Higher Education as foreign policy: learning, research and exchange in the EU ‘Asia Strategies’

It seems unlikely that the EU will succeed in setting itself free from the narrow-mindedness, so typical for an economic cocoon. Indicative for this state of mind was the triumphant declaration – at the European summit meeting in Lisbon – that the EU should become the ‘most competitive and knowledge intensive economy in the world’ – a rather meagre vision if this is compared with the broad perspective of the founding fathers – Schuman, Monnet, De Gasperi, Adenauer, Spaak, Beyen and many others never thought about integration as an objective in itself but as a means to serve the great cause of peace, reconciliation, prosperity and justice in our world.