The Search for Transparency: Convergence and Diversity in the Bologna Process

Building on preceding chapters, this chapter will focus on the national and European policies regarding convergence and diversity in higher education in the context of the Bologna Process. It will start with an analysis of the approaches to convergence and diversity in the Bologna Process, leading to the conclusion that the Bologna Process has been affected by a confusion between systemic convergence in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and institutional homogenisation. Subsequently, the argument is developed that the next phase in the Bologna Process (2010–2020) should address the issue of institutional diversity and develop policies to strengthen the European higher education system by promoting and fostering evidence-based institutional diversity. Convergence will still be the driving force in the Bologna Process, but is not contradictory to increasing institutional diversity; on the contrary, systemic convergence and transparency create a favourable environment for institutional diversification. But in turn, increasing diversity also needs new tools for evidence-based transparency in which diversity can be made visible and comprehensible.