The Interplay of Policy and Practice on Europeanisation in the Context of the European Universities Initiative

ABSTRACT This paper examines how Europeanisation unfolds within European University Alliances (EUAs) by analysing the interplay between EU‐level policy frameworks and locally embedded academic practices. It advances a conceptually integrated approach situated at the intersection of European integration studies, international relations and higher education research, with the primary aim of explaining how Europeanisation is produced and practised at the subnational level rather than merely assessing policy implementation outcomes. The paper rests on a three‐part conceptual framework combining subnational Europeanisation, paradiplomacy and science diplomacy, and explicitly links these perspectives to concrete organisational mechanisms within EUAs: knowledge‐creating teams (KCTs). Subnational Europeanisation provides the overarching analytical lens, conceptualising universities as subnational actors through which European norms, values and governance logics are interpreted and institutionalised. Paradiplomacy specifies the mode of agency exercised by universities, capturing their capacity to initiate and govern transnational cooperation. Science diplomacy, in turn, explains the functional logic through which academic collaboration serves simultaneously epistemic, relational and integrative purposes. In conclusion, KCT structures are examined as sites where EU policy objectives are translated into locally embedded practices (vertical Europeanisation) while also enabling peer‐to‐peer learning, norm diffusion and institutional convergence across borders (horizontal Europeanisation). The analysis demonstrates that Europeanisation within EUAs is not a linear process of policy transmission but a negotiated, uneven process shaped by institutional capacities, power asymmetries and strategic interpretation. By systematically connecting the conceptual framework to specific organisational mechanisms, the paper contributes to the analytical relevance of paradiplomacy and science diplomacy to Europeanisation research, and positions EUAs as active arenas—rather than passive instruments—of European integration in higher education.