Globalization has been accredited as enriching to society since it fosters cooperation, collaboration and partnership between nation states especially with the help of the internet and other information technologies. In higher education, it has led to the convergence of educational systems (Denman, 2002). However in the view of Dale (2000), it is not clear what is converging, whether it is the process of globalization, the outcome or both. Globalization has greatly challenged the traditional view that education is a service for national or regional concerns as today it is difficult for individual nation states to set and achieve their goals unilaterally (Dale 2006, 2000; Rinne 2006; Kallo & Rinne 2006, Rizvi & Lingard 2010) without the cooperation and at times, external influence from supranational agencies or other countries. Reforms and policies in higher education of nation states can be influenced by policies of supranational organizations, funding agencies or the successful implementation of reforms abroad. Philips (1989, 2000), Phillips & Och (2003), Steiner-Khamsi (2002, 2004) have referred to this practice as educational policy borrowing. The Bologna process is a good example of how reforms move from the supranational national level to the regional and national levels.  European countries voted to adopt the Bologna process in 1999, and many other countries throughout the world including countries in Africa and especially universities in Cameroon have since started introducing similar reforms.

Aim of the paper

The aim of this paper is to use educational policy borrowing and transfer theory as an interpretative framework for analysing higher education reforms in Cameroon especially with the recent implementation of Bologna ideas. The paper focuses on the introduction and the implementation of the three-cycle studies (Bachelor’s Master’s and Doctoral studies for three, five and eight years respectively) at the University of Yaoundé 1, Cameroon. This paper raises questions of whose interest is being served with the implementation of this reform; is it that of western countries who have established themselves as higher education providers and want to attract international students or is it the interest of Cameroonian students, Universities in Cameroon, and /or Cameroon as a nation. In other words, is Cameroon a victim to this reform? If the answer is affirmative, then the question that comes to mind is who are the key agents and initiators of the ideas of the Bologna process in Cameroon?

Research question

1. Under what circumstances have the Bologna process been implemented in Cameroon?

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