Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Bologna Process and the European Qualifications Framework: A Routines Approach to Understanding the Emergence of Educational Policy Harmonisation — From Abstract Ideas to Policy Implementation

  • Chapter
Policy Paradigms in Theory and Practice

Part of the book series: Studies in the Political Economy of Public Policy ((PEPP))

Abstract

In this chapter we explain the background to the emergent nature of the Bologna Process within a policy context. We identify the specific artifacts that were linked to how signatories attempted to meet the objectives of the Bologna Process. We trace the selection and retention of abstract ideas within the policy formation stage of the Bologna Process and illustrate how these facilitated the emergence of an educational policy whose goal was to harmonise qualifications within an agreed European Qualifications Framework (EQF). In doing this, we utilise the ostensive-performative theory of routines as our theoretical lens. By using this approach we distinguish it from hegemonic approaches to policy change such as the punctuated equilibrium framework (Jones & Baumgartner, 2012) and advocacy coalition framework (Weible et al., 2011). We illustrate the emergence of the harmonisation sub-routine as it is supported by various declarations and communiqués. We trace patterns of activities relating to both policy formation and implementation. Our contribution is twofold. Firstly, we argue for use of routines theory as a theoretical tool to understand the principles, objectives, and processes undertaken in the creation and adoption of the EQF. Secondly, we highlight the importance of abstract ideas, their connection to endogenous change, and how they inform performances.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Bergen Communiqué. (2005). The European Higher Education Area — Achieving the Goals Communiqué of the Conference of European Ministers Responsible for Higher Education, Bergen, 19–20 May 2005. Retrieved from www.bologna-bergen2005.no/Docs/00-Main_doc/050520_Bergen_Communique.pdf

  • Berlin Communiqué. (2003). Realising the European Higher Education Area Communiqué of the Conference of European Ministers Responsible for Higher Education, Berlin, 19 September 2003. Retrieved from www.ond.vlaanderen.be/hogeronderwijs/bologna/documents/MDC/Berlin_Communique1.pdf

  • Brennan, J. (1993). Higher Education Quality: A European Dimension. In J. Brennan & F. Van Vught (Eds.), Questions of Quality: In Europe and Beyond: Quality Support Centre, Higher Education Report No. 1. London: Open University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Byrne, R., & McCutcheon, J. P. (2001). The Irish Legal System (4th ed.). Dublin: Butterworth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Capoccia, G., & Kelemen, R. D. (2007). The Study of Critical Junctures: Theory, Narrative, and Counterfactuals in Historical Institutionalism. World Politics, 59(3), 341–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • D’Adderio, L. (2008). The Performativity of Routines: Theorising the Influence of Artefacts and Distributed Agencies on Routines Dynamics. Research Policy, 37(5), 769–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • D’Adderio, L. (2011). Artifacts at the Centre of Routines: Performing the Material Turn in Routines Theory. Journal of Institutional Economics, 7(Special Issue 02), 197–230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dublin Descriptors. (2004). Shared ‘Dublin’ Descriptors for the Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral Awards — A Report from a Joint Quality Initiative information group. Retrieved from http://www.tempus.ac.rs/here/tl_files/Dokumenti/Dublinski%20deskriptori.pdf

  • European Commission. (1987). Single European Act. Brussels: European Commission. Retrieved from http://www.europa.eu/legislation_summaries/institutional_affairs/treaties/treaties_singleact_en.htm

    Google Scholar 

  • European Commission. (1991). Memorandum on Higher Education in the European Community, Com (91) 340, Brussels: European Commission.

    Google Scholar 

  • European Commission. (1998). Sorbonne Joint Declaration: Joint Declaration on Harmonization of the Architecture of the European Higher Education System. Signed by the four ministers in charge of education for France, Germany, Italy and the UK. Paris, May 25, 1998. Retrieved from http://www.ehea.info/Uploads/Declarations/SORBONNE_DECLARATION1.pdf

