Academic Diplomacy and European Alliances: From Continental Strategic Cooperation to Global Collective Soft Power

European Alliances are evolving from experimental pilots into national and transnational engines of cooperation in higher education and research. As they expand, their capacity to function as diplomatic actors on the global stage is increasingly tested and validated. This paper examines how these alliances activate a form of soft power—academic diplomacy—and how they generate distinctive added value for international collaboration in higher education not only in Europe, but beyond it. This happens either as models of cooperation for universities or as unique inter-institutional partners for actors in higher education across the world. It also analyses how such dynamics reshape both national and European visibility and reputation across diverse ecosystems of cooperation at continental and global levels, enabling diverse actors to project values and strategic interests. The analysis is based on a reflection on current developments concerning European Alliances and it will be pursued in a theoretical framework intersecting Europeanisation and internationalisation of higher education as main concepts, highlighting the interplay of top-down and bottom-up processes within and around the European Universities Initiative. Drawing on this, the case study (looking into alliances from the first and second wave) explores how alliances leverage their platforms to engage higher education stakeholders around the world, increase reputation and visibility, promote European values and interinstitutional cooperation models, and enhance academic competitiveness across multiple stakeholder levels—from individual universities to the European Union as a whole.