Within the European Union, issues of comparability and compatibility regarding higher education policy are defined by new challenges, while interest politics increasingly affect the actions and the discursive practices that constitute both the new European Higher Education Policy Area and its relation to other crucial public policies (economic, social and labour policies). This article attempts a policy-impact analysis focusing on a) issues of interest politics, key-actors, interaction among supranational policy agendas and policy networks, b) issues of decentralisation, internationalisation and deregulation in higher education policy, with particular reference to the Bologna Follow-Up process, and c) educational reform processes organised as policy reform rituals. The main hypothesis of the study is that HEIs are perceived as key partners/providers and this perception transforms the role of the HEIs within the context of strategic partnership interests (at national, regional and institutional levels).