Research On European Higher Education Reform

The Emergence of the third science and technology revolution and the economic globalization in 1980s has changed the production mode. The world economy entered the era of knowledge-based economy. Knowledge becomes a key productive factor for the economic development and the persons who possess advanced technology and skills play a critical role for the development of economy. In order to enhance economic competitiveness, all countries begin to take measures to invest in human resources. Among all the measures, the most direct and important one is to promote the development of higher education.In this context, in order to propel the further development of knowledge-based economy, higher education as the main area for cultivating human resources and producing knowledge which are needed by knowledge-based economy will face new changes. The development of knowledge-based economy promotes the personnel mobility of higher education, which brings about the trend of higher education internationalisation and provokes the governments investing in higher education. The systems of higher education are perfected and the linkage between higher education and economic sectors is enhanced. The improvement of higher education quality and the increasing number of high-educated people become the main aims of higher education development.The development of higher education has also brought about the internationalisation of funding sources and personnel mobility that further lead the national higher education to cooperate on a higher level. European countries and the United States occupy the leading positions for the development of higher education worldwide. But between the two, the competitiveness and quality of European higher education is much worse than that of the United States. In order to meet the requirements of knowledge-based economy and enhance the international competitiveness of European higher education, European countries decided to cooperate in the area of higher education on the scope of Europe.European countries tried to improve the overall quality of European higher education so as to enhance the international competitiveness and attractiveness of European higher education. In fact, European higher education cooperation has emerged at the very beginning of European integration process with hardly any importance. However, under the influence of knowledge-based economy, European countries started the process of higher education reform in Europe at the end of last century. It is the Bologna process.According to Bologna Declaration, the aim of Bologna process is to construct European higher education area in 2010. And as its development, the process gradually integrated with Lisbon strategy and involved the development of economic competitiveness in higher education reform. The ten action lines of Bologna process, which compose the framework of European higher education area, reflect the main aspects of higher education reform.After a decade development, Bologna process has made some achievements on the global, EU, national and regional levels. On the global level, because of the enlargement of Bologna process, more and more intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations, such as Council of Europe, UNESCO, OECD, European University Association, European Students' Union and European Association of Institutions in Higher Education participate into the process.On the EU level, Bologna process has promoted the development of EU higher education policy while EU has played a role to support the development of Bologna process. Bologna process has gradually changed into institutional activities from spontaneous intergovernmental commitments. Among EU institutions, the European Commission is the additional full member of Bologna process. It provides financial support and policy guidance for the process. The Lisbon strategy of the Council of European Union helped Bologna process foster policies to enhance the linkage between higher education and economic sectors and improve the employment rate of higher education graduates. European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education and Network of National Recognition Information Centres as professional EU bodies facilitate the implementation of Bologna policies.Bologna process development on the national level is the most important part of European higher education reform. The policy implementation in each country is key for the success of Bologna process. Even though the development situation of Bologna process is different in each country because of the actual social and economic background, Bologna process shows an external characteristic on the whole, which emphasizes the policy coordination among countries. This kind of situation provides the possibility for EU to play a bigger role in the process.Higher education institutions and their personnel are the main actors of Bologna process on the regional level. Bologna process has promoted the autonomy of higher education institutions so as to increase the responsive capability of institutions for the social development. With the development of Bologna process, restrictions for personnel mobility have been removed and knowledge could flow freely in Europe. It creates conditions for the construction of "people of Europe" and a knowledge-based Europe.There are also many obstacles for the development of Bologna process. The differences of economic level, higher education quality, traditional higher education ideology among European countries restricted the smooth development of Bologna process in Europe.Even though there are many problems, Bologna process is still developing. Bologna process has formed a framework of ministerial conference and follow-up structure. And a stable coordination agency and a judicial institution probably will be constructed. Bologna process promotes the mobility of higher education students and has established a unified higher education system in Europe. It can be said that the ten action lines have been all achieved in some way. With the development of globalisation and knowledge-based economy, the construction of European research area and European curricula as well as the preparation for the challenges of globalisation will become the main contents for future development of Bologna process.The development of Bologna process has deepened the higher education reform in Europe. A set of complete and unified European higher education policies is being formed. The trend of Europe higher education integration is emerging. This trend is the outcome of European economic integration and is a part of European integration process.