Some of the strategic challenges that are directly impacted by the Bologna Process include:

• Internationalisation
• Competing in a Global Market
• Employability and Skills
• Lifelong Learning
• Mobility

The Strategy infoKit outlines further challenges facing the sector.

Challenges

The Bologna Process weaves many threads through a number of strategic challenges for institutions, and indeed some of the infrastructure and mechanisms of the Process and related initiatives can be of use in assisting institutions with addressing these challenges.

Bologna and Internationalisation - the drivers and issues

The Bologna Process itself is not primarily about internationalisation, its primary role is to protect European Higher Education in the face of global competition. The Bologna principles and tools, however, are very well placed to support internationalisation strategies.

Key drivers are employability, mobility and competitiveness.

Other issues (from a mainly UK perspective) that link the Bologna Process and internationalisation generally:

• Degrees and Higher Education systems are more easily understood through a 3 cycle system

• Qualifications Framework, ECTS, Diploma Supplement, European Quality Assurance

• It's about creating a competitive knowledge-based economy (in line with the Lisbon agenda)

• There are some issues around Bologna take up in the UK e.g. the Diploma Supplement. This is improving and there is a growing international element to this as other, non-European, countries, such as Australia are engaging with the Diploma Supplement

• Outward mobility of UK students/Monolingualism - there are low participation rates in the ERASMUS programme in comparison with our European counterparts. This is not just a language skill issue; it also means that UK students are missing out on the cultural benefits of study/work experience in another country. This does have an impact on UK competitiveness in the global market (as discussed in the Leitch Review and the Dearing Languages Review).

The Bologna Community Competing in a Global Context

"Europe now seeks to have a competitive advantage over other advanced economies by having a better alignment between the output of university graduates and the needs of the economy."

Frank McMahon - The impact of the Bologna Process on the design of higher education programmes in Europe as quoted in The long and the short of it - Hannah Fearn, Times Higher Education 2 October 2008.

In the 2008 Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings, 58 of the top 200 universities were in the US and 83 were in countries signed up to the Bologna Process. "The EHEA's 4,000 institutions and 16 million students make it similar in size and scope to the US system and will give it a major competitive advantage in the fight for foreign students". Times Higher Education Supplement, Leader: Premium Brand at Risk, 2 October 2008.

The Bologna Process has 'sufficient momentum to become the dominant global model of higher education within two decades'. Clifford Adelman. Institute for Higher Education Policy Issue Brief - Learning Accountability from Bologna: A Higher Education Policy Primer, July 2008.

The Bologna Process is about competing in the global Higher Education market. There is increasing competition in attracting international (non-EU market) students. Bologna is about galvanising the member countries and helping them to compete as a coherent group in the wider global market. It is important to emphasise that, whilst there may be many benefits gained by individual member countries as a result of engaging with the Process, it is not about competing with each other. [Hepi study on impact of Bologna on international student market].

Bologna and Employability

Employability is one of the wider objectives of the Bologna Process. The Bologna Process mechanisms aim to benefit the employability of people within the signatory countries. Transparency and recognition of qualifications and competencies is a very important one in relation to employability.

There continues to be some work needed on the promotion of the benefits of Bologna to the business community and initiatives like the Raising employers' awareness about the Bologna Process (ReaBP) project are well placed to contribute to this work. ReaBP aimed to 'raise the awareness of European employers about the Bologna Process and its implications for the labour market, particularly of the changes it entails in structures and contents of degree and study programmes', the project ran from December 2005 to March 2007.

The Bologna Process also plays a key role in contributing to the European Union's Lisbon Strategy which aims to deliver - 'stronger, lasting growth and more and better jobs' 'Working together for growth and jobs - A new start for the Lisbon Strategy' Commission of the European Communities. COM (2005) 24 of 2.2.2005. The Bologna Process can support the Lisbon Strategy in the development of a knowledge-based economy in the EU.

Bologna and Mobility

"Mobility ...is one of the core elements of the Bologna Process, creating opportunities for personal growth, developing international cooperation between individuals and institutions, enhancing the quality of higher education and research, and giving substance to the European dimension"

London Communique, p 2.

This promotion of mobility involves '...overcoming obstacles to the effective exercise of free movement' (European Ministers for Education 1999).

At the 2007 London Summit mobility was designated as a key priority for the Bologna Process until 2009. The notion of mobility encompasses students, teachers, researchers and administrators. EU programmes have sought to support mobility through SOCRATES (Erasmus etc) and an EU integrated programme for lifelong learning, Erasmus Mundus.