Globalizing Higher Education and Strengthening the European Spirit

Book excerpt: The so-called Bologna process is one of the most disputed and influential long-term policy changes the European Union has ever succeeded to start. It has harmonized European higher education systems and, at the same time, deeply changed concepts about what the core of Europeanness is. This book discusses various aspects of this transformative and influential “soft policy” process. The Bologna process, initiated over 20 years ago, confronts us with fundamental questions about the European integration process that is facing the greatest challenge in its history to date. The goal was to increase the comparability and competitiveness of European higher education structures, their quality and outcomes. But how successful was this endeavour? This book discusses different aspects of this reform, national interests, globalization trends, competition and cooperation within higher education and the influences of harmonization on the Europeanness of the young generation. Globalizing Higher Education and Strengthening the European Spirit will be a key resource for academics, researchers, and advanced students of Education, Education Policy, Social Sciences, and European Studies. The chapters included in this book were originally published in Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research.