SPOTLIGHTS
From Widening to Transformation: What the Unite!Widening Conference Means for the Future of European Higher Education
Key takeaways from the Unite!Widening Conference "From Widening to Transformation – European Universities as Engines of Inclusion and Innovation", Brussels, 17-18 June 2026
For more than a decade, the European Union's Widening policy has aimed to strengthen research and innovation capacity in countries with lower participation in EU Framework Programmes. At the Unite!Widening Conference in Brussels, however, the discussion moved beyond reducing disparities. The central message was clear: Widening is becoming a strategy for transforming the European Research Area (ERA).
The conference was organised by the Unite!Widening Project, a complementary project under the umbrella of the European university alliance https://www.unite-university.eu/. Representatives from the European Commission, universities and research organisations explored how higher education institutions can become engines of innovation, inclusion and long-term competitiveness.
Widening is delivering results
The European Commission presented encouraging evidence that Widening measures are working. Since Horizon 2020, instruments such as Teaming, Twinning, ERA Chairs, Excellence Hubs, ERA Talents and the European Excellence Initiative have strengthened research capacity across Europe. The dedicated budget has increased from €0.9 billion under Horizon 2020 to €2.9 billion under Horizon Europe, reflecting its growing strategic importance.
Proposal success rates from Widening countries are now approaching those of non-Widening countries, collaborative participation has increased significantly, and Horizon Europe has attracted many first-time participants. Across the DEEPEN partner countries, the average success rate was 14,69% in July 2026 (vs. 17,89% across all member and associated states), with Croatia (15,18%) and Greece (15,12%) leading the group (all numbers from July 2026, Horizon Dashboard by the European Commission). Moreover, amongst the DEEPEN partner countries, Greece and Slovenia have profited the most from Horizon Europe funding with a relative financial return per GDP of about 220% and 180% respectively (see European Commission, Data on Framework Programme participation, 2025). At the same time, participation in highly competitive programmes such as the European Research Council (ERC) and European Innovation Council (EIC) remains comparatively low with 203 ERC Principal Investigators 203 (vs. 16.644 in the non-widening countries) and 284 institutions participating in EIC grants (vs. 7.676 in non-widening countries). These trends highlight the need for stronger institutional support and research management.
Transformation requires institutional change
A recurring message throughout the conference was that lasting impact cannot be achieved through individual projects alone. Sustainable success depends on strengthening research management, governance, doctoral education, technology transfer and international cooperation.
The presentation by ESEIA (European Sustainable Energy Innovation Alliance) highlighted that the main barriers to widening are structural rather than scientific. Fragmented innovation ecosystems, limited university–industry collaboration, administrative complexity and insufficient research infrastructure continue to hold institutions back (see also Spotlights on Regional Learning Ecosystems and Digitalising Higher Education below). For example, Bulgaria has a highly fragmented research system, comprising 91 public research organisations and 51 higher education institutions which affects the efficiency and performance of the national R&I ecosystem, whereas in Romania, the number of public sector researchers is stagnating well below the EU average (see European Commission, Data on Framework Programme participation, 2025).
ESEIA's analysis therefore points to long-term institutional reform, permanent collaborative structures and capacity building as the most effective pathways towards transformation.
Research careers matter as much as research projects
The SECURE2 project demonstrated that widening is also about creating attractive and sustainable research careers.
Rather than focusing solely on research funding, SECURE2 supports institutions in implementing the European Research Career Framework through tailored action plans, transparent recruitment, tenure-track-like career models and practical toolkits for institutional reform. The project addresses challenges such as talent shortages, fragmented career paths, brain drain and limited mobility by helping universities create better conditions for researchers across Europe.
This broadens the understanding of widening: strengthening institutions also means investing in the people who make excellent research possible.
Excellence is a two-way exchange
The presentation by Lviv Polytechnic National University offered a powerful perspective from Ukraine.
Despite operating during wartime, the university coordinates several Horizon Europe projects and contributes internationally recognised expertise in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and digital reconstruction. Rather than portraying widening as knowledge flowing from stronger to weaker institutions, Lviv Polytechnic argued that partnerships are increasingly reciprocal: widening institutions contribute resilience, specialised expertise and real-world experience that strengthen European research as a whole.
As one of the conference's central themes, widening is increasingly becoming a two-way exchange of excellence.
Trust is the foundation of transformation
The FunGlass Centre at Alexander Dubček University of Trenčín (Slovakia) illustrated how institutional transformation takes time.
