UIIM: Why should HEIs be ‘entrepreneurial’?

The role of HEIs has taken a dramatic shift over the last few decades, expanding on their traditional roles in education and research (Etzkowitz, 1998). According to Gibb, Haskins, Hannon and Robertson (2012) , HEIs are facing more complex and less certain funding structures as well as a globalised market place.

Their role is changing, focusing to a greater extent on the need to contribute to society in a more meaningful way through knowledge and technology creation and transfer/exchange, the so-called ‘third mission’ of the HEI.

Entrepreneurship is increasingly prominent in HEI teaching and learning as it has been recognised as crucial for creating jobs and growth within an economy as well as a means of increasing the competitiveness of a region, state or country. Europe needs more people who are highly skilled, knowledgeable and innovative in order to become a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy.

Europe 2020, the EU’s growth strategy for the coming decade, highlights higher education as a key policy area where collaboration between the EU and Member States can deliver positive results for jobs and economic development. Higher Education Institutions are focusing on how their missions, strategies and behaviours need to be adapted to address these challenges with a particular emphasis on the “entrepreneurial university”…

Read the full story  in the ‘Entrepreneurial Universities’ issue of the University-Industry Innovation Magazine.

Authored by Rebecca Allinson and Zsuzsa Javorka of Technopolis