The month of April brought new crucial developments for European (and to an extent global) higher education, with the eight Bologna Process ministerial conference and the third Bologna Policy Forum. Ministerial delegations from the 47 member states of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) met in Bucharest, Romania, on 26 and 27 April to discuss the future of this space of higher education, as well as the immediate policy priorities for the next three years. On this occasion, the ministers of education of the 47 countries signed the Bucharest Communiqué, the sixth document of this sort in the history of the Bologna Process. In addition to the communiqué, the EHEA ministers also adopted the EHEA Mobility Strategy – Mobility for better learning, a document outlining their priorities in the field of international student and staff mobility.
Unsurprisingly, the five-page communiqué touches on all central action lines of the Bologna Process, from the social dimension in higher education, to quality assurance, employability, funding and governance, research, qualifications frameworks, and international mobility. In the specific field of student mobility, the policy document particularly stresses, as does the Mobility strategy, the principle of “balanced mobility”. In the language of the communiqué, the education ministers “…strive for open higher education systems and better balanced mobility in the EHEA. If mobility imbalances between EHEA countries are deemed unsustainable by at least one party, we encourage the countries involved to jointly seek a solution, in line with the EHEA Mobility Strategy.” Nevertheless, during the discussions several delegations also warned against the possible tensions between this principle and that of free movement of people, a fundamental European right that must not, under any circumstances, be breached.
The two most debated lines in the communiqué were, however, the specific reference to ministers’ commitment to strengthen “public funding” of higher education and the principle of “automatic recognition”. Regarding the first item, a number of countries led by the UK insisted that the emphasis should not be placed on public funding, and that the ministers should rather commit to increase funding of higher education in general, be it from public or other sources. The draft text of the communiqué was subsequently revised along these lines. The second aspect, the principle of “automatic recognition”, had been originally interpreted by many delegates as a commitment that by the next ministerial conference they will have to accomplish the full recognition of foreign degrees and qualifications. The proponent of this principle, the European Commission, explained however, that this is a long-term goal of the Bologna Process rather than an immediate objective. Ideally - the deputy director of DG EAC, Xavier Prats Monné explained - one day a Bachelor graduate from one EHEA country will automatically be able to work in another EHEA country, without being asked for additional evidence or examinations to prove their qualification. But that day need not be in there years’ time. The EHEA delegates consequently endorsed the text including the “automatic recognition” desideratum.
The communiqué also puts forward a number of concrete priorities for the 2012-2015 period, some that need to be pursued at the national, others at the European level. Amongst the latter is the plan to evaluate the implementation of the strategy EHEA in a Global Setting, adopted by education ministers at the London ministerial conference in 2007.
In line with tradition, the European delegations also met - within the framework of the Bologna Policy Forum (BPF) - with close to 25 non-EHEA ministerial counterparts and with non-EHEA stakeholder organisations. The BPF participants discussed common higher education challenges and possible courses of joint action, and finally issued a joint statement by the same name. The joint statement also announces an evaluation of the BPF that will be initiated immediately after the conference, in order to improve the format of this dialogue for future encounters.
In framework of the two events, several interesting publications were also presented. The most prominent of them - The European Higher Education Area 2012: Bologna Process Implementation Report – is the result of a joint effort by Eurydice, Eurostat, Eurostudent and the European Commission. The publication, after setting some important contextual parameters for the EHEA, outlines the state of implementation of the Bologna Process in the 47 member countries in 2012 in six main areas, namely degrees and qualifications, quality assurance, social dimension, effective outcomes and employability, lifelong learning, and mobility. One of the key messages of the report is that, while many of the member countries have met the formal requirements, it remains very challenging to accurately assess the impact of these measures. Another publication distributed during the conference was ESU’s Bologna with student eyes 2012, a report that largely criticizes a “lack of speed” in implementing Bologna reforms in the last two years. One of the most notable novelties of the 2012 Ministerial Conference was the inclusion, for the first time, of a student representative in most national delegations.
The next ministerial conference will take place in 2015 in Yerevan, Armenia, which is also the next country to take over the Bologna Secretariat. Bucharest Communiqué. Bologna Policy Forum Statement. EHEA Mobility Strategy. The European Higher Education Area 2012: Bologna Process Implementation Report. Bologna with student eyes 2012.

