EU universities 'too homogeneous' to be competitive[fr][de] 

Speaking at the 2008 European Business Summit on 22 February, academic and industry representatives agreed that the European higher education system is in need of rapid, major diversification to enable its universities to participate in today's global competition for the very best minds, funding and reputation.

According to summit participants, other reasons behind Europe's poor competitiveness in the world's higher education system include chronic underfunding, over-regulation of university governance structures, lack of autonomy and an isolationist mindset which prevents cooperation between universities and other societal actors, such as industry and business.

Creating sustainable partnerships between universities and businesses was one of the ways forward identified to overcome these problems. However, more university autonomy is needed to enable this - both to seek outside funding and in its subsequent management, as well as to decide upon education and form outside partnerships. 

Speakers also agreed that it is not just about business-academia partnerships but also concerns the need to create an interface between industry, business and primary and secondary education. 

They added that business involvement earlier on in the education system could help reduce the worryingly high numbers of early drop-outs from the education system and boost interest in science education, in that pupils and students would have contact with real life and see, for example, how mathematics could serve them later on in life.

Meanwhile, at a side event of the European Business Summit, Commission President José Manuel Barroso was handed a book showcasing an example of a successful joint venture between some 30 Dutch companies and 147 pre-college schools in the Netherlands (see EurActiv 17/03/2006). 

The ventrue called Youth and Technology Network Netherlands (Jet-Net) helps, since 5 years, schools "enhance the appeal of their science curriculum by using a great variety of activities" and allows students to "gain a better understanding of their future career prospects in industry and technology".

"Businesses must get interested in education - from primary education up to life-long learning - whereas schools and universities need to open up to the knowledge and influence of businesses," said Education Commissioner Ján Figel’, adding that the "classical isolation" of higher education institutions is not the answer to today's innovation challenges.

Dr. Craig Barrett, chairman of the board at Intel said that he would like to see multiple EITs (European Institutes for Innovation and Technology) in Europe. Europe needs "more competition between higher education institutions, students and countries as well as close association with industries". He argued that the lack of strong competition between European universities is, in general, bad for the quality of higher education.

Professor Frans van Vught, a board member of the European University Association (EUA), noted that competition between universities for the best minds, funding and reputation is nowadays global and that European universities do not have the financial means to win this competition.

According to Prof. van Vught, the reasons behind European universities' low competitiveness are four-fold. "First, we have a historical problem of under-funding. The US spends 100% more on higher education. Furthermore, the some 4,000 US higher education institutions are far more diverse compared to the some 4,000 European institutions, which are very homogeneous." Additional reasons put forward by Vught include strictly regulated governance structures, which limit the autonomy of higher education institutions, as well as an old-fashioned mindset according to which universities need to be protected from church, state and societal influence.

"Universities need sustainable partnerships with business to overcome these problems," said van Vught, admitting, however, that in order to achieve these partnerships universities need to show businesses that they have something that is interesting for them. If universities are to sell themselves to business "what we sell needs to be worthwhile for our client," said van Vught, who also noted that currently, EU business and industry invests more in university R&D outside the EU than within it. 

"Let entrepreneurs come to the universities. After, there is no reason for the EU not to be competitive," said Professor Jan-Eric Sundgren, senior vice-president of Volvo. However, he underlined that the mindset cannot be changed over night, saying "it will take time". Sundgren also stressed that it is not just universities that need to cooperate with businesses, but also primary and secondary education needs an interface for business-school collaboration. "The European Roundtable of Industrialists puts lot of effort into creating interfaces between schools and businesses at national, regional and local levels," he said, adding that teachers have a particularly important role in creating this interface.

"Kids in school need to have some contact with the real world and business can help in this," agreed Signhild Arnegård Hansen, president of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise. "The education system is the main supplier of workers for companies and this should be highlighted in the system," she said, also urging a shift from simply educating the masses to investing in human beings by educating quality, competitive individuals. "Emphasis needs to be shifted from quantity to quality," she underlined.

"We need to both retain talent in Europe and attract highly skilled people, who may well create jobs," said Sergio Giacoletto, executive vice-president of Oracle EMEA. If, in the past, IT jobs moved to India and China due to cheaper labour, these jobs were now located there due to the "quantity and quality of skills," he said.

To see Sergio Giacoletto commenting on the modernisation of universities and the future of knowledge and technology transfer between business and academia, please click here .