British Higher Education and the Bologna Process: An Interim Assessment

The Bologna process has attracted considerable attention and some misunderstanding. This article describes the development of the reform process since 1998, considers how it has been agreed and implemented and seeks to explain Bologna in the context of wider European Union responses to global issues of competitiveness and free trade. The article argues that the significance of Bologna lies not only in the reforms agreed and implemented, but also in the justification it provides for varying national adaptations in major states. These adaptations are driving a broader process of change amongst a large number of signatories, whose capacity to affect the detail of the reform is limited. The article identifies and analyses UK policy, and draws some conclusions about the implications of the process for the teaching of politics in UK universities.