The overall relationship between HE and Society is changing from minority/exclusive to majority/inclusive and from state funded/protected to market-driven/competitive. But the pace (and sometimes even the direction) of these changes does not fit a simple policy algorithm. The relationship between 'higher education' and 'society' is the product of the immediate environment within which each institution operates, which may range from local to global and which is subject to statutory and customary influences that are always complex and often historically rooted. Any 'European' dimension tends to spring from these historical roots. The value to higher education of belonging to a growing European community presently appears to be appreciated more by newly joined states, particularly because HE is one of the few areas where there is a shared agenda for change.

Change in European HE cannot be 'managed' centrally. At best it can be influenced through mechanisms that legitimately operate at a supra-national level. Ensuring the portability of qualifications is one key driver as is the establishment of common definitions that allow one system to be compared with another or for national actions on inclusion or access to be bench-marked at the European level. And in some areas, such as establishing definitions of what constitutes a disability, there may be a need to provide a statutory, though still flexible, framework.