THE INTERNATIONAL ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE EU HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM

Context: The European Union (EU) faces various social and environmental challenges, including significant demographic changes. A key concern is the aging population. According to Eurostat (2023), the EU has seen an increase in median age from 38.7 years in 2002 to 44.4 years in 2022, alongside a decrease in the proportion of young people (aged 0-19) across all Member States during the same period (EUROSTAT 2023). The impact of these trends reaches different sectors, including education. This demographic shift, marked by a decrease in student enrollment, poses a challenge to the stability of educational systems. Recognizing the direct implications for the Higher Education (HE) sector, the European Union (EU) must try to bridge this gap by actively seeking to attract international students from third countries and advancing initiatives aimed at fostering internationalization (European Commission, 2020). In response, universities have embarked on a process of rethinking and renewing themselves, recognizing the need to effectively tackle these societal challenges through enhanced engagement in transnational cooperation (European Commission, 2022). This also represents one of the main objectives of the European Strategy for Universities, claiming that by exchanging talents from all over the world and building strong bridges with partner countries across the globe, universities could gain more power. This will in turn make it more attractive not only as a study destination but also as a homogenous cooperation partner for education, research, and innovation (European Commission, 2022). Methodology: This study aims to analyze the factors influencing the attractiveness of European universities to international students. In developing our methodology, we will rely on a mixed-method approach based on: - Questionnaires administered to the universities - Universities’ websites scraping analysis - Descriptive statistics analysis and econometrics The data are sourced from the European Tertiary Education Register (ETER), an EU-funded initiative that provides both qualitative and quantitative insights into higher education institutions (HEIs). Using a representative sample of Universities, we will examine a range of variables, including the proportion of foreign students at each university, orientations towards master's degree programs, student fee funding, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) program orientations, the number of ERASMUS MUNDUS programs, Third party funding from abroad and participation of HEIs in European Framework Programs (FP) and others. Results: This research highlights the critical factors that enhance the appeal of European universities to international students. We show the existence of antecedents that influences attractiveness for Universities towards increased international enrollment. The findings of this study will provide actionable insights for strategic decision-making in HE policy and institutional planning.