The European University looks ahead towards the Future

Abstract

Many are the signs which indicate that, over the last years, particularly since the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, preoccupation with the University and its future has intensified dramatically throughout Europe. As can only be expected, the essential nature of the university institution in this ‘knowledge society’ in which we live has become plain to every European government. All of them are now searching for forms of consensus which will, firstly, give the European university a competitive edge over those of other developed countries, such as, for instance, the USA or Japan. On a second level, however, such consensus would permit specific countries and cultural hubs to play a major role, endowing them with a leading position in the university field, and consequently in cultural and scientific matters. The European Commission has indeed done a great deal in this respect. But there is still a great deal that it has not done, simply because it has been unable to: university policy —like education policy in general— remains the jealouslyguarded preserve of each of the nations that make up the European Union.