Recent scholarly work on higher education institutions (HEIs) within an EU context has focused on how universities and their core activities have been affected by EU education policy. The organisation of HEIs in order to shape European decision-making on higher education, mainly through their presence in Brussels, has received much less attention.…

This paper contributes to the theoretical debate over a global upsurge in higher education (HE) regionalisms which pursue different region-building processes and create policy spaces beyond national boundaries. Focusing on the Nordic countries, the paper studies parallel processes of intra-Nordic and European HE and research cooperation. Although…

This paper discusses Finnish-Russian relations from the perspective of cooperation in higher education, and particularly Finnish-Russian double degree programmes prior to 2022. It asks how internal stakeholders, in double degree programmes perceived the role of their cooperation from the point of view of interstate relations, and how cooperation…

After 2014 student mobility between the EU and Russia has remained high. International academic mobility (IAM) is an important part of the internationalisation of higher education, and the EU and Russia have multiple rationales for it--academic, economic, political and social, among others. This article analyses the rationales of stakeholders at…

The European Higher Education Area (EHEA) constitutes an international regime which attempts to solve intra-European problems, as well as to respond to global challenges. Using the regime complexity approach, this article investigates the external effectiveness of the EHEA, which refers to its ability to play a key-role in the Higher Education…

As the Bologna Process reaches its twenty-year mark, reflecting on its global influence is of particular value. This special issue aims to take stock of the Bologna Process' international function by critically examining the motivations and interests behind its 'global strategy' as well as scrutinising how the reform has been perceived and applied…

The objective of this article is to examine the Israeli perceptions towards the Bologna Process as well as outline its reactions to it. Specifically, the article investigates the landscape of interests among Israeli policy-makers (from both political and institutional levels) in relation to the European higher education reforms. Through interviews…

Since recently, the Bologna Process has been extending into Africa through the European 'external dimension' and the African lure as a model of higher education reform. The Bologna Process tools and methods are travelling beyond Europe in the form of an 'à-la carte' or as a wholesale model or both. Two contradicting views are in motion about the…

In this paper we examine the normative and strategic impact of the Bologna Process on the New Zealand University system. We argue that, from a normative perspective, Bologna has not resulted in substantive change. Nevertheless, a specific, if low-level, normative response has been evident, driven by perceived market incentives and the market-based…

This article describes the characteristics of mentoring higher education students in companies which is a field the least researched, particularly when evaluateing effects of mentoring. This qualitative study is a response to this concern. The purpose of the study is to determine what mentors working with students in companies in certain European…

In the past decade, thousands of Chinese doctoral students received funding from the China Scholarship Council (CSC) to start a 1--2-year exchange study in European universities. Do these Chinese doctoral students significantly improve their academic skills and publications through such an overseas experience? What are the influencing factors for…

The introduction of regional political initiatives in the higher education sector symbolizes one of the many aspects of the changing global higher education landscape. Remarkably, these processes have generally escaped comparative scrutiny by scholars researching higher education policy cooperation or regional integration. In this article, we…

This article examines the role that education plays in European Union (EU) integration. We ask whether efforts which historically have been designed to endow European students with a "knowledge of Europe" in terms of an understanding of culture, politics and sensibility have been circumscribed by, or augmented, by the recently…

In 2013, the European Union (EU) unveiled its new "Composite Indicator for Scientific and Technological Research Excellence." This is not an isolated occurrence; policy-based interest in excellence is growing all over the world. The heightened focus on excellence and, in particular, attempts to define it through quantitative indicators…

This qualitative study relies on document analysis and in-depth, open-ended interviews with university leaders and government officials in a post-socialist and a recent European Union entrant country, Croatia. The study seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of the Croatian academic sector, as well as to unpack the top academic officials'…