The European Commission recently incentivized universities to establish alliances in order to institutionalise regional collaboration through the European Universities Initiative (EUI). Alliances are envisioned to maintain Europe’s global position and enhance regional integration. Their mission statements are ways of signalling identity and legitimacy and are used for strategic planning and performance frameworks. This study explores how 31 EUI alliances communicate their identity using insights from institutional theory and strategic balance. Findings reveal that EUI alliances anchor their identity within low risk and easily accepted areas of value to stakeholders and project homogenisation in regionally institutionalised areas. However, alliance missions also articulate in varying levels of detail a range of ambitions in claims, which demonstrate areas alliances chose to distinguish themselves. The findings provide insight into how alliances exert bounded agency within a regional initiative and highlight potentially competing tensions within the initiative.

欧盟委员会最近鼓励大学建立联盟，以便通过欧洲大学倡议（EUI）将区域合作制度化。联盟旨在维持欧洲的全球地位并加强区域一体化。他们的使命宣言是表明身份和合法性的方式，并用于战略规划和绩效框架。本研究探讨了 31 个 EUI 联盟如何利用制度理论和战略平衡的见解来传达其身份。调查结果显示，EUI 联盟将其身份锚定在低风险且易于为利益相关者接受的价值领域，并在区域制度化领域实现项目同质化。然而，联盟使命还以不同程度的细节阐明了一系列主张的野心，这表明联盟选择在哪些领域脱颖而出。研究结果提供了关于联盟如何在区域倡议中发挥有限代理作用的见解，并强调了该倡议中潜在的竞争紧张局势。