Europe as spatial imaginary? Narratives from higher education ‘policy influencers’ across the continent

Abstract

Europe is, in many ways, of central importance to discussions about higher education.Various European initiatives, such as the Bologna Process and the Erasmus mobility programme, have had a direct and material impact on the shape and nature of higher education across the continent. They have also been linked to wider political objectives, such as the inculcation of a European political identity, and the strengthening of the European political and economic space relative to other parts of the world. Nevertheless, the relationship between Europe and education has tended to remain rather marginalised within research. We know relatively little, for example, about how policymakers think about Europe and the extent to which it constitutes an important frame of reference for them. To start to redress this gap, we draw on an analysis of policy documents and interviews with key policy stakeholders to argue that the idea of Europe constitutes an important 'spatial imaginary' for higher education within the continent, and helps to frame the ways in which students are conceptualised. However, we also suggest that this is not played out in uniform ways; there are significant differences between both countries and different groups of policy actors within them.

Paradise lost or created? How higher-education staff perceive the impact of policy on students

“…It is thus perhaps unsurprising that recent educational policies are also framed in terms of European imperatives, even when, as some scholars have argued, the Bologna Process was used by German politicians as a means of tackling policy problems -such as the relatively long time students took to complete their degree -that had been identified long before (Ertl 2013). Similarly, with respect to Denmark, although some scholars have argued that there are very close links between the Bologna Process and the Danish Study Progress Reform (Sarauw and Madsen 2020;Nielsen and Sarauw 2017), the complete absence of any reference to Bologna or European influences in the Danish data is in-keeping with the nation's 'soft Euroscepticism' (Degn and Sørensen 2015) -articulated by political parties on both the left and right of the political spectrum (Fitzgibbon 2013;Brooks 2021b).…”

Assessing the Contributions of Higher Education

“…Even with mobility -defined in various communiqués primarily as movement within the region (Powell & Finger, 2013) -singularly stressed as central to the Bologna Process and EHEA, mobility presents with distinct political and social meaning across the region. Analyzing policy documents and political speeches, Brooks (2021) finds divergent emphases based on national political culture and history. For example, German documents emphasize mobility as a means of achieving European integration and for forming European citizens, while in Denmark, where Euroscepticism is high on both the right and left of the political spectrum, policy documents do not promote mobility as a pathway to forming European identities.…”

“…Polish documents give relative emphasis to mobility as a means of supporting jobs and building the national economy. In Ireland, where emigration has been a social challenge over a century, political documents approach out-mobility cautiously (Brooks, 2021). The theme of continuity and variation is a hallmark of the Bologna reforms.…”

Understanding the contributions of higher education through the politics of reform

“…Students and staff circulate within the EHEA. As Powell and Finger (2013) put it, "The Bologna model follows the (Brooks, 2021). The theme of continuity and variation is a hallmark of the Bologna reforms.…”