Abstract

The paper proposes to analyse the main events surrounding the foundation of the European University Institute as the principal cultural and research organism that evolved from the integration process. The paper focusses on the presidency of Émile Noël with the aim of fully grasping the interconnections between the building of Europe and transnational education capable of forming profoundly European intellectuals, public officials and politicians. The creation and development of the Eui are indeed associated with the entire process of integration and the presidency that best represented such a process was that of Émile Noël, a key figure in the European Commission, of which he was secretary general from 1958 to 1987. The first part of the paper analyses the historiography and certain primary sources to identify the main themes that gave life to an intense debate on the required nature of European universities. The second part, however, focusses on the presidency of Noël and the role that the most senior official of the European Commission wanted to provide the Eui. The originality of our research lies in its analysis of the long-running debate on the Institute in the moment in which, during Noël’s presidency, European integration and education finally came together.