From Neoliberalism to Neoliberalism – Grappling With the Bologna Process in a Post-Socialist Slovakia

Abstract

Higher education (HE) in Slovakia is undergoing a second massive wave of transformation that is a direct post-socialist response to the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) (ESG, 2015). In Slovakia, these standards have led to the end of the previous accreditation model and the emergence of a new accreditation agency. It is through the new forms of assessment and assessment standards that one can observe the second wave of the neoliberalisation of HE in Slovakia that stems from the Bologna Process (BP). The chapter describes the nature and consequences of this second wave. The question is whether the new accreditation standards in Slovakia take into account the idea of social justice in HE and what type of effects the second wave of ‘Bologna’ neoliberalisation is having on social justice. The chapter relies on a thematic analysis of the following types of documents issued between 2002 and 2020: strategic government documents, internal regulations of the accreditation agency and course accreditation manuals. It compares the discourses on the accreditation criteria in both waves of the neoliberalisation of HE in Slovakia. The results of the analysis show that the meaning of social justice in these discourses lacks the emphasis on the social dimension particularly in the second phase of the BP in Slovakia.

Citation

Kaščák, O. (2023), "From Neoliberalism to Neoliberalism – Grappling With the Bologna Process in a Post-Socialist Slovakia", Kushnir, I. and Eta, E.A. (Ed.) Towards Social Justice in the Neoliberal Bologna Process, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 107-122. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80117-880-820231006