The European University Institute is an international intergovernmental organisation. As such it is created and regulated by an international treaty – the Convention Setting up the EUI – signed by its Contracting States. It is not regulated by any national regulation.
The EUI Convention defines three main authorities for the EUI:
The High Council is made up of representatives from the Contracting States to the Institute's Convention, who take the chair in turn. It meets twice a year.
The High Council is the EUI’s highest governance body and is in charge of oversight and steering. It is responsible for drawing up the rules governing its activities. It adopts the budget and appoints the President and the Secretary-General.
To assist it in preparing its decisions, the High Council has set up a Research Council, a Budget and Finance Committee, and a Grants Committee.
A Strategic Standing Committee was created in 2019 as an advisory board to the High Council on strategic matters and certain nominations.
The Academic Council has general powers regarding research and teaching at the EUI. It appoints the EUI’s teaching staff and draws up the rules that govern the Institute’s academic life. It discusses the content and the organisation of research and teaching activities, examines new academic initiatives and discusses yearly evaluations of academic units and programmes.
Its ordinary members are the members of the Executive Committee, representatives of Professors - they constitute the largest group - and representatives of research fellows, academic assistants, doctoral researchers, Master students and non-academic staff. Relevant support services also attend. The Academic Council meets monthly in its ordinary format, and is chaired by the President. Twice a year, the Academic Council meets in its plenary format with the entire faculty.
Members of the ordinary format of the Academic Council
High Council Decision N. 6/2021 of 23 June 2021 [PDF]
Minutes of plenary and ordinary sessions [Intranet, requires EUI Login]
The Principal - or President - of the EUI is Prof. Dr. Patrizia Nanz. The President directs the EUI according to the EUI Convention and takes any decision that does not fall within the terms of reference of other EUI authorities and governance bodies.
The President is assisted by the Secretary-General in performing his organisational and administrative duties. The Secretary-General of the EUI is Ambassador Marco Del Panta.
The President is also supported by the Deans in the development of the EUI strategy.
They are supported by a series of governance and advisory bodies:
A Strategic Standing Committee (SSC) was created in 2019 as an advisory board to the High Council on strategic matters and certain nominations. It is populated by delegations of the Contracting States. The SSC advises the High Council on the EUI's strategy, monitors its implementation according to appropriate indicators and prepares the strategic discussions of the High Council. It also supports the President of the EUI in designing a strategic plan for the EUI.
Membership
The Strategic Standing Committee includes the following members:
a) The previous, current and future High Council Presidents ('Troika');
b) Three other Member States’ representatives are chosen in consideration of the composition of the Troika, to ensure geographic and cultural diversity and to include Contracting States with different sized GDP and population..
The President of the EUI also sits on the SSC, and up to three external experts can be designated. The Committee is chaired by the current Chair of the High Council and meets at least twice per year.
The Budget and Finance Committee advises the High Council on all matters with financial implications which are submitted to the High Council.
It does this by giving opinions and making recommendations, and takes decisions on financial matters.
It is made up of representatives of the governments of the states party to the Convention.
The principal mission of the Research Council is to provide external advice to the Institute’s governing bodies on matters pertaining to research.
Its aim is to stimulate and maintain scientific excellence and strengthen the Institute's research through high-quality peer review. It discusses and formulates policy and strategy with a view to reinforcing the Institute’s scientific profile to attract the best learners and academics at all career stages.
At its annual meeting the Research Council decides on the resources to allocate to research projects submitted by EUI professors. It also conducts the cyclical self-evaluations and external evaluations of academic units.
The members of the Research Council are twelve highly qualified persons from outside the institute. (RC page). The Research Council is chaired by one of its external members. The President is an ex-officio member.
The Executive Committee regularly meets to support the President in the day-to-day management of the Institute. It prepares decision-making documents for the Academic Council, and a number of tasks are delegated to the Executive Committee by the Academic Council.
The Executive Committee is composed of Heads of Academic Units and of the five Deans Representatives of the master students and the doctoral and postdoctoral researchers also sit on it.
Members of the Executive Committee
Minutes of plenary sessions [Intranet, requires EUI Login]
The Management Team acts as the consultative body for support functions and for the coordination of the academic and support units.
It is composed of the Directors of service, a representative of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, a representative of the School of Transnational Governance, and one representative each for the Max Weber Programme and the four Departments' administrations.
It meets at least once a month and is chaired by the Secretary-General.
EUI Convention
Last update: November 2024
English (590 KB - pdf)