International Student Mobility and the Bologna Process

The Bologna Process is the newest of a chain of activities stimulated by supra-national actors since the 1950s to challenge national borders in higher education in Europe. Now, the ministers in charge of higher education of the individual European countries have agreed to promote a similar cycle-structure of study programmes and programmes based on the strategic aim of enhancing student mobility in two directions: to increase the attractiveness for students from other parts of the world to study – primarily for the whole study programme – in European countries, and to facilitate intra-European – primarily temporary – mobility. Studies aiming at establishing the results of this policy face various problems. Statistics move only gradually from ‘foreign’ to ‘mobile’ students, but remain insufficient with respect to temporary mobility. Individual European countries opt for such varied solutions that an overall overview is hardly feasible. Yet, some general trends are visible. First, Bologna has contributed to greater internal mobility of students from other parts of the world, but not to a more rapid increase of intra-European student mobility. Second, the event of outwards mobility during the course of study up to graduation has turned out to be more frequent than expected by many experts, but differences by country do not fade away. Third, the value of student mobility gradually declines as a consequence of gradual loss of exclusiveness.