In recent times, the European Union’s external engagement has expanded in originally internal policy areas. This process is particularly intriguing in areas where the EU possesses only supplementary competences. Examining the case of EU higher education policy, this contribution sets out to understand and explain EU external engagement in such areas. To this end, it employs an explanatory framework that argues that EU external action emerges when a structural policy window of external ‘opportunity’ and domestic ‘presence’ opens, which is exploited by ‘policy entrepreneurs’. The contribution compares two pillars of EU higher education policy – the Tempus and Erasmus Mundus programmes – which it sets in relation to the emergence of external action in other EU higher education initiatives. Offering an explanation of why the EU engages externally in higher education, the contribution concludes by discussing the broader generalizability of its findings.

中文翻译：

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机会、存在和企业家精神：为什么欧盟对高等教育采取外部行动*

近来，欧盟的外部参与已经扩大到原先的内部政策领域。这一过程在欧盟仅拥有补充能力的领域特别有趣。考察欧盟高等教育政策的案例，本文旨在理解和解释欧盟在这些领域的外部参与。为此，它采用了一个解释性框架，认为当外部“机会”和国内“存在”的结构性政策窗口打开并被“政策企业家”利用时，欧盟的外部行动就会出现。该贡献比较了欧盟高等教育政策的两个支柱——Tempus 和 Erasmus Mundus 项目——它与欧盟其他高等教育计划中外部行动的出现有关。