Higher education and economic innovation, a comparison of European countries

Abstract

This paper compares higher education policies across thirty two European countries, using the contribution to economic innovation as a benchmark for the comparison. We suggest that an increase in university autonomy and public funding, that we qualify as 'empowerment', positively affects the research and education performance of universities, and more importantly the innovation potential of countries. We subsequently formulate policy related recommendations for Europe.

University autonomy: Improving educational output

“…There is considerable variation in both the level of autonomy and the level of funding across Europe [3]. The countries with the highest levels of expenditure per student are not necessarily the ones with the greatest amount of university autonomy.…”

“…The rank is a quasi-indicator of university performance, both in the education and research domains. Another study shows the separate role of autonomy for 32 European countries: an additional unit of organizational autonomy is associated with a 13% higher likelihood of being ranked as a top 500 university (in proportion to the population of the country) [3].…”

“…Regarding financial autonomy, the following policy variables are relevant for universities' performance [3]:…”

“…For these 32 countries, several different university performance measures are used to establish the relative role of autonomy in educational performance [3]:…”

“…Increasing evidence suggests that universities will be better suited to pursue the goals of adding value to the "talent" or "competencies" of their graduates as well as improving their research output if given more autonomy and sufficient funding by public policymakers [2], [3]. The economic benefits of a university education are increasingly being recognized, while advanced competencies are needed for non-routine work in order to facilitate innovation and economic growth [4].…”