Beyond Bologna: A Governance Framework for Regional Higher Education Integration in Post-Soviet Contexts

The Bologna Process has served as the primary template for higher education reform in post-Soviet Central Asia for two decades. However, the linear application of European integration theories fails to account for the region’s distinct governance legacy, characterized by vertical state control and low horizontal trust between institutions. This theoretical paper addresses this gap by synthesizing literature on policy transfer, norm localization, and digital governance to construct a region-specific framework for integration. We propose a "Three-Stage Governance Model" moving from structural comparability to quality assurance mechanisms, and finally to mobility. Crucially, we argue that in the absence of historical institutional trust, the region is pivoting towards "algorithmic trust." By analyzing recent legislative shifts in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan alongside emerging technical infrastructures (e.g., blockchain-based credentialing), we demonstrate that technical interoperability is functioning as a substitute for political harmonization. The study concludes that Central Asian regionalism is evolving not into a cultural community like the EHEA, but into a "techno-institutional" network where digital standards drive policy convergence.