The acceleration services should consist of (i) a coaching and support mechanism for HEIs to pursue institutional transformation in various areas, (ii) a methodology for an investment strategy to facilitate access of higher education institutions and surrounding ecosystem to support to deliver on the chosen transformations, (iii) a monitoring mechanism to assess progress in the transformation efforts.

HEIs, including universities, are crucial drivers of knowledge ecosystems, and increasingly also of innovation ecosystems. The new ERA is expected to strengthen the R&I dimension of HEIs through a comprehensive institutional Higher Education Transformation Agenda in synergy with the European Education Area, reinforcing their role as drivers of change, fostering their recovery, enabling shared objectives between the EU and Member States’ initiatives to support higher education institutions in their efforts to transform on their education, research, innovation and service to society missions. To deliver on the transformation agenda for HEIs a large-scale concerted action in support of the institutional transformation efforts of HEIs will be required, including a standard methodology to develop roadmaps of EU, national and regional actions and investment measures for institutions or alliances.

Acceleration services should address all possible R&I areas of the Higher Education Transformation Agenda such as: (a) empower HEIs towards developing shared R&I strategies that deliver on Europe’s challenges with critical mass; (b) facilitate the sharing of capacity, infrastructure and resources through collaborative settings, such as the European Universities initiative; (c) improve the attractiveness of researchers’ careers, including through reform of the career assessment and incentives regimes; (d) facilitate co-operation with surrounding R&I ecosystem actors; (e) support the transition to knowledge- and digitally-driven HEIs that mainstream Open Science practices and include research and innovation outputs in teaching; (f) engage citizens in solving societal challenges; (g) support institutional change through inclusive gender equality plans.