Hence it is a time when a possible transformation of higher education
is not only a prediction, but also an assertion that can be supported or refuted by evidence.
Concurrently, it is a potent area for empirically founded studies of whether such framework changing
developments are indeed taking place and what implications can be detected.
The purpose of this report is to review the theoretical and empirical advances in studies that address
the nexus between change and transformation in higher education and European integration, as well
as identifying main approaches to the study of European integration in general that might have a
particular bearing on the study of this nexus. The purpose here is not to rehearse these general
debates or review the latter literature. That is far beyond the scope this report. Instead our ambition
is to point to the varying approaches and strands in theorising European integration that are of
relevance to the study of the transformation of higher education in Europe.