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The paper studies the relation between different national cost-sharing models and how students from different socio-economic backgrounds finance their higher education in six different European countries: the Czech Republic, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Spain. The findings reveal considerable differences both between the countries and also between different socio-economic groups of students within each country. Even though there are only small social differences in the students' level of income, there are considerable social differences in the students' sources of income. The findings are discussed related to the country's specific policy and higher education funding structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares the results of the implementation of the new bachelor-master system in the Netherlands and Germany. The Bologna Process presents the common European context for this reform process. However, the respective national contexts differ, and so do the actual implementation processes and the emerging outcomes. For each of the two countries, a limited number of aspects of the reforms that emerged as most relevant are highlighted. In the final section, some commonalities and differences are discussed. The former mainly concern the characteristics of the binary system in both countries and the introduction of accreditation in relation to the bachelor-master system. With respect to the latter, the implementation strategy and the funding conditions are most strikingly different, related to the fact that in Germany the new system is implemented in parallel with the existing system, whereas in the Netherlands the new system will replace the existing one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]