GRIFE Finnish Education and Global Perspectives Seminar Series XX

We are delighted to invite you to the upcoming GRIFE Seminar Series XX, titled " Strategic Positioning of Young Universities in Europe and Asia ”.

In recent decades, the higher education landscape has witnessed the emergence of numerous young universities, which have reshaped the global higher education ecosystem and challenged traditional institutional hierarchies. This study investigates the strategic positioning patterns of young European and Asian universities using data from the Times Higher Education Young University Rankings 2024, analyzing over 500 institutions across 51 countries to address whether these universities exhibit strategic diversity or converge toward similar institutional models. The results reveal four distinct strategic profiles—High-Quality Comprehensive Strategy, Balanced Development Strategy, International-Focused Strategy, and Resource-Constrained Strategy—demonstrating significant diversity in how universities balance research, teaching, internationalization, and industry engagement, with these profiles leading to significantly different ranking performance outcomes. This study challenges assumptions of inevitable institutional convergence, highlighting the importance of strategic choice and diversity in higher education systems, and provides strategic guidance for university leaders and policymakers to support diverse higher education ecosystems.

Please register from the following link for online and onsite participation!