Date of Award

1-1-2016

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Organizational Unit

Morgridge College of Education

First Advisor

Antonio Olmos, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Kathy Green

Third Advisor

Nicholas Cutforth

Fourth Advisor

George DeMartino

Keywords

Bologna process, Epistemic community, Higher education reform, Mixed methods, Quantitization

Abstract

This research project focused on the causes of implementation of the Bologna Process and its impact across Europe. It traced the history of the Bologna Process and introduced the paradox of policymaking in Bologna's continued implementation. The latter part of the introduction presents a summary of policy coordination and the epistemic community and the notion of soft law and the open method of coordination (OMC) in European policymaking. Possible causes for changes in implementation of Bologna are investigated, as are the origins of the Bologna Process and its goals. The argument of Bologna as OMC is presented and reflects on education reform in Europe's last two decades. Mixed methods inquiry was used to investigate the emergence of the epistemic community, which, in its scientific authority and expertise, influences policymakers in Europe as it guides them to adopt reforms according to its agenda. Study findings revealed an increase in mean prevalence scores of Bologna's key themes and subthemes immediately after epistemic communities joined the decision-making process of the Bologna Process.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Cheryl Leontyne Wink

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

163 p.

Discipline

Statistics, International Relations

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