European University Initiative between Vertical and Horizontal Europeanization

European University Alliances (EUAs) have been heralded as a potential vector of increased Europeanization in the Higher Education sector (Fuchs et al., 2023; Gunn, 2020) and have featured so far in several calls for projects which progressively included new opportunities, requirements and challenges. Alongside the calls, the European Commission further initiated actions aiming to encourage the development of European University Alliances in the domain of legal status for Alliances. This initiative was included in the EC's financial plan which indicates its importance for the political agenda of the EC, as potential driver of fundamental change in higher education and stimuli of "Vertical Europeanization" (Wessler, 2008). This paper proposes to analyse the evolutions which can be traced through this initiative, in order to review the shifting emphasis placed on different aspects of the alliances. In the light of the analysis, the paper envisages the evolving challenges facing the alliances and ways in which they play out through everyday practices in "Horizontal Europeanization" (Heidenreich, 2019). Situated at the sub-national level, the alliances involve universities and their local ecosystems in transnational cooperation projects, characteristic of actor-driven "Horizontal Europeanization". Based on a case study of one such alliance, this paper takes a critical look at the way in which "Everyday Europeanhood" (Frame & Curyło, 2022) is experienced by university students and staff involved in alliance activities. Feedback from involved stakeholders draws a complex picture coloured with enthusiasm and empathy, but also mistrust, suspicion, lack of confidence, and administrative hurdles. As a vector of horizontal Europeanisation, the FORTHEM Alliance is not limited to one region or cross-border area of Europe, but spans the different European regions, including both CEE countries (Romania, Poland, Latvia) and Nordic countries (Finland, Norway), as well as Western European ones (Spain, Italy, France, Germany). Although it is specific to this alliance and hence not generalisable, the study provides original sociological insights into ways in which individual actors in the Higher Education sector go about making sense of politically-led top-down (vertical) Europeanization, through their everyday practices (horizontal Europeanization).