The main purpose of this article is to offer—within the perspective of the past two decades—a reflection on the higher education reform in the region consisting of Slovenia and seven countries of the so-called Western Balkans. The main question is what are the main characteristics of higher education reforms in these countries after 1990, and what was their relationship with international processes and developments in the field of higher education policy. In particular, we will focus on the emergence of politicization and privatization of higher education, the implementation of the Bologna Process, and the dichotomy of international norms and local identities. Within the latter, we will discuss the relationship between centers and peripheries in the context of higher education policies. On this basis, we will finally critically examine the question whether, in the context of modern development of higher education, peripheral countries now play only the role of a kind of ‘policy colonies’.
