Navigating diverse demands: mission and vision statements of top-ranked European higher education institutions

This paper investigates how highly ranked European higher education institutions (HEIs) interpret their social roles and construct institutional identities through their mission and vision statements. By doing so, we gain insights into how HEIs construct the meaning and goals of higher education and respond to the diverse and ever-changing demands of stakeholders, including academic staff, society, and students. To address these questions, we conducted content and cluster analysis on the mission and vision statements of the European HEIs listed among the top 200 in the Times Higher Education World University Ranking 2023, identifying four HEI profiles: progressives, inward-focused, socially embedded, and new managerialists. Although the profiles display relative differences in institutional attributes such as age, ranking, and funding type, they reveal significant content-based differences regarding their primary stakeholders (society, students, and academic staff) and associated social roles. The academic significance of this study lies in its continental-level analysis, examining the similarities and differences of mission and vision statements beyond national-level specificities in a research area typically focused on national-level analyses. Moreover, it connects typically separate research focuses by examining the content of mission and vision statements in detail while also considering institutional characteristics, providing a nuanced picture of European HEIs' mission and vision statements and emphasising the content-based characteristics decisive in constructing identity narratives. Concerning practical implications, our study offers a broader repertoire of HEI self-definition for decision-makers, highlighting opportunities for HEIs to emphasise their belonging to or distance themselves from particular profiles based on their characteristics and social roles.