The Impact of the Bologna Process on the Design of Higher Education Programmes in Europe

This paper outlines the growing influence the Bologna Process is having on higher education in an increasing number of European countries. Starting in 1999 with relatively modest, tentative proposals for reform in twenty-nine countries, the process now encompasses forty-five countries and has become gradually more ambitious in its scope and more insistent in seeking compliance with its objectives. The potential benefits of the process are outlined as well as the possible negative effects. The paper analyses the “promotion of the necessary European dimensions in higher education,” and in particular, it focuses on the role of student mobility programmes in the creation of a European Dimension. Statistics on student mobility between countries are provided and imbalances and deficiencies are considered. The views of some individual students and ESIB are used to suggest a way forward for the mobility scheme. The paper concludes with some questions about the future of the Bologna process