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The open method of coordination and the implementation of the Bologna process

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Abstract

In this paper the authors argue that the use of the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) in the implementation of the Bologna process presents coordination problems that do not allow for the full coherence of the results. As the process is quite complex, involving three different levels (European, national and local) and as the final actors in the implementation process higher education institutions (HEIs) have considerable degree of autonomy, assuming that the implementation of Bologna is a top–down linear policy implementation process does not account for the developments taking place, which produce implementation difficulties at several different levels. Constraints resulting from economic concerns at European and national levels may be an obstacle for the Bologna’s contribution to a social Europe.

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Notes

  1. de la Porte (2002) defines benchmarking as “evaluating performance on the basis of a benchmark, which can be conceived as a yardstick against which reality can be measured diachronically and comparatively” (ibid.: 42).

  2. The institutional data emerges from two research projects: The first aims at monitoring the implementation of Bologna in twelve European universities (six Italian universities and one from each of six different European countries – France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom). The second (HEIGLO) aims to identify and analyse higher education’s response to the challenges of Europeanization, internationalisation and globalisation and the (supra) national contexts, the organisational settings, and the policies and activities aimed to support this response.

  3. Austria, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

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Correspondence to Amélia Veiga.

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Veiga, A., Amaral, A. The open method of coordination and the implementation of the Bologna process. Tert Educ Manag 12, 283–295 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11233-006-9005-4

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