Last week’s Bologna Process Ministerial Conference in Bucharest gathered Ministers from across the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and key stakeholder groups (including EUA) to outline the future priorities for the development of the EHEA in the context of the ongoing financial and economic crisis.
EUA’s delegation, led by the EUA President, Professor Helena Nazaré, played an active role in the Conference which opened with the presentation of the new report on the implementation of the Bologna Process (a joint report by Eurostat, Eurostudent and Eurydice overseen by the Bologna Follow-Up Group), and a look at the challenges that lie ahead. This was followed by a question and answer session with representatives of the various consultative members of the Bologna Process, which gave Professor Nazaré the opportunity to put forward many of the key issues for universities underlined in EUA’s Bologna input statement.
In particular, she underlined the crucial importance of sustainable funding and enhanced autonomy for Europe’s universities, stressing also that investment in higher education should not be seen as expenditure but as an investment for Europe’s future. She also pointed out that higher education was not just about providing employability skills for graduates but about pursuing research-based teaching and learning in a supportive environment that also promoted critical and independent thinking.
Prior to the finalisation of the Communiqué there were lengthy discussions among delegates on the vital question of the future funding of higher education. EUA, together with a number of other stakeholders, argued strongly for a firm commitment in the Communiqué to recognition of the crucial role of sustainable public funding. Therefore, EUA welcomes the fact that the Communiqué stresses that higher education should be at the “heart of our efforts to overcome the crisis” and urges governments now to follow up on the commitment “to securing the highest possible level of public funding for higher education and drawing on other appropriate sources, as an investment in our future”.
Looking to the future development of the EHEA, the Communiqué underlines that further efforts are required to consolidate and build on the achievements of the last decade, referring in particular to the need to widen overall access, raise completion rates and continue efforts to improve student-centred learning. EUA is also pleased to see that the need to strengthen the link between research and teaching is recognised as is the role of doctoral education in bridging the EHEA and the European Research Area (citing EUA’s Salzburg II Recommendations).
Considerable importance is also attached to strengthening mobility across the EHEA and Ministers also adopted a separate mobility strategy for the EHEA. This strategy further elaborates the target agreed at the 2009 Ministerial Conference whereby at least 20 percent of those graduating in Europe in 2020 should have spent a study or training period abroad.
A similarly important signal for the future of the EHEA is the continued attention paid by Ministers to enhancing the quality of European higher education. Specifically on the issue of quality assurance, Ministers recognised the E4 group’s (ENQA, ESU, EUA, EURASHE) report on the implementation and application of the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ESG). As requested by the E4, the Communiqué confirms that the group will put forward a proposal for the revision of the ESG with the cooperation of Education International, Business Europe and the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education.
The Ministerial Conference in Romania was again held in conjunction with the Bologna Policy Forum, which seeks to intensify policy dialogue and cooperation with partners outside the EHEA. The theme of this third forum was "Beyond the Bologna process: Creating and connecting national, regional and global higher education spaces”. At the end of the Forum a common statement was adopted covering the main themes addressed.
The statement and all background documents can be downloaded on the EHEA Conference website. The next Bologna Process Ministerial Meeting will take place in Yerevan, Armenia, in 2015.
See also Survey consultation on future recognition manual for higher education institutions in the EHEA, Higher Education Reform Key For Jobs And Growth, Bologna Process Ministers Are Told, Ministers to consider mobility measures as countries fall short of target, EUA’s input to forthcoming Bologna Process Ministerial Conference, Eight Bologna Ministerial Conference.

During today and tomorrow the newest ministerial conference of the Bologna Process is taking place in Bucharest, Romania. During the two days of meetings of both the Bologna Follow Up Group, the Ministerial Conference and the Bologna Policy forum, by Saturday we will have the newest Communique for the Bologna process – the Bucharest Communique.
The event was opened yesterday with a reception where the Romanian prime miniester gave a speech where he emphasized both the value of human capital as a resource in global markets and expressed his wishes of the newest Bucharest Communique delivering an important message for the further development of the Euroepan Higher Education Area.
To what extent this will be the case remains to be seen. The event has attracted more than 500 participants from 80 countries, far exceeding the 47 who are official members. A few days ago it was announced that Belarus will still not be able to join the process due to their lack of reforms and intentions of respecting academic freedom. However – a large number of the ministers of education from the larger countries have opted to not join the Ministerial Conference and these countries will be represented by state secretaries instead. While in essence a technical matter, one can wonder whether this also gives an indication of the relative importance of the Bologna Process in these countries.
The draft communique in itself is not very revolutionary and provocative and the general mood appears to be that there will not be major changes or points that would create a potential controversy. And, there are increasing voices being raised over the future of Bologna as a whole. What should be the main focus? Should there be a Bologna process? What about future expansion? These remain to be seen during the debates during today and tomorrow.
Since Hedda researchers are participating as observes, we will be giving you all the news after the conference! Meanwhile, you can enjoy listening to our previous podcasts with two key people in the Bologna process:

