EUTOPIA Special Issue Sets Out Visions for Responsible Internationalisation in HE
EUTOPIA Special Issue Sets Out Visions for Responsible Internationalisation in HE
How can universities chart a course through the current era of geopolitical tensions and unprecedented global crises? That is the question at the heart of the latest issue of EUTOPIA Review, jointly coordinated through the Warwick-led EUTOPIA group on Responsible Internationalisation (RI). The new publication brings together perspectives on how transnational cooperation can be safeguarded, sustained and invigorated through a conscious approach to dialogue, policies and risk management.
Contributors to EUTOPIA Review Issue 4 tackle some of the specific interests and concerns that universities face in the late 2020s, such as the role of science diplomacy, the balance of risk in research security, how to move from rhetoric to reality in fair partnerships (e.gs, South Africa and West Balkans), and the role and values in integrating international students. Since 2023, George Christou (Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor: Europe) has spearheaded discussions within EUTOPIA that are now selectively encapsulated in the present issue. The articles build upon a series of EUTOPIA events during 2024 and 2025, which culminated in a Brussels-based EUTOPIA Summit on Responsible Internationalisation in November 2025, convened by Warwick with involvement from the European Commission, policy networks, and wider European University Alliances.
Global Partners have assumed an important role in framing the problematics, with Stellenbosch supporting Workshop 1 (hybrid), and active involvement from EUTOPIA’s non-European partners as panellists and participants. The extra-European perspective is particularly evident in EUTOPIA Review in Sarah Van der Westhuizen’s (Stellenbosch University) Global South perspective on RI, and the contributions of two further Global Partners (Monash and Kyungpook) to Fodor’s survey. EUTOPIA has consequently tackled RI as a joint endeavour that seeks to leverage good practice from all sixteen Alliance partners. As the Review’s academic coordinator, Isabel Craveiro (NOVA University of Lisbon) notes in the introduction, Responsible Internationalisation is supporting universities in all parts of the globe to progress from transactional to transformational approaches to international partnership. A previous speaker in the EUTOPIA RI events, Albin Gaunt (Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and HE: STINT) sets out both the norms and practical tools on how universities can manage this transition.
The issue provides case-studies on recent practice and future proposals for action. Ivan Svetlik (University of Ljubljana) presents a regional lens on how fair partnerships are being enacted through EUTOPIA’s work in the West Balkans. Eric Piaget (VUB Brussels University) conceptualises how individual universities and European University Alliances can use Responsible Internationalisation as a roadmap to deliver effective Science Diplomacy for social good. Carlotta Pisano and Joao Amaro de Matos (NOVA University of Lisbon) review how one EUTOPIA initiative (Ideas Club) has sought to effect such change upon the intercultural integration of students. Warwick’s James Burnett (Head of Research Governance and Compliance) provides an institutional perspective on approaches to good practice, to complement Adina Fodor’s (Babeş-Bolyai University) survey of seven EUTOPIA institutions’ approach to research security. Taken together, these articles suggest a plurality of approach, yet also provide concrete recommendations for action, such as early career training, intercultural training programmes, shared vocabularies and voluntary channels for trusted-partner dialogue.
The 2026 edition of EUTOPIA Review is available in email from Stephen Soanes or download as PDF, see also EUTOPIA Responsible Internationalisation.