Naslov
The Role of Innovations in Higher Education

Autori
Krbec, Denisa

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Skup
Second Transition Challenge to Knowledge Based Society: What Set of Institutions Create Incentives to Innovation? Interdisciplinary Project, Round-Table

Mjesto i datum
Opatija, Hrvatska, 01.10.2004

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Pozvano predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Domaća recenzija

Ključne riječi
innovation; change; Triple Helix; higher education; Croatia

Sažetak
Centuries ago, Machiavelli said that "there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things". Today we know that meaningful and lasting change within an organization can only emerge from a process characterized by respect for shared values, sensitivity to the anxieties which change may produce, reinforcement for those who are willing to take reasonable risks, tolerance for all participants in the process and incentives to motivate participants to give up what may be a comfortable status-quo. Education historians are already pointing out that the recent history of innovation in higher education is not only a story of rational, incremental change. It is a story of externally driven change, driven by many levels of consumers and specific social entities' needs (states, regions, local communities, businesses etc.). Additionally, we learn from the Harvard Business Review on Change (Kotler et al., 1998) that there are three separate strategic dimensions to change: "simply reserving the right to play by investing sufficiently to stay in the game" ; adapting to change by recognizing and capturing opportunities in existing markets (if they exist!) ; or "shaping" the future by playing a leadership role in managing change, setting the standards and creating demand. A common characteristic of higher education in planned economies was that the system was geared toward producing a predetermined number of graduates with training specified by the government (Woodard 2002). Because government ministries were (and continue to be) the main source of financing for higher education, centralized control permeated the system. Individual institutions were left with little autonomy and little authority to make decisions independent of the ministry. This bred a culture of lack of innovation and risk-taking. Presently, Croatian higher education institutions (university and autonomous faculties belonging to them) are undergoing radical transformation from conservative (or traditional) to modern, innovative, which means socially more effective. The New Act on Scientific Research Activities and Higher Education (accepted July 2003) encourages universities and other higher education institutions to diversify programs, which is leading to a more innovative curriculum, modernization of teaching styles and more widespread use of technology. This "second academic revolution" should be seen also as a marketable commodity ; it's a part of any further economic development. According to Leydesdorff and Etzkowitz (2002), "innovation requires agencies competent and able to assess the possibilities contained in a given situation and aware of the fact that the assessment can always be made more knowledge-intensive". They offered the Triple Helix model that contains some original views of the creating knowledge infrastructure. In the light of these challenges, their opinion about the university's new role is especially interesting for transitional countries. One of the concluding remarks defines a new role of the university as a knowledge-industry, both in its internal development and in stimulating innovation to the larger society. Partly modified, the Triple Helix of university, business, and government is going to be implemented in new organizational mechanisms that promote innovation and new business /entrepreneurial formations. This "commercialization of knowledge" makes universities and other HE institutions (faculties, polytechnics, and research institutes) the key contributors to economic innovation, both as "resource and catalyst" (Chubin, 1994). It should be discussed whether the current economic and social climates in Croatia providing a good general basis for better funding and a positive public image for the university, towards which the community and the region can play essential roles.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Sociologija

POVEZANOST RADA