From initially ‘reproducing the existing hierarchy’ researchers find the cross-border alliances are becoming increasingly inclusive of different institutions. Here’s why that’s important
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With the European University Alliances initiative set to expand to 60 alliances this year, its membership should be becoming increasingly diverse.
In a recent paper analysing what kind of institutions have joined the EU-funded alliances, Agata Lambrechts and Marco Cavallaro from the University of Lugano found a good geographical spread but noted a lack of diversity, with the early alliances “largely reproducing the existing hierarchy” of European higher education institutions.
“We found that the initial alliances were built primarily by ‘excellent’ institutions,” says Lambrechts. “But over time the alliances have been changing. We found that those joining later are more representative of the wider context.”
The goal of the alliances is to deepen cross-border links between universities across borders, with one policy objective being to strike a balance between excellence and inclusiveness. The EU gives these alliances – usually formed by nine institutions – up to €5 million from Erasmus+ (this number is due to increase) to test ways to reinforce transnational cooperation.
Following the projected increase to 60, the alliances will involve more than 500 higher education institutions. The call for new participants to join the latest expansion closed last month. In the coming years, the Commission plans to hand out extra funds “targeting primarily already existing deep institutional transnational cooperation alliances.”
The wider goal of the initiative is to boost the performance and international competitiveness of Europe’s higher education system. In practice, this mean launching joint education programmes, developing long-term cooperation strategies and combining resources to develop innovative higher education practices.
As usual with cross-EU programmes, there are barriers. For one, fragmented education laws often get in the way when universities want to work closer together on joint degrees or other initiatives.
And institutions in central and eastern Europe have also signalled they still face barriers to participation. That is despite the fact there is a rather good balance between east and west in the existing alliances. This isn’t something that the researchers looked at but do recognise as a potential issue. “It’s good to be inclusive on paper, but if it’s the top institutions who hold power in the end, it’s not ideal,” Cavallaro said.
What’s the (dis)balance?
Lambrechts and Cavallaro took a close look at which institutions are joining alliances and tied their ‘excellence’ score to their Shanghai University ranking.
They found the first round of alliances skewed heavily towards ‘excellent’ institutions, mostly in the EU15 countries. In the following rounds of funding, the geographical balance improved but the picture is still heavily skewed when looking at the types of institutions.
While only half of all higher education institutions in Europe award PhDs, most participants in the initiative do so.
This isn’t unexpected, notes Lambrechts. “[The initiative] is about whole institution collaboration. Institutions that don’t award PhDs are less involved in research and so less likely to apply in the first place.”
It’s also the case that similar institutions tend to stick together. When, for example, applied science universities get involved, they make up the largest share of the participants in the given alliances. “We rarely see an alliance including different types of institutions,” says Cavallaro.
The current participant pool still isn’t representative of Europe’s higher education landscape as whole, though the alliances are becoming more diverse. This is partly because a lot of the usual suspects were already in alliances, thus making the potential applicant pool smaller, the researchers note. It is also partly because the Commission boosted the amount of money available for bigger alliances, incentivising existing ones to expand. In addition, there was simply more time to look for partners, as the subsequent calls weren’t rushed out like the first one.
Why does it matter?
Why should the alliances be inclusive? For big institutions to pull together resources and work together across borders is a hefty task. Asking them to work with a more diverse range of institutions makes it even harder.
Institutions may have their own reasons not to partake. For some central and eastern European institutions, it’s a difficult due to an ingrained aversion to working together, uncertainty about long term funding for the scheme, and concerns that these networks will create a conduit for brain drain, according to a recent Science|Business article.
But Lambrechts says the question goes back to the root of the initiative – is it about excellence or cohesion?
For her, the answer is clear, “Cohesion is a key idea for the EU, and any initiatives that involve public resources in any way should be used for the benefit of the entire population,” Lambrechts told Science|Business. “The alliances should be working not for the benefit of the participants but the whole higher education system in Europe.”
This means involving all institutions of all shapes and sizes,, not just those at the top of the rankings, or engaged in education and research.
The key piece of advice for participants is patience. “I would suggest to the existing alliances or newly forming ones to not expect to see results too early and to expect difficulties as they start working with institutions in different contexts, where the working practices and experiences are different,” says Lambrechts “There will clashes either cultural or related to costs.”
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