The European universities initiative through the lens of organisational actorhood: key transformations, challenges, and opportunities for universities of applied sciences and traditional research universities

The European Universities Initiative (EUI) seeks to drive the transformation of participating institutions by promoting shared governance, challenge-based learning, socially impactful research, and stakeholder engagement. These aspects reflect broader trends in the transformation of higher education institutions, as discussed in the literature on organisational actorhood. From this perspective, we theoretically identify five key transformations implied by the EUI. Using an exploratory qualitative approach, we conducted expert interviews at four traditional research universities and four universities of applied sciences (UAS) to examine how alliance members navigate these key transformations. Our findings indicate that the EUI, through its impact agenda, is not the primary driver of organisational change in higher education institutions but rather acts as a facilitator of institutional reorganisation processes already underway—particularly in the case of UAS. Furthermore, we find that the EUI exerts its most transformative influence in two core areas: the emphasis on the European dimension of university alliances and the implementation of shared governance structures. These aspects are not captured by general transformational trends in higher education, thereby highlighting the EUI’s distinctive contribution to institutional development.