INVESTIGATION OF THE BOLOGNA PROCESS IN MOLDOVAN HIGHER EDUCATION PRACTICE

About five years ago, Moldova,: higher education joined the Bologna Process, being inspired by the great opportunities offered by EHEA. In spite of rapid reforming of the national policy, many higher education institutions are engaged formally in the proposed reform and the promised results are not still tangible. The aim of this research is to review the national practice in implementing Bologna goals, to analyse the lack between top-down policy and its bottom-up reception, updating the strategy for Moldovan HE system reform. Moldova is one of the five last-comers into the Bologna Process, a small country with limited resources that tried to be an equal partner in EHEA. Is it possible for the Moldovan HE system to be competitive in EHEA and to assure sustainable development of the country? The answer to this question is sought trough a dialectic analysis of the values of the old and new structure of HE, massification and quality assurance, national or international accreditation, Pros and cons of applying the Bologna principles in reforming the Moldovan higher education are researched applying surveys of main stakeholders, statistical data analyses, and are based on personal observations and conclusions of authors who are national Bologna promoters. The results underline the main patterns for national legislation framework development, agenda for national stakeholders and international collaboration for future higher education policies development and regeneration of the country's growth capacity. New approach to HE policy development at national and institutional level emphasise the importance of greater "ex-post" post accountability of Moldovan universities for quality, efficiency and achievement of agreed national and European objectives, new managerial and communication policy. This research paper formulates the main positive and negative lessons of implementing the Bologna principles and formulates a proposal for updating the policy agenda for reforming the Moldovan higher education system based on reviews of best international practices.