In recent years, the establishment of European Higher Education Area (EHEA) has been the most sensational event in global higher education field because it is the first regional integration of higher education in the world. This thesis will analyzethe motivations behind it from the neo-functionalist approach. Process-tracing methodology is adopted to analyze the process, activities and the causal mechanism. European higher education cooperation begins with its adaptation to European integration throughpromoting people mobility and economic development, which are the two most important driving forces of European higher education cooperation. In order to realize people’s free movement and economic development in a single market, supranational institutions have launched a lot of large-scale education programs. In 1999, Bologna Process was started in which signatories spared no efforts to create a common higher education system. Ten years later, the European Higher Education Area is successfully established due to the effective plans of the Process. It can be concluded that people’s mobility and economic stimulation are the two most powerful motivations behind the construction of the EHEA. They are required during the process of European integration and have greatly advanced higher education cooperation with the spillover effect. Supranational institutions, member states and NGOs are also very important factors to push forward its development.