ABSTRACT
The European Universities Initiative (EUI) aims to revisit the concept of higher education in Europe by boosting collaboration within newly created transnational networks of universities. Despite the political prominence of the EUI, few empirical studies investigate how such deep and intensive international collaboration has affected the organisation and work of universities. This chapter reports the results of a large research project aimed at evaluating the impact of alliances on the organisation and performance of Polish universities. Specifically, this study focuses on non-academic staff, often regarded as “unnoticeable” but still critical for the universities’ performance. Based on empirical evidence collected from seven Focus Group Interviews (FGI) Polish universities, this chapter examines how the EUI has affected the role, position and working culture of non-academic staff.
