We explored several key aspects of these changes on September 17 at Gellért Campus at the presentation of Educatio journal’s second annual edition titled Higher Education – Society – Economy. 

The studies published in this issue address the most pressing and mutually reinforcing challenges facing higher education today. The authors examine the impact of the rise of artificial intelligence, the evolving forms of cooperation between universities and industry, the transformation of student roles, the spread of short‑cycle programmes, and the emergence of new European university alliances. Together, these contributions illustrate how these trends are reshaping institutional structures, academic practices, and the future directions of higher education. 

• The impact of artificial intelligence: István Szakadát provides a historical overview and outlines possible future trajectories to show how AI is transforming knowledge production and teaching. The questions remain open, but finding answers is essential for universities. 

• Changing university–industry relations: Adél Hőgye, Szabolcs Rabb and László Trautmann demonstrate that universities are increasingly becoming entrepreneurial actors, while chambers of commerce play a key mediating role in knowledge transfer. Their empirical research offers novel insights into companies’ motivations for engaging with universities. 

• Shifts in student composition: Marianna Szemerszki highlights that an increasing proportion of students now work full‑time, a trend that demands new forms of institutional flexibility. 

• The rise of short programmes and micro‑credentials: András Derényi analyses the growing popularity of short‑cycle training formats. These programmes are flexible and labour‑market oriented, yet their integration into traditional structures raises significant regulatory and quality‑assurance challenges. 

• Institutional transformation in European higher education: Ildikó Hrubos examines the new university alliances established at the initiative of the European Commission, which aim to overcome long‑standing obstacles of the Bologna Process. 

• The European Degree initiative: The alliances seek to strengthen international mobility and deepen cooperation across academic fields. Their most ambitious goal is the introduction of a European Degree, requiring automatic recognition of studies and the creation of an independent accreditation system—major institutional reforms. 

Following the introductory remarks of editor and sociologist Ildikó Hrubos, the authors presented the findings of their studies, which were then discussed in a series of expert commentaries. Contributions by Adél Pásztor (Head of the Institute of Social and Political Sciences, Corvinus University), Márton Barta (BME Fenntartó Zrt., former head of the Rajk College for Advanced Studies), and Boldizsár Nagy (student, head of the Széchenyi István College for Advanced Studies) further enriched and nuanced the trends outlined in Educatio 2026/2. 

Photo credit: György Kenéz