Following the launch of its Teaming project in 2017, the centre experienced several years without success in Horizon collaborative calls. Rather than pursuing short-term funding opportunities, FunGlass invested in research infrastructure, administrative capacity, international partnerships and researcher development. These long-term investments later resulted in much stronger participation in Horizon Europe projects.
Its experience reinforced another recurring conference message: successful widening depends not only on funding, but on strategic patience, institutional commitment and, above all, trust between partners.
Looking ahead
The conference also looked beyond Horizon Europe. The European Commission outlined its vision for the next Framework Programme (FP 10, 2028–2034), proposing more targeted support while recognising the progress many widening countries have already achieved. Specifically, a division of the Member States into “transition” vs. “widening” countries was proposed (see also Science Business, October 2025). Amongst the DEEPEN countries, Greece and Slovenia would “upgrade” to transition countries with positive relative financial return per GNI (2021-2025) under Horizon Europe; and Innovation Scoreboard Index (2023-2025) above 75% of the Union average. Future measures for both widening and transition countries are expected to focus increasingly on networking, talent development, knowledge valorisation and national reforms while maintaining excellence as the guiding principle for funding decisions. Widening countries would receive capacity building measures in addition.
Perhaps the most important takeaway from the Unite!Widening Conference is that the narrative has fundamentally changed. Widening is no longer primarily about closing research gaps between countries. Instead, it has become a strategic instrument for strengthening Europe's innovation capacity, resilience and competitiveness.
Dr. Cornelia van Scherpenberg
iit Berlin
Regional Learning Ecosystems in Southeast Europe:
When Digital Platforms Become Learning Infrastructures
Southeast Europe is in the midst of a profound transformation of its higher education, research, and innovation systems. Universities across the region operate under conditions of fragmented governance, limited research funding, and sustained brain drain. At the same time, there is growing recognition that no single institution can address these challenges alone. Collaboration, openness, and shared learning are increasingly seen as prerequisites for long-term resilience.
In this context, digital platforms are gaining importance—not simply as technical solutions, but as shared infrastructures that can connect institutions, regions, and knowledge communities. When designed strategically, such platforms have the potential to support regional learning ecosystems that align education, research, and innovation with the broader goals of the European Research Area (ERA).
From Digital Tools to Shared Infrastructures
Across Southeast Europe, digital platforms are gradually evolving into the backbone of collaborative innovation. Rather than functioning as isolated tools, they are increasingly embedded in modular and interoperable architectures that allow institutions to adapt solutions to their specific contexts. Cloud infrastructures, open research data platforms, and microservice-based systems make it possible to connect diverse actors without enforcing uniformity.
Several regional initiatives illustrate this shift. Open science infrastructures developed through projects such as NI4OS-Europe (National Initiatives for Open Science in Europe) have helped establish shared standards for research data, interoperability, and trust across national borders. Similarly, living lab environments and digitally supported entrepreneurship networks demonstrate how platforms can enable continuous exchange between universities, industry, public authorities, and civil society.
These developments resonate with the Quadruple Helix model—a framework for innovation that emphasizes collaboration between four key actor groups: higher education institutions, industry, public authorities, and civil society. In this model, innovation is not driven by academia alone, but emerges from sustained interaction across sectors. Digital platforms provide the connective infrastructure that allows such interactions to scale beyond individual projects and institutions.
The Missing Link: Organizational Learning
Despite these promising examples, many higher education institutions in Southeast Europe remain caught in a project-driven mode of digitalization. Insights from the DEEPEN project reveal that digital initiatives are often heavily dependent on short-term external funding and lack long-term institutional anchoring. As a result, platforms are introduced, piloted, and sometimes abandoned—without being embedded into organizational routines or strategies.
University leaders interviewed in North Macedonia and Kosovo described their digital landscapes as fragmented and tool-oriented. While individual staff members frequently innovate within their courses or departments, institutions struggle to capture and institutionalize these experiences. Digital transformation, in this sense, remains individualized rather than collective.
This challenge was echoed in discussions at the 2025 European Conference on Educational Research (ECER) in Belgrade, where panelists highlighted that digitalization in higher education is often treated as a compliance exercise rather than a learning process. Institutions adapt to external requirements but rarely develop mechanisms to reflect systematically on what works, what fails, and why. Without such organizational learning processes, digital platforms cannot unfold their transformative potential.
Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Responsible Digitalization
The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) adds another layer of complexity to digital transformation in higher education. Universities across Southeast Europe are increasingly experimenting with AI-supported tools for administration, learning analytics, and teaching. While these initiatives demonstrate innovation capacity, many institutions still lack comprehensive governance frameworks, ethical guidelines, and staff training.
