Senior managers from European universities will decide today whether to merge the CRE (Association of European Universities) with the Confederation of Rectors Conferences.
If the CRE, meeting in Norway for the association's bi-annual conference this week, agrees in principle to the merger, a ballot will decide on the chief personnel for the new body and further negotiations will take place to decide the details.
The CRE is an organisation of more than 500 universities from across Europe, while the confederation is a European Union association of vice-chancellor organisations.