Projects as Sites of Experimentalist Governance and Europeanization: Border Region Universities in Focus

Abstract

European Union (EU) funding relies on short‑term, project‑based instruments while pursuing long‑term strategic policy objectives. Existing research rarely examines how these project‑based instruments contribute to the interpretation and evolution of these objectives as articulated in EU governance architectures. Addressing this gap, project‑mediated Europeanization is theorized: a mode of EU influence that emerges when projectified policy delivery structures enact an experimentalist governance cycle of goal translation, implementation, reporting, and revision. Governance architectures define EU priorities and strategic frames, while project cycles create feedback that enables iterative reinterpretation of these priorities. Empirically, the study examines how higher education (HE) institutions in cross‑border regions interpret and enact strategic EU goals through European Territorial Cooperation (Interreg). Focusing on the University of the Greater Region (UniGR), a network of HE institutions across Belgium, France, Germany, and Luxembourg, the analysis draws on document analysis and semi‑structured interviews with academic staff, administrators, and policymakers at regional, national, and EU levels. The findings show that projectification enables alignment with EU opportunity structures while providing room for local reinterpretation of strategic goals. HE institutions act simultaneously as implementers of EU policy and as representatives of regional interests, revealing their dual role in shaping Europeanization from both above and below. This interplay exposes tensions between short‑term project logic and long‑term visions and demonstrates how project‑based governance extends EU influence in areas of limited formal competence.