Without adequate oversight, AI risks reinforcing existing inequalities between institutions and regions. More on emerging opportunities and risks of AI adoption in Southeastern European higher education can be found in the related article “Balancing Ethics and Innovation: How AI Is Reshaping Higher Ed in Southeastern Europe.”
Building Learning Ecosystems for a Connected Regional Future
Evidence from research and practice shows that digital platforms are most effective when embedded in broader learning ecosystems. Successful initiatives combine technical solutions with social learning processes such as co-design, peer exchange, and continuous professional development.
Examples from Southeast Europe illustrate this dynamic. Living lab initiatives in Slovenia demonstrate how participatory design can strengthen institutional ownership and long-term engagement. Similarly, digitally supported accreditation and quality assurance systems in Kosovo show how trust-based collaboration can sustain innovation beyond individual funding cycles.
These experiences suggest that digital platforms become transformative only when they function as learning infrastructures rather than isolated tools. By moving from project-based approaches toward networked regional ecosystems, universities can strengthen their institutional capacities and contribute to a more open, collaborative, and resilient European Research Area.
Digitalising Higher Education in Former Yugoslavian Countries
Digital transformation in higher education is often portrayed as a technical upgrade. In the former Yugoslavian countries, however, it is deeply shaped by historical adaptation, political fragmentation, and structural inequalities, with readiness for advanced digital tools, including artificial intelligence (AI), remaining uneven despite formal membership in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA).
Transformation Under Constraint: Wartime Digital and Academic Networks
Contrary to the belief that digitalisation started only after the conflicts of the 1990s, academic transformation took root even during the wars. As investigated for instance in the Erasmus+-funded project CLOUD HED, underground academic networks, notably the Alternative Academic Educational Network (AAN) – particularly active in wartime Serbia (Régent et al., 2025) –, maintained informal ties with European higher education, keeping elements of Bologna-aligned thinking alive despite the turmoil. At the same time, basic internet access was available and used to maintain communication between students and faculty, providing early, pragmatic exposure to digital connectivity.
This wartime digital engagement resonates with broader patterns observed in e-learning adoption across Europe: when mobility is constrained, as also seen during the COVID19-pandemic, digital methods can become vital enablers of internationalisation at home, fostering virtual collaboration even where physical exchange is limited. The SOS_IB case study of digital simulation practice, for instance, found that digital interventions can bridge gaps between institutions with differing levels of international exposure, supporting both teaching innovation and cross-border engagement.
Post-War Reconstruction: Physical Rebuilding Over Digital Strategy
In the 2000s, resources flowed into physical infrastructure and institutional renewal of post-war structures, while strategic digital development was largely postponed. This prioritisation meant that digital adoption entered higher education piecemeal rather than as an integrated system strategy. At the same time, a significant academic brain drain exacerbated gaps in leadership and capacity that are crucial for guiding sustained digitalisation and innovative pedagogies.
Societal Pressure and Institutional Instability
Digital reform is still shaped by societal and political pressures. In Serbia, protests, university occupations, and strikes have disrupted teaching and research, diverting institutional attention from long-term digital strategies. Across the region, political sensitivities complicate cooperation and mutual recognition of qualifications, undermining the interoperable systems envisioned by EHEA reforms. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, ethnic fragmentation of the higher education landscape reinforces administrative silos, limiting coordinated digital development across entities.
Bologna in Theory, Fragmentation in Practice
Although the countries are members of the EHEA, implementation lags behind policy. Inconsistent application of ECTS, uneven quality assurance, and limited recognition of qualifications across borders hinder the development of interoperable digital platforms that are foundational for student mobility and shared data systems. Research on digital transformation in Bologna contexts highlights the importance of tailored institutional strategies: digital tools must align with pedagogical goals and organisational models to be effective.
Digital Divide and AI Readiness
Across the region, a pronounced digital divide persists in the shape of:
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Gaps in digital skills among staff and students;
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Infrastructure shortfalls, especially in rural areas; and
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Limited system interoperability.
These constraints are especially relevant as institutions explore AI applications In systems where student records, quality assurance, and mobility data are still fragmented, AI deployment risks being symbolic rather than transformative. Its effective use requires digital infrastructure, data governance, and pedagogical alignment. Without these foundations, AI risks reinforcing existing inequalities rather than transforming learning experiences.
Regional Cooperation and Digital Integration
AI-enabled digital ecosystems thrive on regional cooperation, shared standards, and mobility. Yet political tensions continue to limit joint initiatives, data exchange, and mutual recognition across borders, complicating efforts to build regional digital education infrastructures aligned with European standards.
