Consequences of the Bologna Process on the French University Landscape

In Bologna, on June 19 1999,29 European ministers responsible for higher education signed a common statement on higher education in the European area. Its aim was to ensure greater compatibility and comparability between the various higher education systems by the year 2010. This Bologna process has a unique administrative-political significance, as its development is outside classical norm-building processes: an ongoing process, it in fact gives actors a certain freedom to act beyond what the simple reading of European or national legal texts might suggest. However, its evolution raises questions as to its aims and underlying values (does harmonisation mean merchandisation?), and also on the ways and regulatory means by which the state exercises its power of oversight.