition of the group and its activities are presented on the TEMPUS official website http://tempus.unibel.by/.

23. For example, ‘Promoting internationalization of HEIs in Eastern Neighbourhood Countries through Cultural and Structural Adaptations’, or ‘Reform of Education through International Knowledge Exchange’.

24. Quotes from the brochure for the Tempus Regional Seminar on ‘University Governance in Eastern European countries’, held on 1–2 March 2010 in Kiev (Ukraine).

25. Author's interview with a Romanian member of the BFUG in 2012, on 19 June 2013.

26. The BC brings together Belarusian experts in HE, mainly outside from the official Belarusian HE system, under the charismatic leadership of the former EHU Vice-Rector, Vladimir Dunaev.

27. Author's interview with Chairman of the Bologna Committee Vladimir Dunaev, on 10 March 2014. The BC's main documents are available on its website http://bolognaby.org.