摘要：The signing of the Bologna Declaration and Croatia’s imminent accession to the European Union set up new challenges for the Croatian higher educational system, in which reforms were needed, in the endeavour of creating a successful and international competitive knowledge-based society. Following the main goal and the specified objectives of the Bologna Declaration, Croatia initiated a series of reforms of its higher educational system. The higher education system restructuring and adapting process was aimed at creating a new coherent educational framework suitable for achieving the European educational standards throughout the embracement of the European Higher Education three studying cycles, the so called Bachelor-Master-Doctor system, the adoption of the ECTS credit system, the introduction of a new internationally recognizable and comparable degree system, the implementation of a standardized quality assurance system, the improvement of the quality of the academic programmes and their modernization, and the enablement of academic staff and students mobility. In the century of knowledge we live, higher education is the major initiator of positive changes and development. Over the coming period, Croatian higher education system, should successfully meet new social and economic requirements and challenges of a knowledge-based society. The pursuit of European educational standards should be a priority of all future Croatian developing strategies and a continuous process of seeking educational excellence as the fundament of further successful euro integration of the country. Based on those premises the paper aims to introduce and analyse the current status of the Croatian higher education system on the eve of accession to the European Union and offers an insight into the so far carried out and realized reforms and changes and achieved goals.
关键词：Croatia; the European Union; the Bologna Process; Croatian higher education; the European Higher Education Area
