Regulatory policies and minimum quality standards in Bologna Process internationalization and integration programs: Europe unified through competition

The present paper focuses on institutional discourses and policies on internationalization and integration of European university system within the regulatory framework set by the Bologna Process.The Bologna Process started a process of harmonisation of the European higher education system, which has developed in a number of different directions, from promoting the European dimension of education programs. So far, European governance has been mainly driven by a top-down approach to regulation based on establishing framework policies and reference standards on European level to be implemented through national policies. The imposition of a general regulatory framework, e.g. the Bologna Process, based on standards and guidelines, is a central feature of European HER governance. At least since the seminal paper by Spence (1975), regulating quality has been a central topic in political and economic theory. The typical regulative State intervention in markets where there are quality issues, is to fix a minimum quality standard (MQS), which may force firms to increase provided quality. Markets with MQS are mainly concerned with food, toys, vehicles, and clothes. In these markets goods are usually produced by private firms. Moreover the education sector as well is a typical case study that is widely regulated by MQS. Note that in this market another State intervention is possible: the direct production of goods by governments, i.e. the competition between a public and a private firm in a mixed oligopoly framework. The paper aims at analysing both theoretically and empirically the effect of European policies and discourses on High Education and Research using as a framework MQS analysis. European HER governance will be discussed as being drafted through a competitive-oriented discourse on knowledge production and transmission, tending to establish a unified scientific area according to market regulation policies and neoliberal principles. Altbach and Teichler 2001 Internationalisation and Exchanges in a Globalized University. Journal of Studies in International Education. 5 (1): pp. 5-25. Ferlie, Musselin amd Andresani 2008 The Governance of Higher Education Systems: A Public Management Perspective". In Paradeise, Reale, Bleiklie&Ferlie (eds) University Governance: Western European Comparative Perspectives. Springer. Regini 2011 European Universities and the Challenge of the Market: A Comparative Analysis. Edward Elgar. Spence 1975 Monopoly, quality, and regulation. Bell Journal of Economics 6(2), 417-429.