Croatia’s transition from socialism towards a vision of Western European democracy has been
characterised by phrases such as “democracy-in-the-making” and “transitional country” (Spajic-Vrkaš 2003:
33) in order to encapsulate the process of introducing democracy to the country’s political, economic and
social structures. These local societal changes, as well as the global transformations that affect them, have
also found their expressions in the Croatian higher education (HE) system. For example, the 1996 Act on
higher education institutions enabled the emergence of a private HE sector in Croatia. Furthermore, as
indicated in an OECD (2006) report on tertiary education in Croatia, preparations for Croatia’s accession to
the European Union have formed the context for various structural reforms in the Croatian HE area. Thus,
just like Babic, Matkovic and Šošic (2006) have observed, the Croatian HE system has itself been in a process
of transition though one which has been reflecting, rather than shaping, changes in the wider social context.
This paper addresses key aspects of both the discursive and practical reconfiguration of contemporary
Croatian higher education. The discursive reconfiguration is discussed in terms of the dominant government
market discourse applied to higher education which suggests that higher education institutions and the
individuals that constitute them should undergo economic introspection in order to respond to the demands
of a knowledge-based economy. Student protests in Croatia are highlighted as an act of resistance to the
market discourse and the resulting changes in practice, with special attention given to the students’ protest
manifesto and its refutation of a neo-liberal understanding of education as a private good.
The practical reconfiguration critically discussed includes the introduction of Bologna process objectives
into the Croatian higher education system. The implementation of these objectives can be traced to the
academic year 2005/2006 with the enrolment of the first “Bologna generation” of students. A particular
focus of this section is on the observed national educational policy indifference towards the “social
dimension” as spelled out in Bologna documents, as well as the formulaic implementation of other Bologna
objectives which have often passed unaccompanied by crucial context-specific changes, such as university
integration, which act as prerequisites for substantive systemic reform. The paper argues that government
attentiveness to university autonomy, a more ambitious role for the Croatian higher education area at both
the individual and societal level that goes beyond market logic, stakeholder partnerships, increased
investments in science and education, as well as policies addressing social inequalities and substantive local
issues in higher education remain significant challenges for the Croatian higher education system.