Over the last few decades, Europe has been undergoing dramatic changes, not least in the area of higher education. One of the consequences for education has been increased attention on the learning of languages in general and English in particular. The question that this book seeks to answer is: what has this concentration on language learning implied for the teaching and learning of English for Special Purposes. The objective of this paper is twofold: (1) to provide the backdrop for the volume through a brief and comprehensive historical review of ESP and of the policies leading up to the Bologna implementation, and (2) to present the results from a survey of current trends in ESP course development and teaching methodologies.