This volume presents the major outcomes of the third edition of the Future of Higher Education – Bologna Process Researchers Conference (FOHE-BPRC 3) which was held on 27-29 November 2017. It acknowledges the importance of a continued dialogue between researchers and decision-makers and benefits from the experience already acquired, this way enabling the higher education community to bring its input into the 2018-2020  European Higher Education Area (EHEA) priorities. The Future of Higher Education – Bologna Process Researchers Conference (FOHE-BPRC) has already established itself as a landmark in the European higher education environment. The two previous editions (17-19 October 2011, 24-26 November 2014), with approximately 200 European and international participants each, covering more than 50 countries each, were organized prior to the Ministerial Conferences, thus encouraging a consistent dialogue between researchers and policy makers. The main conclusions of the FOHE Conferences were presented at the EHEA Ministerial Conferences (2012 and 2015), in order to make the voice of researchers better heard by European policy and decision makers.
This volume is dedicated to continuing the collection of evidence and research-based policymaking and further narrowing the gap between policy and research within the EHEA and broader global contexts. It aims to identify the research areas that require more attention prior to the anniversary 2020 EHEA Ministerial Conference, with an emphasis on the new issues on rise in the academic and educational community. This book gives a platform for discussion on key issues between researchers, various direct higher education actors, decision-makers, and the wider public.
This book is published under an open access CC BY license.

zlib/no-category/Curaj, Adrian; Deca, Ligia; Pricopie, Remus/European Higher Education Area: The Impact of Past and Future Policies ||_102886014.pdf

The European Higher Education Area

Adrian Curaj, Liviu Matei, Remus Pricopie, Jamil Salmi, Scott, Peter

Adrian Curaj, Ligia Deca, Remus Pricopie

Springer International Publishing Springer Nature

Springer Nature Switzerland AG

Springer Nature, Cham, 2018

1st ed. 2018, Cham, 2018

Switzerland, Switzerland

sm70973399

Open Access Unrestricted online access
Creative Commons https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
English

Higher education has thrived in Europe for the last three decades supported by the powerful policy narratives of the European construction and knowledge society. The two together called for better-integrated societies with higher economic competitiveness, superior employment, and social cohesion. Extraordinary developments in higher education during this time have also been made possible by what looked like a triumphal march of democracy. This volume sketches a vivid picture of the state of higher education in Europe almost 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The emphasis is on the role of the Bologna Process, which is soon to turn 20 years old (a respectable age for any reform process). The authors document long-term transformations and recent cracks in the established higher education pathways and the broader policy narratives that supported them for the last 20-30 years. New developments begin to affect the course of higher education. They come, once again, from outside rather than from within higher education. In some places in Europe, instead of democratic progress, we now witness authoritarianism, populism, or what is called with cynical self-flattery "illiberal democracy"; instead of Europe - Brexit; instead of policies for economic advancement and shared benefits, we witness attempts to institutionalize corruption at state level; an unprecedented mass movement of people raises unprecedented challenges on the continent. These are not tendencies emerging everywhere in Europe and not to the same degree every time. And yet, they contribute to define a shift, a new political atmosphere, with a larger spectrum of political regimes but with democratic recession. Are we witnessing the advent of a new era? If so, that raises questions regarding the future of higher education, some of which are addressed in this volume. How will this new historical situation influence higher education? What can be done in higher education, building on what has been already achieved in these past years, including the Bologna Process itself, to benefit citizens, institutions, countries, and Europe as a whole?

Higher education has thrived in Europe for the last three decades supported by the powerful policy narratives of the European construction and knowledge society. The two together called for better-integrated societies with higher economic competitiveness, superior employment, and social cohesion. Extraordinary developments in higher education during this time have also been made possible by what looked like a triumphal march of democracy. This volume sketches a vivid picture of the state of higher education in Europe almost 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The emphasis is on the role of the Bologna Process, which is soon to turn 20 years old (a respectable age for any reform process). The authors document long-term transformations and recent cracks in the established higher education pathways and the broader policy narratives that supported them for the last 20-30 years. New developments begin to affect the course of higher education. They come, once again, from outside rather than from within higher education. In some places in Europe, instead of democratic progress, we now witness authoritarianism, populism, or what is called with cynical self-flattery zilliberal democracyy; instead of Europe - Brexit; instead of policies for economic advancement and shared benefits, we witness attempts to institutionalize corruption at state level; an unprecedented mass movement of people raises unprecedented challenges on the continent. These are not tendencies emerging everywhere in Europe and not to the same degree every time. And yet, they contribute to define a shift, a new political atmosphere, with a larger spectrum of political regimes but with democratic recession. Are we witnessing the advent of a new era? If so, that raises questions regarding the future of higher education, some of which are addressed in this volume. How will this new historical situation influence higher education? What can be done in higher education, building on what has been already achieved in these past years, including the Bologna Process itself, to benefit citizens, institutions, countries, and Europe as a whole?

2018-07-20