International mobility is an integral part of higher education strategy in Europe. This action has triggered the development of the Erasmus program, the most popular scheme for student credit mobility at the European level. Although the program has generally been a success, it also endures several weaknesses, among them, the financial and social…

Political measures to confront the COVID-19 pandemic are a stress-test for citizens' institutional trust. Higher education students' trust in political institutions is of particular interest as they are substantially affected by COVID-19 related measures: For the most part, their academic institutions have been put under lockdown, they have had to…

We analyse Germany's re-introductions of tuition fees and enrolment of international students. Fees could not be levied before the German Federal Constitutional Court sanctioned them in 2005 and only seven out of the sixteen states took action, thus making a quasi-experimental research design available. Our fixed effects and synthetic control…

Drawing on theoretical discussions on identity construction, the article studies the interrelation between academic mobility and the creation of a common (supranational) identity in the post-Soviet space, which is fragmented by cooperation projects and state-level educational policies. Based on the concept of educational regionalism, the article…

This study aims to contribute to the knowledge about international student mobility to semi-peripheral states. The theoretical framework combines the world- systems analysis and the push--pull model grounded on international migration theories. Data emanate from the semi-structured interviews with 50 international students from five leading…

In this article, we analyse reforms of academic quality assurance in light of organizational theory using the case example of Finnish higher education. Our purpose is to shed light on the processes behind repeated reforms and the motivation to continuously modify quality models that have only been in use for a relatively short period of time. In…

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…

At the heart of Western Europe and culturally embedded in the 'Greater Region,' Luxembourg for centuries sent its youth abroad for tertiary education, without its own national university. Evolving provisions of postsecondary education after 1945 followed construction of several teaching and research institutes that did not offer full-fledged…

Universities in Canada have been highly engaged with internationalisation -- concurrent with the Bologna Process in Europe -- yet appear only marginally influenced by the 'external' Europeanisation of higher education. This paper examines the intersection of these processes: Has the Europeanisation of higher education influenced the…

Studies of regionalism -- intra and comparative regionalism -- have often used the European experience to explain the emergence and evolution of regionalisms in other parts of the world. This tendency in approaching the European experience as explanatory has permeated sector-specific developments. In this article, we consider the developments in…

In the context of education for the global world, internationalization is a strategy and a goal of higher education (HE). In many cases, the conditions for carrying out internationalization are neglected in detriment of its economic and financial impact. The definition of appropriate language policies and their relation to the organization and…

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 Bologna Process and the ensuing establishment of the European Higher Education Area has had an impact on the ways in which higher education in Europe operates, and the ways it is perceived and related to in countries and regions outside Europe. The Bologna Process has come to symbolize a form of international cooperation in higher education…

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…

Based on documentary analysis and interviews, the article examines the current practices of Irish universities in their efforts to increase their students' participation in international exchange programmes. It argues that increased participation, while a positive outcome, obscures a growing differentiation in the types of exchange programmes and…