European Universities for Entrepreneurship:
Context of the Research
The development of a knowledge-based society in Europe is a priority for national governments and for the European Commission. In all modern societies, universities are the main “knowledge factories”, partly because they produce most of the fundamental research that leads onto later applications.
A university, especially in Europe, tends to be a long-established organisation, but one that is constantly changing. This is a challenge for those that wish to understand it and to improve its effectiveness. The longevity of a university is not accidental: it is associated with the university’s knowledge production processes.
This project will look at the internal workings of universities, and how their respective national planning and funding arrangements affect them. It will seek to identify steps that can be taken to improve their effectiveness as knowledge producers and as knowledge transmitters in Europe today and in the future.
EUEREK IS A FRAMEWORK 6 PROJECT OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Project Objectives
The project involves researchers from the UK, Sweden, Finland, Spain, Poland, Russia, Moldova and IIEP (the International Institute for Educational Planning, a UNESCO agency).
Key Issues
The project addresses the following key issues: -
1. What role does the “European university” play in knowledge production and transfer?
2. What changes, within the institution and nationally, are needed to improve its effectiveness in these respects?
3. Are there good models from which other European universities might learn? Are there problems in transferring these methods?
Further Information
European Universities for Entrepreneurship: their role in the Europe of Knowledge is a Framework 6 Project of the European Commission, project reference CIT2-CT-2004-506051. The first interim results were published in 2005 with a full interim report in mid-2006, and the final report in 2007.
Please contact Dr Paul Temple p.temple@ioe.ac.uk for further details.