This open access book presents the major outcomes of the fifth edition of the Future of Higher Education – Bologna Process Researchers’ Conference (FOHE-BPRC5), organized by the Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI) prior to the 2024 Ministerial Conference in Tirana.

The Conference is considered a landmark in the European Higher Education Area, encouraging dialogue between researchers and policy-makers. The resulting book provides a forward-looking perspective on how the EHEA is evolving in response to current challenges and opportunities, by focusing on topics such as internationalization, equity and employability, fundamental values, impact of digitalization or innovative learning and teaching. The papers presented offer insights in these areas, illustrating successful or failed implementations within the EHEA and are published in open access format to ensure that the researchers’ perspectives are widely available to European policy and decision makers.

Since 2024 marks the first post pandemic edition of the Conference, it is a good moment to not only to take stock of the challenges brought by the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, but also to explore how scientific research can support policy into shaping the directions for the future to come.