The Europeanisation of the Universities: Transforming Knowledge Institutions from within, c. 1985–2010

“The Europeanisation of the Universities: Transforming Knowledge Institutions from within, c. 1985–2010”

Introduction
The last decades have seen a profound transformation of the European research and higher education system. At the end of the 1980s, this system mainly consisted of individual universities engaged in bilateral contacts and loose networks. Since then, universities have been linked together through a series of large-scale supranational projects operated by the EC/EU, and we have seen the creation of a common space for research and higher education. These fundamental changes alter the conditions for universities and must be seen as part of the history of European integration, but also as a specific expression of the emergence of the “knowledge society” as a new political and economic order since the 1980s, in which “knowledge” has been regarded as a key asset in post-industrial societies.

This project analyses the Europeanisation of European universities during the quarter-century when this new knowledge space was established, from the mid-1980s to around 2010. The aim is to direct the analytical lens at several different universities geographically located across the continent and shaped by different political traditions, academic systems and historical experiences. At the same time, these universities underwent significant internal changes during the eventful period in focus, partly driven by several pan-European initiatives that were launched: the Erasmus Programme, the Bologna Process, the Framework Programmes for Research, the European Research Council (ERC)—to mention some of the most important.

These Europeanisation processes will be analysed from a history of knowledge perspective where the actors, circulation and dynamics of knowledge take centre stage. In addition, the project aims to contribute to the general theoretical and methodological development within the field of history of knowledge by studying how a specific knowledge institution—universities—underwent an internal transformation simultaneous with changes in the external environment.

The research project “The Europeanization of the Universities: Transforming Knowledge Institutions from within, c. 1985–2010” is led by the Principal Investigator Johan Östling, Professor of History and Wallenberg Academy Fellow. The project is funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and is part of the larger research environment at the Lund Centre for History of Knowledge (LUCK) (see https://newhistoryofknowledge.com).

Theoretical framework
In terms of theory, this project is formulated within a history of knowledge framework. In the history of knowledge, circulation of knowledge has attracted a great deal of attention. United in a professed intention to renounce simplistic diffusionist models, scholars have used circulation to analyse how knowledge moves and is potentially moulded in the process.

The analytical merits of a circulation perspective are evident when studying the Europeanisation of universities. In the early 2000s, the concept “Europeanisation” was commonly used in political science, economics and law but gradually lost some of its analytical power in the social sciences. At the same time, additional understandings of Europeanisation have emerged in other fields, not least in history. In their introduction to a key work in this context, Europeanization in the Twentieth Century (2010), Ulrike von Hirschhausen and Kiran Klaus Patel argued for a broader, more historically open understanding of this process and view Europeanisation as “a variety of political, social, economic and cultural processes that promote (or modify) a sustainable strengthening of intra-European connections and similarities through acts of emulation, exchange and entanglement and that have been experienced and labelled as ‘European’ in the course of history”. This definition also serves as an important point of departure for this project. However, Europeanisation cannot be limited to integrative elements, as it also encompasses fragmentation, conflict and delimitation. Similarly, it is essential that Europeanisation is not viewed in teleological terms with a given end goal.

Methodology, analytical approaches and limitations
The Europeanisation of universities will in this project be studied be using one or several of these analytical approaches:

• Images and ideas of Europe: This approach consists of analysing how perceptions of Europe/the EU were expressed in, for example, key speeches, budgets and internal reports. It will consider how the European dimensions were interpreted in the respective universities, including which threats and promises they entailed and conflicting interests within one institution.

• Internal knowledge production: This concerns the internal knowledge production regarding Europe/the EU carried out at universities. It not only involves establishing analysis and policy units but also more academic-based departments, networks and research centres.

• Forms of organisation: This focuses on how universities as organisations changed simultaneously with Europeanisation. It involves studies on how management structures, administrative flows and forms of organisation were affected by these processes, such as the establishment of new student exchange units and grants offices.

• External contacts: This concerns how new national or international links were established as part of Europeanisation. These could be strategic partnerships, formal partnerships or loose networks.

The period studied extends from roughly 1985 to around 2010. The focus on this quarter-century is motivated by two interwoven circumstances. First, the fact that European cooperation in the mid-1980s entered a new and more expansive phase with a large number of initiatives in the field of research and higher education. If a starting point might be identified as the first framework programme and the establishment of the Erasmus Programme in 1984–1987, the endpoint is the implementation of the Bologna Process and the launch of the ERC in the latter half of the 2000s. Second, this was a period when the “knowledge society” emerged as a new political and intellectual discourse, manifested not least in a series of OECD reports and in the EU’s Lisbon Strategy (2000), aiming to make Europe “the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world”. In other words, what is analysed in this project is a period when a new European context for research and higher education was established. After that—in the wake of the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the subsequent crises in the 2010s—a new era began in the history of the European Union.