• Sjur Bergan who is the head of the higher education group at the Council of Europe discussing the future of the  Bologna Process.
• Ligia Deca who has been the head of the BFUG Secreatariat who also gives her insights about the Bologna Process and its potential future scenarios.

European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth Androulla Vassiliou has told Member States that they need to urgently modernise their higher education systems and remove barriers to a fully functioning European Higher Education Area (EHEA) in response to the crisis and rising youth unemployment. Speaking ahead of the two-yearly meeting of higher education ministers in Bucharest (Romania), in the framework of the Bologna Process, Commissioner Vassiliou underlined that action is essential to help drive jobs and growth in Europe. Source: European Commission.
"The European Higher Education Area has undoubtedly made real progress in bringing different countries' systems closer together. But we need to do more: higher education should be at the heart of all our efforts to overcome the crisis, opening doors to better opportunities for our young people," the Commissioner stated. "It is essential that Europe delivers reforms that will unleash its full potential to shape our future. Our target is a fully functioning EHEA which provides top-class education and employable skills for all, which stimulates innovation and ensures proper recognition of academic qualifications."
These goals will not be achieved "without securing sufficient funding for higher education to make a lasting contribution to economic wellbeing and social progress," she added.
Higher education ministers from 47 European countries1 are meeting in Bucharest on 26 and 27 April to agree on reforms to create a modernised, open European Higher Education Area. Against the backdrop of the crisis and its social impact, Ministers have agreed that reforms need to concentrate on developing the underexploited capacity of higher education to contribute to growth and employability – a message that is also central to the European Commission's 'Agenda for Modernising Higher Education Systems in Europe', adopted in September 2011 (see IP/11/1043).
A report on the current state of progress in implementing the Bologna Process reforms is also published today.
Background - Ministerial Conference
The Ministerial Conference will establish the priorities for the next stage of the Bologna Process (2012-2015) for the EHEA countries. Ministers will adopt the Bologna Mobility Strategy which states that, by 2020, 20% of European higher education graduates will have spent part of their studies abroad, in line with the European benchmark for higher education mobility adopted in November 2011. The conference is held alongside the Bologna Policy Forum, which brings together countries from outside the EHEA, reflecting the interest of countries around the world in the Bologna reforms.
The Bologna Process
The Bologna Process seeks to create a European Higher Education Area in which students can choose from a wide and transparent range of high quality courses and benefit from smooth recognition procedures. Since its beginnings in 1999, the Bologna Process has been an example of successful Europe-wide cooperation, bringing together European countries to agree and implement higher education reforms on the basis of voluntary cooperation. It has made progress that would not have been possible through purely national approaches. The European Commission is an active member of the Bologna Process, together with the 47 member countries.
The main Bologna reforms have concentrated on the three-cycle degree structure (bachelor, master, doctorate), quality assurance, and recognition of qualifications and periods of study. The Bologna degree structure is generally being adopted; in three-quarters of the EHEA countries, between 70 and 90% of students are studying in programmes that correspond to the Bologna bachelor and master system. The latest Bologna Implementation Report, presented to Ministers in Bucharest, and prepared with the support of the European Commission, concludes that all countries have made significant changes that have enabled the European Higher Education Area to develop. However, progress is uneven, against a backdrop of declining public expenditure on higher education and practical problems persist. Too many students drop out from higher education or graduate without employable skills. Some face barriers in having their academic qualifications recognised in another country and it is taking time for institutions to shift to 'student-centred learning' – where educational programmes are tailored to what students need, and clearly set out what they should understand and be able to do as a result of their studies ('learning outcomes'). In general, higher education is not yet delivering on its potential to stimulate growth.
A number of instruments developed within the Bologna Process are helping to drive the move towards more student-centred systems. The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) allocates credit points to each part of a study programme, based on the student workload to achieve specified learning outcomes. This makes it more straightforward for students to accumulate credits earned under different programmes, and simplifies the recognition of study abroad in their home institution. The 'Diploma Supplement', attached to a diploma, gives a standardised description of the studies completed – making it easier to understand the content of any diploma, whatever the country in which it was earned. The use of these tools continues to grow and develop, but is not always systematic and shortcomings remain. Problems also persist regarding recognition of qualifications. Despite national ratification of the Lisbon Recognition Convention, a number of countries have not managed to ensure that their institutional recognition procedures comply with the Convention.
Bologna Follow-Up Group
The European Commission is a member of the Bologna Follow-Up Group and its working groups; it supports the Bologna Secretariat and the network of experts on the Bologna Process; it contributes funding for Ministerial meetings and for many reports, conferences and seminars. Many Bologna tools (ECTS, for example) originated in the Commission's Erasmus student exchange programme. The Implementation Report on progress in Bologna reforms, written for the Ministerial Conference by Eurydice, Eurostat and Eurostudent, is supported by the Commission.
The Commission's modernisation agenda for higher education sets out five key areas for reform – increasing graduate numbers to meet the Europe 2020 target of 40% of young people with higher education qualifications by 2020; raising quality and making higher education more relevant to job needs and societal demands; better quality mobility for study; embedding higher education in the education, research and innovation 'knowledge triangle'; and improving governance and funding. The Bologna Process and the Commission's modernisation agenda reinforce each other.
The Commission supports more intensive exchanges between the EHEA and other countries around the world. It has been influential in setting up the 'Bologna Policy Forum', where EHEA Ministers discuss higher education issues with global partners and which takes place alongside the Bologna Ministerial conference.
The EU also supports capacity-building measures to modernise higher education in 27 neighbouring countries and to bring their systems in line with the Bologna requirements. The Tempus programme, which currently has an annual budget of about €90 million, has since 1990 funded approximately 4000 cooperation projects, involving more than 2,000 universities from the EU and its partner countries. The EU's flagship programme for worldwide academic cooperation, Erasmus Mundus, offers scholarships for Joint Masters and Doctorates for students from any part of the world.

