Marina Cino Pagliarello Diplomacy is under pressure – from climate change and trade inequalities to military conflicts on multiple fronts. Russia’s war in Ukraine continues to test the continent’s democratic resolve. The crisis in the Middle East underscores the limits of formal diplomacy. Across regions, authoritarianism is on the rise, and even established democracies are […]

Manfred Stock, Alexander Mitterle and David P. Baker What do universities teach us? A common trope in public discourse today is that the university serves as an ideological hub: a place that infuses the minds of the new generations with ideas that threaten contemporary worldviews. In such discussions, the sweeping impact higher education has on […]

Cecilia Ivardi and Linda Wanklin In Political Economy, we have historically examined the policies through which countries acquire skills as a national effort. Traditionally, skill provision has been considered a matter occurring within well-defined national borders. Scholars have investigated how economic elites secure the necessary skills and workforce for industries that foster economic growth (see […]

Myroslava Hladchenko Global university rankings have got prominence in recent decades. Nation-states develop evaluation policies drawing on the assessment criteria of world rankings aiming their universities to take higher positions in these rankings (Salmi & Saroyan, 2007). QS Rankings is one of them. It is a profitable business that generated €46 m in revenue in […]

Marina Cino Pagliarello In the evolving landscape of the global higher education market, higher education institutions (HEIs) have transformed from  ivory towers  into dynamic hubs of innovation and societal engagement. Influenced by technological advancements and the growing complexity of global issues – such as pandemics and climate change – universities now play a crucial role […]

Facilitated by the freedom of movement within the European Union (EU), the Erasmus programme established in 1987, and the Bologna Process initiated in 1999, physical intra-European student mobility has become a taken-for-granted aspect of higher education.

The 2024 edition of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) General Conference took place at the University College Dublin, 12-15 August. The section of our ECPR Standing Group on Knowledge Politics and Policies included 10 panels on topics such as knowledge diaspora, higher education, university governance, science diplomacy, and Artificial Intelligence. This was the […]