Higher Education System Reform in Denmark in the Bologna Era

The two decades since the signing of the original Bologna declaration have been characterised by both continuity and change in Danish higher education. In this chapter, the focus is on changes through institutional reforms.
The six targets formulated in the original Bologna Declaration have generally been well received and integrated into Danish higher education policy. The ECTS credit system, the qualification framework and diploma supplements have been implemented relatively smoothly, and the quality assurance agencies have from the outset worked in collaboration with agencies in other European countries. The two-cycle education structure, which has provoked controversy and resistance in other countries, was already in place in Danish universities before the Bologna process.
While the Bologna process and its targets have no doubt influenced several important reforms in Danish higher education, other reforms have had no direct connection to Bologna. These reforms have concerned issues such as higher education governance, budgetary restrictions and their consequences, social justice, employability. They have generally sparked much more interest and controversy, both in public and in political fora.