Résumé
Undergraduate mathematics programmes in Europe are typically delivered in hierarchical structures of modules whose contents are in general assumed to be quite similar across universities. These programmes and the mechanisms through which they are maintained, revised and developed, have so far not been the subject of systematic research, as most research (including intervention-based research) takes the programme for granted. This paper furnishes a theoretical and methodological framework for undertaking didactic research in this area and provides some results from a first study in four universities in Denmark, France, Germany, and Spain.