ABSTRACT
The circulation of academic staff is a crucial yet often overlooked dimension of EU integration, facing persistent legal and structural barriers. The conventional approach anchored in the free movement of workers inadequately reflects the flexible nature of academic careers, hindering recognition of qualifications, cross-border recruitment, and the portability of social entitlements. To overcome these limitations, supranational action has focused on short-term mobility programmes, among which the European Universities Initiative (EUI) stands out as a transformative step. Unlike previous EU actions, the EUI embeds mobility within long-term institutional strategies, fostering the development of joint curricula and integrated campuses. By promoting “brain circulation” rather than “brain drain”, it has the potential to reduce asymmetries between Member States, while also adapting to new paradigms of virtual and carbon-neutral mobility.
