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The purpose of this paper is to examine the two decades since Hong Kong’s return to Chinese sovereignty, assessing developments against the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, the international agreement under which Hong Kong was transferred from British to Chinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997, and which first set out China’s “basic policies” toward Hong Kong.

The paper’s analysis of developments focuses particularly on areas of controversy, from the extent to which Hong Kong has enjoyed a “high degree of autonomy” to basic rights and freedoms and the legal and judicial systems.

It argues that on the whole, the policies set out in the Joint Declaration have been well implemented: Hong Kong has retained its separate systems since 1997, including rule of law and an independent judiciary, basic rights and freedoms, and separate government and social systems. However, especially since the “occupy” movement of 2014, questions about the sustainability of the “one country, two systems” arrangement have come to the surface.

The paper is distinctive in its assessment of developments against the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration.

Formal and informal links between LIS schools in Europe exist. The EU’s SOCRATES programme, the NORDPLUS scheme, and professional bodies offer frameworks for communication as well as European LIS education projects and networking activities. Besides increased communication and networking efforts there are few results, some progress can be noted, but visible effects of partnerships and networking in the LIS academic community are difficult to identify. The Bologna Declaration also has implications for the European LIS academic world. Consideration is given to how the recommendations of the declaration can be fleshed out in a LIS educational context. However, progress within the LIS educational community in terms of co‐operation and co‐ordinated curriculum development appears meagre. Active co‐operation and networking efforts within the European LIS education world must be initiated.

Major collaborative schemes and initiatives in library and information science (LIS) education are outlined. It is observed that networking and mobility efforts in European LIS education have not yet produced spectacular or convincing results. On the whole, progress measured in synergy, co‐ordinated curricular structures, “joint ventures”, joint degrees, equivalence of qualifications, etc., is meagre. Some progress can be noted, but visible effects of intensified links between LIS schools in Europe are not conspicuous. Overall, transparency in the European LIS education seems to suffer. The Bologna Declaration (June, 1999) speaks of the “establishment of a European area of higher education” and outlines a number of objectives relevant to the pursuit of that purpose. In addressing the challenges of the Bologna Agreement for LIS education, discussions at an international meeting on globalisation and LIS at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, April 2002, are considered. The paper concludes by pointing to a number of steps that should be taken in working towards the objectives of the Bologna Agreement.

The paper seeks to present an analysis of the development of schools of librarianship and information science (LIS) in the European Union (EU) applicant states until 2004. It discusses the potential and actual changes in their organisation, notably their curriculum.

The comparative analysis of LIS programmes was performed. The model presented by T.D. Wilson in 2001 was selected as the model for analysing the data. The aim was to support the Wilson model with some empirical data from the specific countries.

The results show that the long history of traditional library education in these schools was not a great obstacle to adapting the curriculum to new professional and political standards. LIS schools have generally changed their curriculum towards those of modern LIS schools and have also embraced the EU outlines regarding higher education, especially the Bologna Declaration.

This study has its limitations as it is based only on the formal courses’ names and the formal content. Comparative analysis could also be accomplished through analysing courses' content, students and teaching staff.

The theoretical model of LIS courses analysis was tested on the LIS programmes in EU new member and applicant states. Testing the model shows its weaknesses and strengths. This could be developed in a simple but practical and useful tool for LIS programmes comparison and harmonisation, where necessary.

The aim of the current article is to discuss the role of the Bologna process in enabling quality of educational change, internationalisation and greater mobility using an example case study of a Russian university. Some discussion is provided to offer insights and inform future research and practice.

The authors highlight some of the quality issues associated with the Bologna process and reflect on how the statements underpin quality of learning and mobility in a European higher education area (EHEA) context. They explore some of the issues raised from the documentation and examine some early experiences and challenges from a leading Russian university as part of a wider examination of higher education in a Russian context.

The Bologna Declaration was signed in 1999 by 29 European countries. The Declaration became the guiding document for the Bologna process which is now being implemented by 47 (inclusive) EU and non‐EU countries. In Russia, Bologna did not begin well and was originally resisted by employers and universities several years ago. It has recently been started again but it is still in its early stages, as Bologna is only now being implemented more fully. Nevertheless, there are issues around the two cycle system and diploma certificates. Recognition from some employers is also still an issue but less so than before. However, specialist auditing agencies can also be used in conjunction with the universities to assure quality and reassure employers going forward. There is also a strong recognition that Russian higher educational institutions have come a long way in a short space of time in terms of quality and process development.

Whilst the research is limited to one case and is essentially qualitative and exploratory, the integrated analysis and discussion still provides useful insight and reflection concerning key issues as a consequence of recently implementing the Bologna process within the Russian educational system.

