Abstract
This paper addresses the value of the Bologna Process in placing the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) on a solid institutional footing. How far has Bologna contributed to firming up the views academia, management and students have of the EHEA? The article is based on a survey administered across four systems of higher education in 2008. It underlines the importance for those active in shaping policy both at national and at European level to take fully into account the views of the different interests in higher education, difficult and at times non committal though these latter might be.
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There are, of course, other descriptors—Academic, Administrative and Student Constituencies, for instance. And indeed, there are good reasons for the use of this alternative term.
For a discussion of the forces that moved the Estates over to becoming Constituencies see Neave (2009) especially footnote 1 pp. 32–33).
Despite the terminology used, it is in effect an interpretational artefact, which had many believing that the advent of the Bachelor degree was itself a bid to introduce the American version of a liberal arts degree into Europe, often in the face of clear evidence that the 3 year British Bachelor was nothing if not highly specialized.
This issue was first aired in the Bologna Declaration, which touched upon the desirability of extending independence and autonomy to all Higher Education Institutions.
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Neave, G., Veiga, A. The Bologna Process: inception, ‘take up’ and familiarity. High Educ 66, 59–77 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-012-9590-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-012-9590-8