The European University Association (EUA) has published a report on ‘Universities and competitiveness: A big picture view on the EU’s new policy paradigm and the implications for universities’. The paper was released on 29 Oct 2025 and looks at what the European Union’s new paradigm of competitiveness means for universities.
To define their role and respond to the political drive for competitiveness, security and sustainable prosperity, universities need to take a longer-term perspective. The EUA report gives an overview of the present discourse and policies in the EU, and presents three different forecasts, or pictures of alternative futures:
- Europe’s resurrection
- Tech oligarchy under US hegemony
- Fragmented society
All three forecasts are set ten years in the future: in the Europe of 2035, and describe how events since 2025 have affected higher education and research. In addition, the report summarises feedback from university leaders, gathered by the authors in a series of workshops and interviews. These considerations in turn inform the report’s findings on what this new paradigm means for European universities today, notably on how they can strategically position themselves, as well as the framework conditions they need to contribute to Europe’s competitiveness.
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