The Role and Relevance of Higher Education Policy in Eu External Relations

Measures of education policy with aims relating to external affairs that are taken by the EU and not by nation states have barely been considered in academia although their number and financial scope have been growing steadily. These measures, as well as those from other areas, are part of each trade agreement of the EU and serve the purpose of influencing third countries. However, the dynamic inherent to the educational sector differs crucially from the one of other areas. By levering out the mechanisms of unilateral transfer of norms this cooperation facilitates - though contrary to its original purpose of the expansion of the EU's influence, the creation of transnational spaces in the long run.