Towards a reticular University: The Creative Europe Programme and the research partnerships

This essay investigates the university partnerships supported by the Creative Europe Programme in the two-year period 2021-2022 within the wider programmatic framework of university reformism and discourse. The aim is to connect the sociological analysis of the financed projects to a European comparative reflection starting from critical interpretations provided by some eminent scholars in the field of Higher Education influencing a “reticular” vision of Universities. Autonomy of research, scientific synergy and communicative reliability are three fundamental tenets, when Universities must turn accountability into an ethic and economic mission. For this reason, the research partnerships boosted by Creative Europe emphasize the necessity to focus on the transformation of the University from Ivory tower into a democratic environment, as Habermas pointed out on the construction of an open and participative community. With reference to the social and cultural dimension of some university projects financed by the Creative Europe Programme, this essay critically examines the metaphorical interpretations of universities perceived as “social”, “civic” and “networked” from John Goddard metaphor of university as an engaged environment to the “multiversity” probed by Clark Kerr and Nicolas Dirks, to the more recent Roberta Bassett’s “Omniversity”.