This book expands our understanding of the so-far-overlooked territorial dimension of the EU’s knowledge policies crossing policy area boundaries.
It examines how EU regional policy, endowed with substantial financial resources, influences the comparatively weakly endowed EU higher education policy. The analysis finds that (sub)national actors not only implement EU regional policy instruments but also actively shape EU policies. By showing this co-shaping transcends policy fields, the book provides new insights into the (feedback) effects of EU-funded cross-border cooperation. It shows that regionalization endeavours are political projects of regional and EU decision-makers, which remain exposed to Europeanization processes in the long term.
This book is of key interest to scholars and students of European policymaking, EU integration, EU regional policies, EU public policy courses and more broadly to geography/development, social policy, governance and education policies.
Table of Contents:
1. Introducing the territorial dimension of EU knowledge policies 2. Conceptual and theoretical grounds to cross policy areas and borders 3. Higher education institutions at the crossroads of different European Union policies 4. EU governance architectures and the role of higher education institutions in EU regional policy: Regions for the knowledge economy? 5. How higher education regionalization in border regions relates to Europeanization: Innate or incentivized? 6. How Europeanization influences the governance and practice of higher education regionalization: Changing rationales through increased capacities? 7. How Europeanized higher education institutions re-use EU funding and shop for EU policy-making venues: Feeding Back for Good? 8. Conclusions and implications for the EU and beyond: Towards educational regions?
About the Author :
Alina J. Felder-Stindt is a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Economics and Political Science (SEPS) at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. She earned her PhD from the University of Bamberg, Germany.
Review :
“Presenting a novel research agenda and rich empirical analysis at the cross-roads of EU regional policy and higher education policy, Alina Felder takes the reader into the laboratories of European integration. She finds ‘circular Europeanization’: EU policies provide incentives that trigger cooperation among regions. But over time, cooperation becomes a taken-for-granted way of doing things, which in turn feeds back and shapes EU knowledge policies. Thus, Europeanization is as much ‘from the top’ as it is ‘from below’. A fascinating reading for political scientists and scholars of public policy in Europe.”
Claudio M Radaelli, European University Institute, Italy
“An important study in EU policy dynamic, providing an in-depth look into interaction between policy domains usually studied in isolation from each other. Felder developed a robust theoretical framework, whose relevance goes well beyond regional and higher education policy domains.”
Martina Vukasovic, University of Bergen, Norway
“A comprehensive and insightful analysis of cross-border cooperation in higher education, this book masterfully connects three decades of EU regional policy with academic collaboration initiatives from Interreg to European university associations. Essential reading for scholars, policymakers, and practitioners, it offers valuable perspectives on how EU funding has transformed regional integration and higher education across Europe.”
Justin J.W. Powell, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg
