The Bologna Process: Its impact in Europe and beyond

Abstract

The Bologna Process represents an attempt to achieve this. It was an initiative by European countries to harmonize European educational programmes to provide comparable, compatible, and coherent systems of higher education in the region. The Bologna Declaration, signed in 1999 by the higher education ministers of 29 countries, envisaged the creation of a common degree structure, the introduction of a common credit system and quality assurance mechanism, and the promotion of the mobility of students and academic and administrative personnel between institutions and countries. Today, the Bologna Process stands out as a highly signi cant reform that has triggered a chain of national-level reforms in higher education. Its effects are not confined to European countries or the signatory countries, as the move towards harmonization is being attempted in several countries outside the orbit of the Bologna Process.