Enhancing Flexibility : Ten years of experience with new academic structures in Swiss universities

The 1999 European Bologna Declaration aims to create a European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Structural elements of the study programs as well as content-related guidelines are defined. The Bologna Process has frequently been criticized for over-standardizing comparable structures, standards, and processes, and thus for not sufficiently taking into account the specific circumstances of countries, educational systems, and disciplines.　　This article begins with the assumption that the structural elements of the Bologna Process also open up new possibilities. In particular, it explores to what extent and for whom the Bologna Process may be associated with flexibilization.1 It refers to the Swiss higher education system, with a focus on the development at universities and only limited attention to universities of applied sciences and of teacher education.