Six
years ago, in November 1998 University Transylvania Brasov hosted an
International Conference under the main title “Universities
in their social and economical environment” . 40 lectures and rapports
were presented during the two days of the meeting grouped on 4 workshops. The
participants were representatives of universities, of industrial enterprises,
of social organizations from
Two
years before the Brasov Conference ,in October ’96, another university town
in Romania- Craiova hosted a Conference in the same thematic frame, entitled “The
University/ Industry cooperation - a
double-way relation” .
In
October 2000, another Conference, this time dedicated to Continuing
and Open Distance Learning but also involving the connection between
academic and nonacademic institutions was held in
All
these meetings were organized under the auspices of TEMPUS Programme
Why
this special interest in the TEMPUS of
The
answer stands on a reality with which Romanian universities, but to some
extent all the European universities are confronted in our days –namely,
with the fact that the universities should overpass their traditional
assumptions and enhance a new strategic approach to their local & regional
environment.
Few
European universities have changed fundamentally their management in response
to this new strategic approach. These are the so-called entrepreneurial
universities, like Warwik in
For
all the other universities the accomplishment of this new strategic
development require an increased capacity to interact with the economic &
social environment .This involve a permanent communications with the customers
that will allow the universities to find the needs of the people for training
and professional re-conversion, but also the demands of the enterprises for
Scientific and Technological Transfer. In order to respond adequately to all
these needs and demands ,universities should create new structures for the
management of the co - operation with the surrounding institutions and to
adapt the existing ones. An efficient structure proved to be in TEMPUS the
Centers for Continuing Education which involved specialized staff of the
universities who was trained itself for pursuing this new mission.
It
is well- known that the universities that contribute more and better to the
local and regional environment are more visible and consequently, they attract
more incomes and grow more rapidly.
For
the “universities in transition”
like were all the H.E. institutions from the ex-communist countries of
Central-Eastern Europe ,the close connection with the economic and social
sectors was well understood ,as an essential prerequisite for the self-
development. The problem in the Transition from communism to capitalism is
that the both parts, universities and non-university sectors are both poor,
both confuse , vacillating in finding the proper way to the Reform.
This
is why, we were really happy, when after 6 years of running TEMPUS projects
concentrated on curriculum compatibility and university management, a new
strategic phase of the Program was launched under the name of “Institution
building”.
In
brief, the concept of
The
I.B. strategy also involves other forms of collaboration, as the Centers of
Technological Transfer University/Industry or the Centers for Students’
Career Guidance.
The
I.B. has a strong European
Dimension as the “acquis communautaire “ that include European
legislation, settlements and procedures in all the social and economic domains
are usually included in the courses offered by the universities.
The
I.B. also involves a different
approach to the curricula offered to the target groups. Contrary to the
traditional way in which the university solely decides which courses and
applications will be delivered, in the I.B. strategy the courses are
identified by the universities through “needs analysis”, in a dialog with
the beneficiaries.
In
The
experience of the members of the TEMPUS Association in dealing with the
non-academic environment represents a large reservoir of initiatives that
might contribute to a very successful running of the EUI
Net project.
The
large partnership of the EUI Net,
that include representatives of 29 European countries ,under the coordination
of one of the most active Romanian university in the cooperation with industry
that is University “Transylvania “of Brasov, represents a solid foundation
for the achievement of the project expected outcomes.
In
a such thematically transversal type of Network, each project partner comes
with his/her own experience and brings also his/her country practice and
tradition in this complex kind of co-operation between universities and
industry . The Thematic Network projects, in general, offer the best
opportunity to gather ideas and practices, to raise solutions and to develop
initiatives that might contribute consistently to the Progress of Higher
Education in
The
EUI Net project might have a special contribution to the Bologna Process,
taking into account that the differentiation of the qualification levels is a
major aspect in the Bologna Process, and this differentiation can be sustained
only through a close co-operation between universities and the industry, as
well as with other economic and social units.
Though
the closer co-operation between universities and enterprises is widely
recognized as one of the most effective factor for the development of the
economy and society at large, usually the co-operation actions are initiated
by the universities, which in the best academic spirit are the first who hold
the hand. In fact the benefits for both parts are equally distributed.
The
most important benefits for universities from the close co-operation with
industry are the following:
As
regards the industry their main
benefits from the co-operation with universities are the followings:
17 February 2005
Prof.dr. Dan Grigorescu