European(ised) Universities and Cross-Border Cooperation – A Comparative Case Study at the Intersections of EU Regional and Higher Education Policy

As a key element of EU regional policy, cross-border cooperation has manifold linkages with other areas of European cooperation such as education. Despite the inclusion of higher education in EU regional policy, little research has been dedicated to the relationship between EU policy frameworks for regional development and higher education. The proposed paper is part of a doctoral research project, which investigates how the implementation of EU regional policy reinforces Europeanisation in the area of higher education. The proposed contribution consists in a systematic in-depth comparative analysis of two cases of cross-border cooperation in higher education to explore processes of both EU regional policy implementation and Europeanisation of higher education. To explore the assumed intersection of EU regional policy with higher education policy the choice of case is determined by European Territorial Cooperation programs based on structural funding, i.e. Interreg. The selected cases – the University of the Greater Region and the International University of Lake Constance – differ in terms of the scope of cooperation and in terms of the financial support from the EU. This difference is useful to account for how EU frameworks matter for cross-border cooperation in higher education. What unites the selected cases is their participation in the respective Interreg programs in two subsequent programming periods, which allows for tracing their influence on EU regional and higher education policy development. The analysis is guided by the following questions: How does including the area of higher education in EU regional policy influence cross-border cooperation in higher education? How does the implementation of EU regional policy measures addressing the area of higher education contribute to the Europeanisation of higher education? Existing surveys at the crossroads of EU regional and higher education policy such as by the Association of European Border Regions only provide a mapping of cross-border cooperation frameworks in higher education. To go beyond their description, the proposed contribution goes beyond the analysis of documents issued by European, national and regional actors. The mechanisms of policy design and implementation, the actions and perceptions of actors dealing with EU regional policy in the context of higher education are unveiled through field research at the premises of the selected cases and respective EU and European institutions. In-depth semi-structured qualitative interviews with higher education institution representatives, decision-makers and other regional policy stakeholders were and will be conducted during multiple field research periods in November 2019 and March 2020. When analyzing the findings, an experimentalist governance perspective accommodating insights from European integration theory is adopted to map out patterns of Europeanisation in both considered policy areas. The expected results of the endeavor are insights into EU policy implementation processes beyond legalistic approaches. Moreover, the results shall reveal feedback loops towards the EU-level created by the implementation of EU regional policy addressing the area of higher education. This will help to provide a deeper understanding of recent developments towards a more integrated European higher education area such as via the European Universities initiative.