  • European Commission. (1999). The Bologna Declaration: Joint Declaration of the European Ministers for Education Convened in Bologna on the 19th June 1999. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Community.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eurydice. (2005). Focus on the Structure of Higher Education in Europe (2004/05): National Trends in the Bologna Process. Unité d’Eurydice/European Commission. Brussels: Directorate-General for Education and Culture.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farjoun, M. (2010). Beyond Dualism: Stability and Change as a Duality. Academy of Management Review, 35(2), 202–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feeney, S. (2014). Institutional Quality Review in Higher Education in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland: A Comparison of Two Approaches. Doctoral thesis: University of Sheffield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, M. S. (2000). Organizational Routines as a Source of Continuous Change. Organization Science, 11(6), 611–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, M. S. (2003). A Performative Perspective on Stability and Change in Organizational Routines. Industrial and Corporate Change, 12(4), 727–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, M. S. (2004). Resources in Emerging Structures and Processes of Change. Organization Science, 15(3), 295–309.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, M. S., & Pentland, B. T. (2003). Reconceptualizing Organizational Routines as a Source of Flexibility and Change. Administrative Science Quarterly, 48(1), 94–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, M. S., & Pentland, B. T. (2008). Routine Dynamics. In D. Barry & H. Hansen (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of New Approaches in Management and Organization (pp. 112–31). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, P. A. (1993). Policy Paradigms, Social Learning, and the State: The Case of Economic Policy Making in Britain. Comparative Politics, 25(3), 275–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Healy, S., & Reynolds, B. (Eds.) (1999). Social Policy in Ireland: Principles, Practice and Problems. Dublin: Oak Tree Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hogan, J. (2006). Remoulding the Critical Junctures Approach. Canadian Journal of Political Science, 39(3), 657–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hogan, J., & Feeney, S. (2012). Crisis and Policy Change — The Role of the Political Entrepreneur. Risk Hazards and Public Policy, 4(2), 1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, B. D., & Baumgartner, F. R. (2012). From There to Here: Punctuated Equilibrium to the General Punctuation Thesis to a Theory of Government Information Processing. Policy Studies Journal, 40(1), 1–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, T. S. (1962). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, R. R., & Winters, S. G. (1982). An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parmigiani, A., & Howard-Grenville, J. (2011). Routines Revisited: Exploring the Capabilities and Practice Perspectives. The Academy of Management Annals, 5(1), 413–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pentland, B. T. (2004). Towards an Ecology of Inter-organizational Routines: A Conceptual Framework for the Analysis of Net-Enabled Organizations. Paper presented at the HICSS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pentland, B. T., & Feldman, M. S. (2005). Organizational Routines as a Unit of Analysis. Industrial and Corporate Change, 14(5), 793–815.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pierson, P. (2000). Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics. American Political Science Review, 94(2), 251–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prague Communiqué. (2001). Towards the European Higher Education Area. Communiqué of the meeting of European Ministers in charge of higher education in Prague on 19 May 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reinalda, B., & Kulesza, E. (2005). The Bologna Process: Harmonizing Europe’s Higher Education. Leverkusen: Barbara Budrich.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryle, G. (1949). The Concept of Mind: London: Hutchinson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stene, E. O. (1940). An Approach to a Science of Administration. The American Political Science Review, 34(6), 1124–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • True, J. L., Jones, B. D., & Baumgartner, F. R. (1999). Punctuated-Equilibrium Theory: Explaining Stability and Change in American Policymaking. In Paul A. Sabatier (Ed.), Theories of the Policy Process (pp. 97–115). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsoukas, H., & Mylonopoulos, N. (2004). Introduction: Knowledge Construction and Creation in Organizations. British Journal of Management, 15(S1): S1–S8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vohora, A., Wright, M., & Lockett, A. (2004). Critical Junctures in the Development of University High-Tech Spinout Companies. Research Policy, 33(1), 147–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weible, C. M., Sabatier, P. A., Jenkins-Smith, H. C., Nohrstedt, D., Henry, A. D., & de Leon, P. (2011). A Quarter Century of the Advocacy Coalition Framework: An Introduction to the Special Issue. Policy Studies Journal, 39(3), 349–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weick, K. E., Sutcliffe, K. M., & Obstfeld, D. (2005). Organizing and the Process of Sensemaking. Organization Science, 16(4), 409–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Witte, J. K. (2006). Change of Degrees and Degrees of Change: Comparing Adaptations of European Higher Education Systems in the Context of the Bologna Process. Doctoral Thesis: University of Twente. Retrieved from http://www.bologna-bergen2005.no/Docs/00Main_doc/010519PRAGUE_CUMMUNIQUE.PDF

    Google Scholar 

  • Zgaga, P. (2003). Bologna Process between Prague and Berlin: Report to the Ministers of Education of the Signatory Countries, Berlin, September 2003. Brussels: European Commission.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zollo, M., Reuer, J. J., & Singh, H. (2002). Interorganizational Routines and Performance in Strategic Alliances. Organization Science, 13(6), 701–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Sharon Feeney
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Conor Horan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland

    John Hogan (Lecturer) (Lecturer)

  2. Simon Fraser University, Canada

    Michael Howlett (Professor) (Professor)

Copyright information

© 2015 Sharon Feeney and Conor Horan

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Feeney, S., Horan, C. (2015). The Bologna Process and the European Qualifications Framework: A Routines Approach to Understanding the Emergence of Educational Policy Harmonisation — From Abstract Ideas to Policy Implementation. In: Hogan, J., Howlett, M. (eds) Policy Paradigms in Theory and Practice. Studies in the Political Economy of Public Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137434043_10

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation