The European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and its Prospects

Since its creation in 2010, the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), as a part of the Bologna process, has achieved many successes on the way to the future integration of Europe as a whole in the field of higher education. Most of its 49 members have adopted and implemented reforms of higher education, having in mind sustainable development, a knowledge based society, higher employment, innovation and social cohesion. Our paper is divided into the following four parts. In the first part, we describe the future EHEA through its basic documents adopted by the Ministerial conferences of participating states, as envisioned in the Bologna declaration of 1999. The second part deals with higher education in the Republic of Macedonia – a participant of the Bologna process since 2003. The Macedonian Law on Higher Education of 2008 is consistent with the Bologna process, but deals insufficiently with higher education mobility –one of the main themes of the 2015 European Ministerial Conference in Yerevan. The third part deals with good practices in the implementation of the Bologna principles in various parts of Europe and beyond. Macedonia, like other nations needs a mobility strategy. Will Macedonia and other countries be able to have 20% of their student body spend a part of their study abroad by 2020? Only with difficulty. The question that remains is, what can be done about it? The fourth part contains some answers to the mobility conundrum by providing recommendations for the faster growth of inbound and outbound mobility. The recommendations apply to the EHEA and its member states. The methodology used includes: reviewing relevant documents; using UNESCO and EU statistics; and semi‐structured interviews with Macedonian graduate students, colleagues and state officials. These are, in part, a basis of the recommendations