Before Europe--as a continent--could seriously think of creating a common European Higher Education Area grave differences between the former West and East had to be dealt with. The fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 made it possible to start reforming totalitarian educational systems and introduce principles of democratization and academic liberties. The transition period was not an easy one but neither did the process of harmonization and integration of higher learning in the freer part of the continent proceed without hindrances. The drafting and signing of the Bologna Magna Charta Universitatum, the declaration and launching of the Bologna Process, the activities and resolutions of the Council of Europe, UNESCO, the OECD and the European Union have proved decisive catalyzers in the process, which has progressed considerably, but has still to face some challenges before it achieves its full potential and a functional common higher education area in Europe and in the global context is created. (Contains 3 notes.)