This article is part of a study about the internationalization of higher education. We analyze some antecedents to the Bologna Declaration and the involvement of university deans in this process. We found that these deans, as protagonists in this process, have been mostly reactive to the demands made upon universities by the European Union, and became executors of a heteronomous process in the creation of the European Area of Higher Education. Demands exogenous to the institution submitted them to a process of construction of their condition as universitas, as can be seen in the Magna Charta Universitatum of 1988. The Bologna Declaration is a mark in the history of universities in the European Union and in other countries that adhered to the process and has had repercussions on university autonomy. By focusing on these facts, the paper helps to understand what is taking place at these universities. Given the “globally structured education agenda” Brazilian universities can gain many lessons from this fact.
Declaration/ Bologna Process; University autonomy; Role of deans; Internationalization of education