Using the Classification in the European Research Area

The development of the European Research Area (ERA) has, like the creation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), clearly contributed to the growing attention given to institutional diversity of higher education in Europe. At first glance, the integration of Europe's research capabilities and the ongoing diversification of the European higher education landscape seem to be two processes leading in opposite directions and therefore hardly compatible. However, both initiatives, ERA and EHEA, are a challenge to universities, encouraging them to develop individual profiles that respond to the strengths and ambitions of the individual institution.

The idea of implementing the ERA, mainly driven by the European Commission, and the endeavours of institutional profiling, mainly driven by higher education institution leaders, are therefore not contradictory to each other. Actually, both processes are rooted in and spurred on by the same developments at systemic level. Globalisation – understood in this context as accelerated technological progress, internationalisation of markets and innovation systems – creates the need for the European Union (EU) as well as every higher education institution in Europe to respond to challenges to their competitiveness.