Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide information about the current reform of higher education in Germany, which can be described as German reading of the Bologna process, about the problems and deficits occurring in this area, and about ways to correct unwelcome developments. Design/methodology/approach: The paper starts with a review of appropriate programmatic documents, on the one hand, and of the results of relevant empirical studies on the other. On this basis deficits and risks of the German higher education policy are identified and feasible solutions discussed. Findings: The overloading of the Bologna process with political ambitions, which no longer have a lot in common with the fundamental thoughts formed at a European level, leads in Germany to unwelcome and counter-productive effects. One of them is that the space for cross-border activities for learners and lecturers is not expanding but diminishing. Practical implications: In Germany, it seems to be time to give up the priority of national aims in the area of higher education policy and bring the basic idea of the Bologna declaration back to the fore. For that purpose various course corrections are required. Originality/value: The paper is among the first to evaluate the effects resulting from the German reading of the Bologna process and to make out the need for action from a comprehensive point of view.