Regional Universities: A DiplomMill or a Global Research Center

1

• Regional UniversitiesA Diplom-Mill or a Global
  Research Center?
• Dr. Péter Dobay
• Pécs University
• Faculty of Business Economics
• dobay_at_ktk.pte.hu

2
Questions to discuss

• Production, value, customer, product?
• Broadening the Triple Helix model
• Does locality determine today the university
  strategy?
• A draft proposal strategy for a regional
  university
• Some references

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Premissas do we all agree?

• A modern university produces KNOWLEDGE in two
  main forms
• educated, creative, innovative people, graduates
  researchers
• basic applied research results to support
  industrial and other development
• Producing means
• Response to demands, give value to customer
• Effectivity requirements to fulfil
• Institutes cover 40-70 of their budget from
  their own initiatives and activities

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1. Applying business terms COINs
Other expectations
1.
Specific requirements
2.
Common requirements
3.
Asymmetric information supply
Parents, families
Public services
Businesses
Wouldbestudents
4.

• COIN Identify your customer

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Applying business terms Customer Value from a
university
General European graduateintelligence
Capabilities values in basic research
1.
General skills in field
Peak results in global research world
Specific knowledge skills in field
2.
Knowledge asset in RD fields of the region
Extras
3.
Will to initiate participate in regional RD
processes
A graduateprofessional
RDservices results
4.
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2. Broadening the Triple Helix
University
1.
2.
BusinessCommunity
3.
Local / StateGovernment
4.
Usual roles ordering responding - financing
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A need for change one reason
Number of students faculty in Hungarian HE
000 250 200 150 100 50
1937 1960 1970 1980 1990 1993 1995
1997 2000
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Higher responsibility from all?

• A need for broadening the educational portfolio
  - new developing professions need new
  trainings- less full-time students foster
  internationalization and / or opening towards
  part-timers eLearning
• A professional liaison office, a reachout
  center orother solutions generate more external
  effects
• A special regional policy calls the interest of
  all partners
• Building a regional network needs close
  co-working activities from university leadership
  towards regional governmental bodies and towards
  business represenatives
• Communicating the idea of a Learning Region
  should convince all partners the University is
  never more an academic ivory tower, with
  never-ending demands for a higher budget to spend

1.
2.
3.
4.
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3. Locality vs. global scope

• Academic research has ever been a global issue,
  and this tradition should not change
• In a welfare society students can be mobile,
  selecting far venues to learn (even for only a
  semester abroad), if language barriers are easy
  to break global universities emerge like in
  the Middle Ages!
• Additional university services can be globally
  marketed (texbooks, cases, PhD, lecturers,
  softwares, special trainings, research projects,
  educational methods, etc.)

1.
2.
3.
4.
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Local strategies How to be regional?

• Knowing the borders (scope) of the
  region-understand declare locality
• Understanding the business development trends
  of the region - Role A/ Serving regional labor
  market
• Offering a broad ed training portfolio Role
  B/ Serving community demands
• Structuring resources in line of the above -Role
  C/ Governing with a clear strategy
• Orientating research to local innnovation -
• Role D/ Applied research, reachout centers

1.
2.
3.
4.
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Conflicts with stakeholders
A possible, new, regionally anchoreduniversity
strategy
1.
Academic conflicts
Community conflicts
2.

• Excellent departments may intend to be
  global in their research ed
• High-tech resources might not be utilized
  well for local research
• Traditional ed programs courses are easier
  to run than creating new ones
• Local problems are less attracting to solve
  with a traditional publish- or-perish attitude
  of faculty

• Research seems to be a strange, unusual
  solution to regional problems
• Local industries do not show a clear demand
  for basic and further ed
• No real links exist between the academia
  local agents
• Local problems are usually solved by faraway
  consultants and researchers a change problem

3.
4.
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4.Types of behavior towards the region
Robustglobal researchactivityprimePhD
Forced Frustratedresearchactivity
1.
Peakresearch
Somead hocregionalconsulting
Peaktraining
2.
PhDs
Wide, overlapping, not planned not regionally
responsible,ad hoc academic portfolio, with
some diplom-mill
Narrowportfolioof trainings(field methods)
3.
Umbrellaportfolio
Diversifiedbranches over the region
4.
Medium/large size
Small size
University level of regional responsibility
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University or Faculty Strategy?

• A case of the Pécs University
• A formal integration of 11 (different level)
  schools in 2000, with 30,000 students
• A formal strategy in education portfolio
• Overlapping offers to the region country
• Gazella and mamut faculties
• Forcing faculty solidarity in financing
• Centralisation (strong leadership) vs. autonomy
  of faculties (partial interests)?
• Centers of Excellence neglect regional
  communities and needs
• Serious financial and governance problems
  CONCLUSION?

1.
2.
3.
4.
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A proposal for a Regional strategy with global
focus
Allocation of resources for a university
portfolioa double pyramid model with satellites
Spin-offs
Excellented forms fieldsfor global presence
Public ed.consultants
Flagshipresearchers research
Consultants
Valuable MA postgradprogrammes for the region
Someprestigous research groups
Companyconsultants
Incubator
RegionallydeterminedBA/BScprogrammes
Broad portfolioof regional consultancy applied
research
Short courses vocationaltrainings
Training Center
Liaisonoffices
A desirable mission The University is serving
the Region, with responsibility to recent and
future labour market needs and demands for
applied research, demonstrating new trends in
industry and social development with its centers
of excellence in education and research
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Summary closing question

• University roles have to be re-thought all over
  the world, concerning radical changes in economy
  and in the society the vacuum does not exist
• Responsible strategy in an EU environ should
  include new forms, new relationships, new
  methodsin education, in research, in governing
  the institute
• and the final question is always
• Who can (and/or intends to)
• - tolerate in enrolling in teaching portfolio
• - support in content links in research, and
• - finance in structure and in workings
• your beautiful, autonomous university strategy?