EUA Convenes University Leaders on Democracy and Polarisation

The European University Association (EUA) held the first in-person meeting of its new Thematic Peer Group on "Universities and democracy in times of polarisation" in Brussels on 26 March 2026, bringing together 19 university leaders from 14 countries across the European Higher Education Area.

Countries represented at the Brussels meeting include Belgium, Croatia, France, Georgia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. The group convened to exchange perspectives on growing societal and political polarisation across Europe and its impact on higher education institutions, with the first workshop facilitated by EUA's Policy Coordination and Foresight team.

The peer group's work throughout 2026 will feed into a practical toolkit for university leaders dealing with these pressures within their own institutions and communities. The peer group format that the EUA uses across a range of themes is designed to foster peer learning and collaborative problem-solving among senior university staff rather than producing a traditional policy report.

A second, earlier peer group focused on institutional data also held its first online meeting in March, as EUA continues to broaden the range of topics on which it supports member universities through structured peer exchange. Updates on both groups are available on the EUA news pages.