From Europeanization to the Mercosurization of higher education policies: A comparison of the construction of academic recognition policies

Both regional integration processes and the influence of international organizations are of decisive importance when it comes to promoting the flexibility of mechanisms for the recognition of university degrees. Using the concepts of Europeanization and Mercosurization, we compare how the Policy for Academic Recognition (PRA) has been developed in the EU and MERCOSUR. These two regional processes have built different public policies to facilitate the mobility of graduates or respective students in the member countries that make up each region. We show the respective weights of international organizations, such as the OECD, the WB, the IMF, among others, in these two constructions which do not follow the same “international model”. The regional integration processes, like the various transfer processes promoted by these international organizations, have had a significant impact on the PRAs, both direct in the case of the WB and the OECD and indirect in the case of the IMF. At the same time, we have found that their weight on the construction of the PRA turns out to be much greater in the case of MERCOSUR than in that of the EU.