The Bologna process is an effort of the European Union to create a European Higher Education Area. For the new member states however, the Bologna process is not only a higher education reform, rather, an element of their economic and political transformation. During the first period of the transformation process the revitalised nation-states of the region concentrated on their own national
... [Show full abstract] identities. The quest for national identities on the one hand and the strive for European integration is a dilemma that can only be met by strong national governments. As the national governments gained power, the civic societies (especially the ‘national minorities’) lost their influence which they had regained after 1990. They had developed their separate institutions and systems during the transition period which they try to protect now against the Bologna process. If they integrate into the national system, they would lose their special charakter; if they save their civic independence, they would lose the higher education accreditation. Is there a third way between the two options? The author suggests that alternative accreditations and recognitions would help the independent institutions to escape from that dilemma.