The European Universities Initiative: Unpacking Decision-Making in Higher Education Alliances
Master thesis
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https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3012730Utgivelsesdato
2022Metadata
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Sammendrag
The European Universities Initiative (EUI) is a relatively new scheme of higher educationcollaboration and is set out to create multilateral alliances between higher educationinstitutions across Europe, working towards strengthening quality and competitiveness inhigher education and ultimately becoming `the universities of the future ́. The pilot call in2019 resulted in the establishment of 17 alliances, and the second call in 2020 resulted in 24new alliances. Altogether there are now 41 higher education alliances including universitiesfrom both the European Union member states and partner countries. Although internationalstrategic alliances in the field of higher education and research collaboration have become anew empirical fact (Thomas, 2014), there still is a gap in understanding how these bodies arebeing organised and governed. This study seeks to address this lacuna by investigating howdecision-making processes take place in two EUI alliances – Circle U. and FORTHEM. Thestudy is qualitative in character, focusing on semi-structured interviews with key actors fromthe alliances and review of relevant literature and policy documents. Conceptually the studybuilds on decision theory, whereby four decision-making models have been chosen andoutlined; the rational actor model, the collegial model, the political model and the garbage canmodel.
The study investigates two main stages in the alliances – the initiation stage and theconsolidation stage. Key findings from the initiation stage reveal that both Circle U. andFORTHEM were formed based on existing connections between the participating universities,however they also revealed that Circle U. was more strategically selective than FORTHEM atthis stage. In the consolidation stage, the findings reveal Circle U. and FORTHEM as havingformalised and hierarchical structures, although decision-making power have been delegateddownwards to the lower levels. It is also shown that much of the structure and goals hadalready been chosen ex-ante by the Commission. Regarding decision-making the findingsdemonstrate that decisions are made by consensus in both alliances, and that resourcedependency, soft power, trust and tensions underpin these decision-making processes.
Keywords: alliances, collaboration, European Universities Initiative, internationalisation,Circle U., FORTHEM, decision-making, decision theory