An Ever-Closer Union? The Role of ‘Brussels’ in Shaping European Higher Education

Abstract

This chapter attempts to assess the role played by ‘Brussels’ in shaping higher education systems and policies in Europe. For the purposes of this chapter ‘Brussels’ denotes the European Union (and its predecessors, subsequently referred to as the ‘Community’) as well as its chief institutions, above all the European Commission. However, in trying to establish the influence of the European Union on higher education in its member states, the chapter also addresses, for comparative purposes, inter-governmental initiatives and processes at a pan-European level outside a strict Community context, such as the Bologna Process (creation of a European Higher Education Area).