{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,17]],"date-time":"2025-09-17T03:38:37Z","timestamp":1758080317372,"version":"3.44.0"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"Intellect","issue":"3","funder":[{"name":"ReUni4Future","award":["2022.04049.PTDC"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2022.04049.PTDC"]}]},{"name":"Foundation for Science and Technology","award":["UIDB\/00757\/202"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UIDB\/00757\/202"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>This study aims to analyse, through a case study, how European higher education alliances involving Portuguese public institutions reflect the European integration process and operationalize related concepts in their mission and strategic documents. Using a qualitative case study approach, we analyse the content of key institutional documents \u2013 particularly their mission statements, produced by the selected alliances. Through a thematic content analysis, we identify core themes and sub-themes such as \u2018Governance, Mobility\u2019, \u2018Digitalization\u2019, \u2018Research and Innovation\u2019, \u2018The European Market\u2019 and \u2018European Citizenship\u2019. These dimensions offer analytical insights into the values, strategies and objectives, articulated by the alliance, as well as how they position themselves externally and differ among each other. Our findings suggest that the concern for building a common European identity among the different members of the alliances is a central aspect of these institutions, which materializes mainly at the symbolic level, i.e., in the reinforcement of European values.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1386\/pjss_00059_1","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,10]],"date-time":"2025-09-10T16:33:44Z","timestamp":1757522024000},"page":"295-314","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["European higher education alliances and integration: Evidence from Portuguese universities"],"prefix":"10.1386","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7458-8244","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Filipe","family":"Guerra","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"ISNI: 0000000123236065 University of Aveiro and ISNI: 0000000101903701 CIPES \u2013 Centro de Investiga\u00e7\u00e3o em Pol\u00edticas do Ensino Superior"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3368-3990","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Teresa","family":"Carvalho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ISNI: 0000000123236065 University of Aveiro and ISNI: 0000000101903701 CIPES \u2013 Centro de Investiga\u00e7\u00e3o em Pol\u00edticas do Ensino Superior"}]}],"member":"358","reference":[{"issue":"1","key":"CIT0001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"138","DOI":"10.1111\/hequ.12378","article-title":"Defining mission statements in higher education: Towards a genre perspective","volume":"77","year":"2023","journal-title":"Higher Education Quarterly"},{"key":"CIT0002","unstructured":"Arqus (2022), \u2018Arqus mission statement\u2019, https:\/\/arqus-alliance.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/arqus-mission-statement-v12.pdf. 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Accessed 21 November 2024."},{"key":"CIT0014","unstructured":"EC2U (2025), \u2018Mission statement\u2019, https:\/\/ec2u.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/709\/2024\/07\/20240717-Mission-statement-simplified-EC2U-website.pdf. Accessed 13 April 2025."},{"key":"CIT0015","unstructured":"ECIU (2020), \u2018ECIU University 2030\u2019, https:\/\/assets-global.website-files.com\/562fb917aa38ca2e349b422e\/5fa153b1c8e6ad03c125f699_20201195%20ECIU%20-%20Opmaak%20visie%202030%204.pdf. Accessed 21 November 2024."},{"key":"CIT0016","unstructured":"EU GREEN (2025), \u2018Mission & vision\u2019, https:\/\/eugreenalliance.eu\/mission-vision\/. Accessed 13 April 2025."},{"key":"CIT0017","unstructured":"European Commission (2021), \u2018European education area\u2019, https:\/\/education.ec.europa.eu\/education-levels\/higher-education\/european-universities-initiative. 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