The Effects of the Bologna Process in the Mobility of Spanish Students in Higher Education

Abstract

Student mobility through specific programmes and agreements is a priority not only for the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, but also for central and regional education authorities and universities, that have become responsible for its promotion in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The degrees offered following the requirements of the EHEA (Bologna Plan) have encouraged the mobility of students between universities, which has been integral in the last decade as to modernizing European higher education. The study focuses on Erasmus+ mobility actions for higher education students without including advanced vocational training, following closely the indicators provided by the Eurydice Mobility Scoreboard report produced by the European Commission alongside the Internationalisation and Mobility guidance present in the latest Bologna Process Implementation Report released by the European Commission, in an effort to understand mobility trends in Europe. Data were also gathered through the Open Data portal at the University of Alicante. Students cannot apply directly to the mobility grants offered by the European Union. The education institutions (or mobility consortia) they belong to, are in charge of presenting a mobility project in which students opt for a study period abroad at a partner higher education institution. This article examines how far the Bologna process has had a real impact upon the mobility of Spanish students of the degree of Advertising and Public Relations at the University of Alicante. The time span considered covered from ten academic years starting 2007-2008 to 2017-2018. The analysis took into consideration the European university destinations students chose from a gender perspective. Results show that although it cannot be clearly stated that there is a real increase in the evolution of university students` mobility within this period of time, the gender study approach let us conclude there are some relevant results as to the countries, universities and duration choices of the university students involved in the programmes.