ABSTRACT
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, politicians at European level as well as university rectors and vice-chancellors debated the controversial idea of a European supranational university. This chapter examines these discussions and shows that heads of European universities affected – as informal players – the political decision-making process at Community level. The chapter furthermore sheds light on the interests represented in these discussions, and argues that cultural cooperation was only one driving force for the supporters of the idea of a supranational university, besides economic as well as Cold War policy issues at that time. Heads of universities in Western Europe acted as strong defenders of the nation-state universities, not least driven by the fear that their own educational establishments could be marginalised. The analysis of the discussions serves as an example to demonstrate that European integration must be understood as a result of both formal and informal bargaining. Moreover, this contribution shows that the boundaries of both formality and informality were often fluid, and that formal structures were frequently revised and adjusted in the course of informal interactions.
