Higher education: an international vocation

Some countries, often by virtue of historic links, but also in order to promote their teaching and language throughout the world, pursue active policies aimed at international university cooperation, and subsidise educational and cultural
establishments (British Council, Edufrance, etc.). Globalisation and its corollary, a high demand for international training and increased competition between universities, have prompted the Union to go further while leaving the individual Member States responsible for their higher education systems: by stepping up aid for university systems in the third countries, by improving the international attractiveness of its universities and by encouraging them to cooperate with each other and with the universities of the other regions of the world.