Universities of the future

Universities across Europe are undergoing constant transformation. As part of society, they share and influence wide-ranging changes in our world. Over the past decade, many have experienced profound institutional- and system-level reforms, and they continue to change as challenges evolve and new opportunities arise. Major drivers for change are concerns over sustainability, the future of our planet, societies and the economy, changing demography, scientific and technological developments, such as digitalisation, as well as a changing geopolitical context.

The quest for renewal and transformation is present at various levels, institutional, societal and political, and the coronavirus crisis is accelerating certain aspects of these developments.

At the European level, political interest in universities has increased in recent years and EUA has been a major player in the debate. This started with the European Universities Initiative in 2017-2018, which put universities and higher education high on the European agenda with a focus on the development of transnational university alliances as an important cornerstone of a future European Education Area. More recently, a much broader debate on the future of universities has emerged and EUA is active more than ever in looking towards the institutional transformation needed to develop towards shared goals, such as innovative learning and teaching, Open Science and Open Access.

As the university sector takes ownership of this debate, EUA is working to articulate its own vision about what Europe's universities should look like in 2030.