The aim of this paper is to shed light on the concept, to present it in a multi-perspective, i.e. interdisciplinary or, as the European Commission puts it, "holistic" way, as it was intended. Moreover, the aim of this paper is to explain the critiques of the concept, i.e. the system of projects and policies that come from both institutions and active and inactive citizens, both categories that are crucial for its implementation. To achieve this, it is necessary to clarify concepts such as "knowledge society", "lifelong learning", "citizen participation” and "social inclusion". The aim of the paper is to explain scientifically the position of legal systems within this dynamic and conceptual environment. Moreover, the aim is also to warn against certain dynamic legislations that sometimes accelerate rapidly and may lead us to question the sustainability of the whole existing European legal system (with its history and inherited mechanisms), at least for the next 30 years or so. The subject of the paper is a concept that can only be understood through the prism of an interdisciplinary approach. The field of European higher education is an intangible political, economic, social as well as sociological, scientific and technological creation that characterises the social development in Europe in the 21st century. The concept must be presented not only historically, but also as broadly interdisciplinary as possible. Moreover, we must consider that its emergence stems from historical ideas, and also from its practical implementation in increasingly diverse and changeable ways. We must also not forget that the legislative changes that take place as an implementation of this concept are usually only the last phase (and at the same time very changeable). As the leading historical intellectual power, based on the cultural West, modern Europe functions almost exclusively through the institutional prism. It creates concepts that, over time, permanently change the political reality of Europe, from the nation-states of the 19th century to the modern highly mobile and multicultural centres. In the latter context, the multicultural, Europe no longer lags behind the inherently multicultural United States. Europe represents its Western counterweight, but also its symbolic "sister" on the increasingly diverse cultural map of the world. Moreover, it is important to explain these conditions and influences, historical and contemporary multi-scientific and multi-technical trends, but also the inevitability of certain global imperatives such as the reduction of emissions into the atmosphere in order to reverse the global warming and pollution that threatens all terrestrial life.