University mergers on the rise, says EUA

The European University Association has highlighted an increasing trend to combine institutions, following a study of university mergers across Europe.

The report, published on 23 April, says that mergers are of “growing importance throughout Europe”. The researchers identified a total of 92 mergers that took place between 2000 and 2015, noting a particular increase in mergers during the second half of the study, from 2007.

This was largely caused by a wave of mergers in Denmark in 2007, and a trend towards the creation of federated “university communities” in France in 2014-15, the report said.