This study looks at the research education in universities and is aimed at assessment of the Baltic – Nordic Higher Education Establishments’ participation to the EU Horizon 2020 Framework Programme on basis of the open source data. The author analyses university interest in Horizon 2020 support for doctoral students’ training, correlation between university PhD intensity and involvement in research projects, correlation between Horizon 2020 success and World university rankings, participation comparison of  Nordic universities versus the Baltic ones. A brief overview of universities’ commitment to Sustainable development goals is also included.

The study concludes that Nordic universities are more thoroughly engaged than the Baltic ones and are taking advantage of the Horizon 2020 opportunities; however, Estonia has a remarkable success. Although Nordic universities are looking for collaboration partners further into Western Europe than to the neighbours across the Baltic Sea, for teaming activities Baltic universities choose Nordic mentors. Nordic universities are more involved in activities leading to excellent research. On contrary – in many cases participation of Baltic universities is limited to coordination of research activities without a direct access to the leading European science communities and respective possibilities for students.