By Brendan O'Malley and Jan Petter Myklebust. Ministers from 47 European countries will be warned that they risk missing their goal of at least 20% of graduates studying or training abroad, when they assess progress towards the Bologna goals in Bucharest later this month.
They will be asked to sign up to a pledge to expand mobility funding and enable portability of grants, loans and scholarships provided by European Higher Education Area (EHEA) countries. Mobility is seen as a key instrument for developing the EHEA, but currently all but two countries show an incoming mobility rate of under 10%, according to an internal report obtained by University World News. Only four countries – Cyprus, the United Kingdom, France and Ireland – manage to exceed 5% while 16 countries fail to reach 1%.
Outward mobility rates of graduates from within the EHEA are also very low, with a weighted average slightly below 2%. The rate for the majority of countries is less than %. The warning will be presented to the ministers’ conference in a report prepared by the Bologna Follow-Up Group (BFUG) composed of representatives from the 47 signatory countries and the European Union as a full member, plus international organisations with observer status.
The EHEA was established by the Bologna process to facilitate mobility of students, graduates and higher education staff; to prepare students for their future careers and for life as active citizens in democratic societies, and support their personal development; and to offer broad access to high-quality higher education, based on democratic principles and academic freedom. In the foreword to the report, Androulla Vassiliou, the European Commissioner responsible for education, culture, multilingualism and youth, says: “This conference is taking place at a difficult time for Europe, with unemployment reaching record levels in many parts of the continent, and youth unemployment being a particular concern.
“It is a timely moment to ask how the Bologna process in higher education can help in finding solutions to the crisis, and to assess progress after a decade of effort in implementing reforms.”
She said that Bologna had achieved remarkable results over its first decade, driving positive change in European higher education.
“The foundations of the EHEA are now in place, enabling better quality education with greater opportunities for mobility for all. The Bologna Process is a European success story of which we should be proud. However, there is much more to be done.”
The report paints a mixed picture of progress on access to higher education with a general increase in participation rates offset by low participation rates of first-generation migrants in some countries. While admissions systems have become more flexible in Western Europe, even there only one in 10 students enters higher education via an alternative pathway. There has, however, been rapid progress on quality assurance in teaching and learning, although not enough emphasis on student support services and research. There has also been near-complete implementation of the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS), but the linking of credits to outcome has yet to be completed.
The report warns that there are “perceived and real obstacles to mobility, which must be dealt with in the coming years”. It says: “This is all the more important, because the perception and impact of such obstacles varies by social background. If left unchecked, increases in mobility rates may lead to a new dimension of social disparity.”
Vassiliou says: “Precisely because we are living through a time of crisis, I am convinced that now is the moment to step up both the pace and the direction of change.”
The 20% mobility target was adopted by EHEA ministers in the 2009 Leuven-Louvain-la-Neuve Communiqué. It includes the two major forms of mobility: degree mobility, where a student takes a full degree programme in another country; and credit mobility, where a part of a student's study programme is undertaken in another country. Statistical information on credit mobility should be added to information on degree mobility when assessing true progress towards the 20% benchmark. The current projection of short-term trends under the Erasmus programme anticipates 7% by 2020, while other sources of reliable credit mobility data still need to be identified.
The BFUG report says mobility is also closely linked to the attractiveness of higher education institutions and is a main tool of internationalisation. The BFUG established a working group on mobility in Stockholm in September 2009 with a view to drafting a Mobility Strategy 2020 for the EHEA. The version being put to ministers for adoption at the end of this month focuses on the importance of mobility and internationalisation in higher education, and outlines key action required by the EHEA countries to pave the way for more high-quality mobility exchanges and fewer obstacles across the continent.
“Our demand for more balanced mobility is directed particularly at degree mobility since it can have a sustained effect on the host and home countries, can facilitate capacity building and cooperation and may lead to brain gain on the one side and to brain drain on the other,” the proposed strategy says. It will also urge member countries to seek better-balanced mobility with countries outside the EHEA.
EHEA countries are being asked to agree to take specific measures to dismantle obstacles to mobility. These include expanding mobility funding and enabling a wide-reaching portability of grants, loans and scholarships provided by EHEA countries. Ministers will be asked to work with higher education institutions to increase the quality and relevance of mobility periods, ensuring that they contribute to high academic standards, to the employability as well as the linguistic and intercultural competence of graduates and to the excellence of academic staff.
The European Union will be asked to secure adequate mobility with appropriate funding through its education programmes. Member countries will be asked to identify problems for mobility, such as rules for the issuing of visas, residence and work permits in the higher education field, and take measures to ease them. The European Students Union (ESU) has urged the BFUG to overcome obstacles to the free movement of students, teachers, researchers and administrative staff. It says financing, recognition, language and cultural barriers, state regulations inside and outside the EHEA, the quality of study period and many other legal or informal barriers to mobility should be removed and international opportunities related to mobility should be made public.
Allan Päll, ESU chairperson, commenting on the BFUG report, told University World News: “We urge education ministers to step up a gear and finally to come up with some real solutions to the hampering implementation of the Bologna Process.
"Better and more opportunities to learn in another country will lead to a higher quality of education throughout the whole European continent and will give young people more possibilities on the job market. This will contribute to economic growth.”
The strategy proposes an elaboration of the definition of mobility target, calling for it to be measured in all three cycles of the Bologna process – graduate, masters and doctoral levels or equivalent – and for it to include periods spent abroad corresponding to at least 15 ECTS credit points or three months within any of the three cycles (credit mobility) as well as stays in which a degree is obtained abroad (degree mobility). Although staff mobility is mentioned in all Bologna communiqués, the situation – compared to student mobility – is less clear. The report argues that it is important to agree on the scope and definition of staff mobility. Currently, only a few countries set quantitative targets towards staff mobility. Based on data available from the Erasmus programme, incoming staff mobility affects relatively low numbers of staff.
“Better monitoring and tackling of identified obstacles is also essential if countries are to foster staff mobility across Europe,” the report concludes.

