The Council Recommendation on building bridges for effective European cooperation in higher education (hereinafter the Recommendation), adopted on 5 April 2022, aims at enabling deeper and more effective transnational cooperation among higher education institutions across Europe. Challenges hampering seamless cooperation have many sources and may require action both at national and EU level. The European strategy for universities, which lists this Recommendation as one of its key deliverables, seeks to "unlock the full potential of the higher education sector as the promoter of skills and knowledge and the engine for innovation and solving societal challenges", and to support the transformation of the European higher education sector. The Recommendation is an invitation to Member States to set a more coherent legislative framework at national level conducive to the effective implementation of transnational cooperation. It aims at strengthening the inclusiveness, excellence, diversity, attractiveness, and global competitiveness of the European higher education sector and to at making it easier for students to study and train in several institutions across the European Union and beyond, thereby benefiting from innovative pedagogies, transnational campuses, and mobility opportunities.