With its latest Insight Paper, The Guild universities wish to start a different type of narrative about the European Universities initiative, an institutional perspective which more openly embraces what is possible and realistic. The paper asks how universities themselves, particularly research-intensive institutions have experienced the initiative.
The paper argues that in teaching, the area with the most sustained engagement within alliances, the gap between intention and implementation remains large. The structural rigidities of national systems have so far proven more resilient than the collaborative momentum of alliances. However, the paper identifies that this very tension between structure and experimentation makes alliances valuable.
Although joint research activities can proceed without the regulatory structures within which joint teaching activities are embedded, they are more reliant on strong bonds between researchers. Unlike in teaching, where Erasmus+ filled a structural gap in transnational collaboration, the association deplores the fact that research support for alliances was “dwarfed” by the funding ecosystem already available to researchers. In this context, the paper claims, the long-term sustainability of research collaboration requires a compelling narrative of what alliance-based research uniquely offers.
A closer analysis of alliances’ societal engagement revealed that third mission activities often operated through events rather than sustained relationships. Hackathons and living labs proliferated but too often functioned as one-off events. Alliances also faced a structural challenge: societal engagement is inherently local or regional, whereas alliances are transnational by design.
The Guild states that for alliances to succeed and be scalable, the initiatives they generate require institutional embedding. In other words, their sustainability depends less on increased EU funding than on regulatory reform. According to the paper, the alliances, in making visible the frictions and barriers in transnational collaboration, hold up a mirror to both universities and to public authorities, creating pressure for changing the cultures around and within universities.
The Guild makes a number of recommendations to EU policymakers, national and regional authorities, and to universities:
- Ensure a key part of alliance funding remains focused on education and pedagogical innovation. Where alliances wish to invest in research or societal engagement, they should be free to do so, but not at the expense of education.
- Continue to support mobility and collaboration beyond the alliance framework. A healthy European Education Area requires both structured and unstructured collaboration.
- Facilitate alignment at European level on key administrative matters. This includes academic calendars, digital platforms, and student record systems. Sector bodies such as rectors’ conferences can play a central role in coordinating these discussions.
- Be strategic about engagement. Institutions should identify where alliance participation delivers genuine added value, and where the transactional costs outweigh the benefits. Not every innovation needs to be scaled; not every project must be retained.
- Support and reward participation. Without institutional incentives, participation risks becoming invisible or burdensome.
For more information:
The Guild Insight Paper: European Universities alliances: Pilots without pathways?