Anything Goes: or, How the Accommodation of Europe's Universities to European Integration Integrates an Inspiring Number of Contradictions

This article analyses the implications for the integration of highereducation in Europe as presented by the Bologna process. It examinesthe evidence presented in official documents which claim a wide-spreadconsensus for this initiative. The article analyses the particular ideological commitment built into the Bologna process in the light ofits four objectives Mobility, Employability, Competitiveness andAttractiveness. It questions whether that consensus, largely taken for granted at the higher levels of political discussion, is fullyreflected in `le pays réel' – at the chalk face. It argues that the main test of the Bologna `principles' will come when talk gives wayto implementation, both at the level of first degrees and in the areaof research training.