Different objectives, different models: The challenge of integrating EU and CEE higher education

Can the academic communities of the EU and the CEEC work together with mutual benefit, despite or because of their different experiences over the last half century? This paper addresses that question through an examination of the compatibility between higher education policies such as the Bologna Declaration with their different academic environments. It develops a framework that identifies dimensions of integration and then compares the circumstances and prospects of the two communities. After discussing convergences and divergences, it focuses upon two issues - the gap in resources and the divergence in academic norms - and the prospects for resolving them.