What Is the Role of the EU in the Global Market for Higher Education and Research?

This paper discusses the influences the EU exerts globally in the areas of research and higher education from political science and legal perspectives. At first glance, it is not obvious that a regional organisation would have any role beyond coordinative support in sensitive policy domains such as higher education and scientific research. The EU has, however, been playing a role since the very early years of integration which has been expanding since the 1990s with new initiatives being increasingly developed and centralised at the supranational-level. This paper examines European knowledge policy cooperation against growing regionalism in the global knowledge market and the unique institutional arrangement and actor constellation that make up the EU. Furthermore, this paper will discuss the emergence of a potential EU model as regards higher education and research and consider whether and how this model could be promoted and defended globally in this post-Brexit period.