Bildungsministerin Schavan hat eingestanden, dass im Zuge der umstrittenen Bologna-Reform die Studieninhalte aus dem Blick gerieten. Dies sollen Experten jetzt ändern.
Bundesbildungsministerin Annette Schavan (CDU) hat Fehler der Politik im Zusammenhang mit der Bologna-Studienreform eingeräumt. "Wir haben zu viel über Strukturen und zu wenig über Inhalte und Ziele von Bildung diskutiert", sagte Schavan der ZEIT. Bereits Ende der neunziger Jahre habe die Politik die Chance verpasst, die inhaltliche Dimension von Bologna gleichberechtigt in der Agenda zu verankern. "Als der Umbau (der Studiengänge) dann losging, war es erst mal zu spät."
Der sechssemestrige Bachelor dürfe keine "bildungsfreie Zone" sein, fordert die Ministerin: "Meines Erachtens sollte der Bachelor ein breites Fundament an Wissen schaffen über wissenschaftliche Methoden, über grundlegende Erkenntnisse in der eigenen und in fremden Disziplinen und dabei Zeit lassen, über das Wie und Warum nachzudenken." Der Bachelor für das Allgemeine, der Master für das Spezielle, das sei die geeignete Formel.
Vor der Nationalen Bologna-Konferenz im Herbst wolle sie einen hochrangig besetzten Expertenrat mit Hochschullehrern aller Fakultäten einberufen, kündigte die Ministerin an. Dieser solle Vorschläge erarbeiten, wie sich das Humboldtsche Ideal von Bildung durch Wissenschaft auch im 21. Jahrhundert im Selbstverständnis der Universität abbilden könne.
Als Mitglieder des Expertenrates nannte Schavan beispielhaft den Hamburger Universitätspräsidenten Dieter Lenzen, den ehemaligen Präsidenten der Humboldt-Universität, Christoph Markschies, und den Rektor der RWTH Aachen, Ernst Schmachtenberg.

