Universities in a knowledge-based economy: desperately seeking resources

   
 

Statements to be discussed:

  1. Despite the Bologna declaration, continental European universities will remain second choice for the top student because of the awkward financing of higher education. The political room for manoeuvre is too small for substantial student fees or for differentiation in public financing, while European continental philanthropy is focussed on fighting misery, not on promoting excellence amongst others in universities.
  2. The productivity of European university researchers is no longer different from that of its US counterparts. Yet, European business will continue to look towards US universities for their research and development because of insufficient scale of most European university research. Concentration of research within countries is next to impossible. A European-wide division of labour in  in research is unthinkable because of research and techno nationalism in many European national policy circles.
 

Conclusions:

  1. On the competitiveness of European top universities with their US counterparts
    Europe suffers in terms of innovation and creativity from the constant drain of top graduates to the US.
    Although European universities have made substantial progress over the last 15 years, the exodus of top graduates from Europe to the US is likely to continue as long as Europe is incapable to shift financial resources to universities. Such shifts, which might bring Europe in a competitive position, include, aside from more ample and differentiated support from public means, also support from private sources through tuition fees and philanthropy.
    Increased support for universities through public and private finance should not be to the detriment of a further promotion of equality of opportunity. All over Europe there is a need for a substantial increase in participation, in particular from the new socio economic group of recent immigrants with parents with little education.

  2. On the competitiveness of European public research
    The time is over in which Europe lagged in research quality to the US and other areas in the world. Today, research quality (in terms of publications in refereed journals and in citations) is on par with that elsewhere. And yet, Europe lags in the translation of good public research to innovation. This has in part to do with a lack of appropriate incentives. Government does not hold major parts of public research accountable for innovation out of political correctness for the protection of “pure” research. For another part this is due to a lack of the scale of research where a more substantial size might have a greater impact on innovation.
    It is high time that European governments include “innovation” as one of the purposes of public research in national legislation. “Innovation” should also be rewarded in the financing of public research. Member states and the EU should focus on means to stimulate the economies of scale in public research.
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  Last updated: January 31, 2005