Introduction - Education Policy in Transformation

2010 is an “education year”: the results of the “Programme for International Student Assessment” (PISA)—the largest survey on students’ performance—are being published again and will continue for another round of three evaluations; the Bologna Process—the largest project to provide Europe with a comparative higher education degree system—is supposed to be implemented within the region. Although the PISA Study and the Bologna Process have by now established themselves as prominent political issues with substantial impact on the political debate all over Europe and beyond, scholars of political science and political sociology have been rather reluctant to give this field the attention needed. This volume analyzes the significant changes in the field of education policy observable since the 1990s. It deals with the impact of the PISA Study and the Bologna Process as the most prominent examples with regard to the growing role of international organizations (IOs) and their impact on national education systems.