This paper aims to assess the “external dimension” goals of the Pan European Bologna reform, almost 19 years after its launch. The influences of the reform on higher education in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia-Pacific are investigated. The paper analyses the appeal of the 1999 Bologna Process (BP), which, arguably, symbolizes an effort to strengthen the hegemony of Western European education and influence, has for the first time gone beyond ex-colonial lines, including areas where Europe’s socio-political influence is not impactful.

This paper opted for an analytical review of the literature on the European higher education internationalization goals as stated in external dimension objectives of the Bologna Process reform. The literature search was complicated by the limited number of peer review articles focusing on the spread of the Bologna model beyond Europe. As a result, the inclusion criteria were flexible, and consideration was given to educational website reports/articles, dissertations, books, pamphlets, and internal EU/European Commission reports.

The findings of this review indicate that, in spite of significant challenges, the internationalization objectives of Bologna Process are gradually being met in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Most notable is that some countries that historically did not have a European colonial presence are embracing aspects of the Bologna reform. Almost 19 years after, the BP reform now has a significant external influence not only in the former Portuguese, Spanish, British and French colonies but also beyond. In spite of the overwhelming embrace of the BP model in Europe and outside of Europe, its implementation, everywhere, has faced some administrative, political, and economic challenges.

The study examined the spread of the Bologna Process models beyond Europe and not its acceptability by stakeholders such as faculty and students outside Europe. Future research could examine the satisfaction rates among higher education stakeholders in regions and countries embracing the BP models.

The findings of this review indicate that the steady spread of the BP means that more countries and tertiary education institutions can explore opportunities aimed at developing more educational and socioeconomic partnership, including the exchange of knowledge, technology and resources.

While emphasizing the benefits and opportunities for cooperation, the paper identifies that the increasing internationalization trends influenced by the BP are leading to regional higher education cooperation in Asia, Latin America and Africa. Other higher education models around the world can learn from the marketing strategies of the BP aided by EU.

The purpose of this paper is to examine economic relations between Hong Kong and the UK, especially since 2012, in order to shed light on the management of Hong Kong’s external relations.

The context for the research is discussion of “grey areas” between Hong Kong’s external relations and foreign affairs. Research is based on textual analysis of British and some Hong Kong policy documents, government statements and media reports, as well as personal discussions with many involved in UK-Hong Kong ties.

The paper finds that the UK-Hong Kong economic relationship is managed autonomously, demonstrating Hong Kong’s external economic affairs and bilateral exchanges being practised with a high degree of autonomy. It also shows the importance that the British government attaches to its economic relationship with Hong Kong in its own right, and the likely increase in that importance as Brexit unfolds.

The paper engages in detailed analysis of economic relations between the UK and Hong Kong, in contrast to most post-1997 studies which have focused on Hong Kong’s ties with the USA or European Union.

The European Union (EU) is commonly, and vaguely, labelled as a sui generis foreign policy actor. The European Security Strategy (2003) advances, in an imprecise manner, the possible use of ‘robust’ responses to international challenges, when needed. The military dimension of the EU has to be found in its evolving but still incipient Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)/European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). Since the launch of ESDP and its first missions in 2003, the EU has been able to conduct a noticeable progress on two fronts. On the one hand, it enhances internal capabilities for crisis management; on the other hand, it favours the principle of participation of third countries in missions. The present analysis considers EU international military cooperation in a strategic neighbourhood: Eastern Europe. We take into account the EU necessity to rely on relevant non-EU players to launch missions. We argue that ESDP missions' success depends not only on these external actors, namely on the consideration of power gaps, but also on domestic EU constraints. We explore the causes of poor cooperation with Russia on ESDP and the perspectives for crisis management in Europe. Considering ESDP activities in Eastern Europe, we conclude that the balance between civilian and military tools is not adequate to engage more seriously with Russia towards the stabilisation of the ‘common’ neighbourhood.

The growing interest regarding intangibles and intellectual capital (IC) has extended from firms to public institutions such as universities and research centres during the last decade. Since universities are considered critical institutional actors in national innovation systems, European higher education and research institutions are going through an important transformation process with the aim of making them more comparable, flexible, transparent and competitive. The objective of the paper is two‐fold. On the one hand, its aim is to address the importance of measuring and managing IC in universities to improve research management and contribute to comparative analysis in European universities, and on the other hand, to highlight some methodological and conceptual considerations in relation to the analytical framework developed within an ongoing experience – the Observatory of European Universities (OEU).

The paper analyses a specific case within the OEU: the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) in Spain. The problems and difficulties within the process of applying the OEU analytical framework are examined.

This analysis provides some insight into the utility of the framework. From a conceptual point of view, we find some similarities between IC approaches and the OEU, but a different terminology is identified.

This paper argues that important benefits can be achieved when adapting the Observatory's framework to the IC approach and terminology, regarding the increasing impact of IC approaches at firm and political level.