What if?
Exploring possible futures of transnational cooperation for Europe’s universities
This report analyses external drivers of change in six dimensions (political, economic, social, legal, technological and environmental) and outlines four different forecasts of possible futures for transnational university cooperation with partners in Europe and beyond.
Throughout 2023, the European University Association’s Universities and the future of Europe (UniFE) project gathered and consulted university leadership, national rectors’ conferences and university associations, experts and student representatives for wide-ranging discussions on the future of Europe and our sector’s place within it. Inspired by futures thinking and strategic foresight methodologies, the UniFE project explored likely influences on the future of university cooperation for Europe’s universities in the next decade.
This report, which distils key insights from the project, may serve as inspiration for university leaders, as well as university staff who advise on policy, develop institutional strategies and manage European and international cooperation.
This report’s forecasts are neither predications, nor normative visions, but tools to reflect and open our minds to a broader field of possibilities. Readers are invited to immerse themselves into different futures through scenarios with stories, that are set in a particular future forecast. They can then draw their own conclusions for their particular institutional context and the direction in which they wish to shape their university through concrete action.
