Higher aspirations: an agenda for reforming European universities

European growth has been disappointing for the past 30 years, remaining persistently lower than in the United States. There is now much evidence that this situation is closely linked to the state of innovation and higher education in Europe. How can the European Union and its member states ensure that Europe’s higher education systems achieve their dual goal of excellence with equal access for all? In the innovation economy of the 21st century this question – and Europe’s answers to it – will literally be of vital importance for the continent. This book presents new findings and makes concrete suggestions to Europe’s policymakers about how to ‘connect Lisbon to Bologna’.