As education ministers from more than 40 countries in Europe converge on London next week to review progress in harmonising their higher education systems, countries outside Europe, including the US, Australia and China, will be watching closely. The Bologna process was initiated in the Italian university town by 29 European countries in 1999 to make European universities, many of them with traditions dating back centuries, internationally competitive by 2010.
The process now includes 47 countries, well beyond the boundaries of the European Union, including Turkey, Russia and several former Soviet republics. Israel has applied to join.
'When the process is completed in 2010 it will involve 4,000 universities with 12 million students,' said Michael Gaebel, in charge of international issues at the European Universities Association (EUA) in Brussels. 'The Bologna process is a higher educational reform on a scale that has never been attempted.
'We notice a stronger than ever interest from outside. Other countries and universities have woken up to what is going on.'
Australia, the US, Canada and China will attend the London summit as observers. China will do so for the first time. 'Asia and Europe have much to learn from each other,' said Leung Tin-pui, vice-president of Polytechnic University. 'China's higher education is only just beginning the process of becoming world class. It may not adopt the Bologna process but it will learn from it.'
Australia, an observer at previous Bologna summits, held a meeting of Asia-Pacific education ministers in Brisbane last year at which Bologna was a major theme. 'The European vision introduces some urgency for this region to develop its own approach to collaboration and facilitation of student and academic mobility,' Australia's education minister Julie Bishop said. 'Without better co-ordination in Asia we could face a situation where Europe eventually has a highly integrated education system while the Asia-Pacific has, by comparison very limited recognition, credit transfer and fewer opportunities for people of the region to enjoy the benefits of being part of a globally-connected workforce.'