From Wartime Resilience to Strategic Digital Transformation
The history of higher education in the former Yugoslavian countries reveals a paradox: innovation and digital engagement occurred even under extreme constraints, yet post-war reconstruction did not automatically translate into strategic digital progress. Early digital communications and informal academic networks helped sustain connections, but reconstruction priorities and long-standing fragmentation slowed coherent development of digital strategies and AI readiness.
The foundations for transformation exist, some laid even amid adversity. The task now is to convert this legacy of resilience into a coherent, inclusive, and future-oriented digital higher education ecosystem that aligns values, policy, and technology for learners and societies alike.
Whether digitalisation becomes a driver of convergence or another layer of fragmentation will depend on the ability to turn past resilience into coordinated, regionally embedded, and European-aligned digital strategies.
Balancing Ethics and Innovation:
How AI Is Reshaping Higher Ed in Southeastern Europe
Southeastern European Widening Countries face the dual challenge of advancing digital transformation while aligning their higher education systems with European policies and standards. The DEEPEN project provides an in-depth analysis of how Widening Countries address these challenges.
As part of the DEEPEN project, leading higher education experts from the Western Balkans - Prof. Marjan Milošević (University of Kragujevac, Serbia), Prof. Dr. Festim Halili (University of Tetova, North Macedonia), Dr. Edita Bucinca (Kosovo Education Center, Kosovo), Irina Geanta (Executive Agency for Higher Education, Romania), and Prof. Vlad Vuković (Metropolitan University, Serbia) shared their views on challenges and opportunities of digital transformation in their institutions and national research sectors.
The experts highlighted that, while universities in the region are becoming central actors for digital skills, innovation, and capacity building (e.g., Serbia, North Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo), many institutions still lack structured university wide digitalization frameworks. As a result, digitalization progress often remains project-based and is dependent on external funding.
Risks of AI Adoption
Digital transformation and AI offer major opportunities, but they can reinforce existing challenges when structural conditions are missing. The DEEPEN experts identified several risk areas:
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Digital inequalities:
Kosovo, Moldova, and Bosnia and Herzegovina show disparities in digital infrastructure between urban and rural regions. Experts stressed that AI technologies may widen this gap when access and skills remain unevenly distributed. -
Inequality between higher education institutions:
In countries such as Albania, North Macedonia, or Serbia, clear differences exist between digital frontrunners and lagging institutions. The absence of overarching institutional strategies can lead to fragmented development paths. -
Lack of digital competence and organizational learning:
Many universities do not adequately prepare faculty and staff for AI-related change. Without systematic organizational learning, risks arise from skill mismatch, lack of acceptance, skills loss, and job insecurity. -
Regulatory and governance gaps:
Almost all studied countries point to missing ethics standards, data protection rules, or systematic governance structures for AI in higher education. -
Declining trust and lack of transparency:
DEEPEN shows that Serbia, Moldova, and Bosnia and Herzegovina suffer from institutional trust deficits that may deepen through the deployment of opaque AI systems. -
Risks of political or economic manipulation:
DEEPEN sees that AI-generated content may be used for political or economic influence weakening the political systems of the countries considered.
Progress and Remaining Gaps
The DEEPEN analysis shows that universities are making progress in deploying AI-supported educational technologies and digital administration tools:
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Individualized learning platforms have been developed especially in Albania, Kosovo, and North Macedonia, where new digital systems (e.g., Shkollat.org, university-level e-learning tools) support personalized learning pathways.
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Digital skills development and lifelong learning are key priorities in Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, where national strategies, digital-skills programs, and EU-funded reforms aim to prepare educators and students for AI.
Despite these advances persistent systemic gaps remain:
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missing system-wide digitalization strategies that connect teaching, research, governance, and ethics;
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insufficient research capacities in AI and data-driven governance;
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lack of institutional learning mechanisms and sustainable forms of regional cooperation
The Way Forward
Given the diverse digital trajectories across countries, the region must rely on cooperation, strategic coordination, and learning institutions. DEEPEN identifies the following priorities:
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developing institutional digitalization strategies tailored to each institution’s capacities;
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fostering organizational learning and adaptive governance;
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aligning national digitalization and higher education policies with EU standards;
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building collaborative networks for knowledge co-creation and innovation on equal terms.
Ultimately, Southeastern Europe’s higher education systems have made important strides in regard to digitalization, but continued progress depends on strategic coordination, robust governance, and a shared commitment to digital inclusion.