"Based on a survey of European universities, this policy brief states that despite the good performance of some countries, Europe as a whole trails the US by a wide margin. The reason is two-fold. First, Europe invests to little in higher education. Second, European universities suffer from poor governance, insufficient autonomy and often perverse incentives. "
Študija sicer resno jemlje šanghajsko lestvico in ugotavlja, da so uspešne tiste univerze, ki so bolje financirane, ki so privatne, ki imajo avtonomijo pri plačni politiki in pri proračunu. Zadnje dve zadevi sta proračunsko nevtralni, politično neobčutljivi in zato primerna bombončka za kak nov poskus Zakona o visokem šolstvu in raziskovalni dejavnosti.