On 8-9 December in Aghveran, Armenia, a Bologna Seminar on student participation in higher education governance was co-organised by the Ministry of Education and Science of Armenia, the European Students’ Union and the Council of Europe. The objective of the seminar was to look into topical issues of student participation in higher education governance and quality assurance, from institutional to national and international levels, outlining the main problems and obstacles, looking for examples of good practice and proposing a way forward.Link to the documents and presentations from the seminar.
1. Programme
2. Final Report
byMilica Popovic, General Rapporteur
3. Presentations:

· -“Student participation: main developments and challenges”,
Dr Manja Klemenčič, Post-doctoral researcher, Centre for Education Policy Studies, University of Ljubljana

· -“Mapping the status of student participation in Europe”
Karl Agius, member of Social Affairs Committee of ESU

· -“National policy on student participation in institutional governance: example of Finland”
Dr Terhi Nokkala, Research Fellow, Finnish Institute for Educational Research

· -“National policy on student participation in institutional governance: example of Germany”
Mr Bastian Baumann, Higher Education Consultant

· “Student-Centred Learning and its Challenges in Europe”
Prof Jussi Välimaa, Institute for Educational Research of the University of Jyväskylä, Finland

· “The Challenges from Budapest: the ESU declaration”
Dr Per Nyborg, former Chair of the Council of Europe Steering Committee for Higher Education and Research and Head of the Bologna Secretariat from 2003-2005 (Norway)

· Powerpoint Presentation of the Final Report
By Milica Popović, General Rapporteur

By Stephen Matchett. THE European ideal of uniting the continent through education appears a waste of timeaccording to new research into student mobility and common curricula.
After WWII study abroad programs were pushed as a means of encouraging international understanding and to “counteract the idiosyncrasies and the relative isolation of national systems of higher education," Ulrich Teichler writes in the new issue of the Journal of International Education.
This ideal culminated in the 1999 Bologna Declaration, which called on countries across the continent to create a common stage structure for study programs and degrees. However added complexity compounded the challenge, as the role of education and training as a catalyst for employment was added to the Bologna process.
The result is a decade on, “nobody seriously dares to assess the extent to which changes in those directions have actually taken place.”
And while academics see Bologna as a bounty for bureaucrats, “an undesirable imposition from ‘above’," students have acted independently of the ambitions of EU officialdom.
While numbers crossing cultures to study for at least part of their program vary (the Germans do the British don’t) Teichler suggests intra-European student mobility worked “quite well” pre Bologna. And the strongest growth since then has come from students from outside Europe taking advantage of EU mobility.
Does any of this matter? Perhaps not.
Professor Teichler suggests the original European ideal of learning from contrast collapses if courses become much the same across countries.
“Moreover international learning is bound to loose its exceptionality further as a consequence of a general internationalisation of daily life and as a consequence of ‘internationalisation at home’ of the (sic) study provisions.”
Which does not seem likely to happen. “Higher education in the various European countries… has remained quite heterogeneous,” he concludes.