Higher education in the single market between (trans)national integration and supranationalisation: exploring the european universities initiative

Abstract

While higher education is not a ‘classical’ single market domain, considerable efforts have been made at the European level to advance integration. The European Higher Education Area (and the European Research Area have represented important drivers in the construction of a single market for education, despite uneven implementation and a lack of convergence around common values. This paper explores a very recent initiative in the field of higher education, i.e. the European Universities Initiative (EUI), characterised by a hybrid type of university collaboration based on transnational alliances linking education, research and innovation. Using the lenses of the ‘governance architecture framework’, the paper shows that the EUI can act as a catalyst for renewed integration in higher education through a multi-tiered, flexible mode of cooperation among different actors’ constellations. However, the paper also identifies a potential alternative trajectory of integration with (trans)national institutions as key actors driving the alliances.