The European Universities Initiative (EUI) launched in 2017 represents one of the most ambitious reforms in European higher education, now encompassing 65 alliances and more than 570 institutions. A recent resolution of the European Parliament highlights their potential to transform the European educational landscape through joint curricula, seamless mobility, and shared governance, positioning alliances as laboratories for a more integrated and resilient higher education space. This presentation examines the development of the EUI, tracing its evolution from political vision to practical implementation, and considers its broader implications for transnational collaboration. The analysis draws on official EU and alliance documents, complemented by the author’s first-hand experience working within one of the alliances and as co-chair of a topical group in FOREU4ALL, the community of practice uniting all alliances. While the author’s expertise lies in language and cultural policy, the focus of the paper is on the overall trajectory of the initiative: its progress, its challenges and its future prospects. In situating the EUI within global debates on higher education cooperation, the paper presents the alliances as a distinctive model of regional integration with potential lessons for other parts of the world.

Authors:
Bjoern Kjellgren, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Björn Kjellgren is an associate professor at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. His research interests are in global competence education, especially in relation to the internationalisation of higher education.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Thursday Schedule

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