Failure of the Croatian Higher Education Reform

  • Zoran Kurelić
  • Siniša Rodin
DOI: https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.335
Keywords: Croatia, higher education, Bologna Process, open method of coordination, professional qualifications, quality assessment, services of general interest, market access

Abstract

The authors analyse the reasons for Croatian higher education reform since 2003, as well as its consequences. The main proposition of the paper is that the implementation of the Bologna Process in Croatia has failed due to a fundamental misunderstanding of the goals of the process, a lack of correspondence between the cycles of higher education and the European Qualifications Framework, and a lack of international pressure, resulting from the nature of the open method of coordination. The authors present the internal market rules of the European Union and how they affect the national regulation of higher education. The paper deals with the main characteristics of the higher education reform and how it has affected the structure of higher education programmes, the comparability of degrees and qualifications, and student mobility. The authors propose an agenda for a “reform of the reform” that could bring the Croatian system of higher education back onto the European track.

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Published
2012-12-30
How to Cite
Kurelić, Z., & Rodin, S. (2012). Failure of the Croatian Higher Education Reform. Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 2(4), 29–52. https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.335
Issue
Vol 2 No 4 (2012): Reforms and developments in higher education in Central and South-Eastern Europe
Section
FOCUS

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