The role of the Bologna Process in defining Europe

The question of what Europe is remains under-elaborated in the literature on European matters, which points to the necessity to explore a definition of Europe. This paper shows that it is not possible to resolve the problem around the meaning of Europe without considering its higher education developments. The Bologna Process is a recent European intergovernmental higher education project aiming to form the European Higher Education Area by making degrees compatible in its signatory countries. Additionally, some other countries beyond this Area also tend to take up the Bologna Process to converge their higher education structures. It is argued in this paper that the Bologna Process is essential in approaching the definition of Europe because this project 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 Europe. Impossibility to solve these problems makes Europe dynamic in the Bologna Process, and points to the depth of the meaning the borders, delineated by the Bologna Process, convey. The paper is developed with the help of a relevant critical literature review and the analysis of the international Bologna Process documents since 1998