Education policy borrowing and the adoption and adaptation of Bologna Process ideas in the Cameroonian higher education system: A Summary

Abstract

Although initially a European reform, the Bologna Process has had a spill-over effect in other parts of the world. This paper, based on the public lectio of my doctoral dissertation, used policy borrowing as a theoretical framework to examine the adoption and adaptation of Bologna reforms in Cameroon, a country with a complex colonial and post-colonial history. My dissertation sought answers to three research questions focusing on the reasons for the adoption in Cameroon, the introduction, dissemination and local response to the adoption in Cameroon and the implementation of some of the lines of action in Cameroon and what they reveal about the use of borrowed policies at the local level. These questions were addressed in four original articles, using data from text documents and interviews and analysed mainly through thematic analysis. The findings, based on the four articles, drew attention to both internal and external reasons for adoption, and how and why what was adopted was locally adapted to suit the local context. The findings contributed to the research and international debate on the transformations exerted by the Bologna Process outside the European higher education area referred to as the external dimension of the Bologna Process.

Educational Policy Borrowing in the Cameroonian Higher Education System: A debatable Paradigm from Stakeholders

“…The implementation of these Bologna objectives in Cameroon also highlighted another level of controversy because the adopted approaches were perceived to be more in line with practices in the French-inspired universities in Cameroon, despite Cameroon's dual structure. Such controversy led to different methods of implementation in both sub-systems in Cameroon and in line with Eta (2018), raising the question of whether harmonisation (as one of the reasons for adoption in Cameroon) of the dual structure through the LMD was possible.…”

“…For example, the economics and politics associated with policy borrowing have contributed to the expansion of the term's definition, from concrete lessons learnt from an educational system to suggesting that 'all global reforms' or 'traveling policies' (Steiner-Khamsi, 2012, p. 11) qualify as policy borrowing. In the case where borrowing occurs for political or economic reasons, instead of the borrowing process starting from the identification of the local problem (Eta, 2018), as Steiner-Khamsi (2013) notes, the tendency is for the global solution to first be adopted before the problem's identification, in order to fit the existing global solution.…”

“…A case in point is the Bologna Process, which aims to harmonise European systems of education. The involvement of these external stakeholders in higher education governance, by implication, means that policy borrowing also occurs as part of national governments' obligation to international/regional agreements (Dolowitz & Marsh, 2000;Steiner-Khamsi, 2012, Eta, 2018. From this perspective, policy borrowing occurs because of the need to conform and converge with global educational initiatives (Ochs, 2006).…”

“…Contrary to the French-modelled university, the Anglo-Saxon university operated on the Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral degree structure. According to Eta (2018), borrowing from the Anglo-Saxon tradition and creating an Anglo-Saxon model university in Cameroon was a way to preserve the dual cultural legacy of Cameroon. Thus, according to interviewees in this study, in as much as France and Britain remain the yardstick, they will always influence higher education policy in Cameroon.…”

Policy diffusion and transfer of the Bologna Process in Africa’s national, sub-regional and regional contexts

“…Thus, the LMD could have been used as a tool to neutralize or displace the conflict between the two traditional systems. It could also have been viewed that LMD was a compromise between the two conflicting groups (Eta, 2018a). Mngo (2011) concluded that faculty in Cameroonian universities showed positive knowledge and beliefs about the LMD reform and harmonization while underscoring that such a new positive attitude could be explained by the fact that the reform is a replica of the European Bologna reform, which was already largely embraced by the architects (France/UK) of the two educational systems adopted in Cameroon after independence.…”