University-Business Cooperation – Current S ituation in Slovakia and Europe

1. University-Business Cooperation – CurrentSituationin Slovakia and Europe Zuzana Melicheríková Vysoká škola manažmentu inBratislava / City University of Seattle Email: zmelicherikova@vsm.sk

2. Contents • Current youth unemployment in Europe and Slovakia • U-B Cooperation • Vysoká škola manažmentu (School of Management) / City University survey • Ineko survey • The Science-to-Business Marketing Research Centre Survey • Recommendations

3. Current Youth Unemployment in Europe and Slovakia • June 2011 – 5 471,773 million young people (under 25) were unemployed in the EU-27– 21,2 % • June 2012 – 5 472 million young people (under 25) were unemployed in the EU-27 – 22,6 % • 2011 – Slovakia – youth unemployment rate - 33,8 % • Unemploymentof university graduates in Slovakia – 30 % • British government survey - the UK university graduates are just as likely to be unemployed as school leavers with only secondaryeducation.

4. U-B Cooperation • University-business cooperation is defined as all types of direct and indirect, personal and non-personal interactions between higher education institutions and businesses for reciprocal and mutualbenefit. • Areas of cooperation: • research and development, • conferences, • mobility of academics, • mobility of students, • commercialisation of research and development results, • curriculum development and delivery, • lifelong learning, • entrepreneurship, • governance.

5. Vysoká škola manažmentu (School of Management) / City University Survey • Survey coveyedin a period of four months (April-July 2011) • Questionnaire distributed by email to 3 540 Slovak employers with the response rate of 8 % • Questionnaire distributed by email to 7 818 teachers employed at the Slovak universities and to 9 020 students studying at the Slovak universities with the response rate of 20.23 % in case of teacher respondents and 15.61% in case of student respondents

6. The Importance of Work Experience

7. Employers’ PreferencesofEducationRatherthanWorkExperience

8. RecentUniversityGraduatesPreparationforTheNeedsofLabourMarket – Opinions on the statement: „University graduates are adequately prepared to succeed on the labour market“

9. LevelofCooperationofThe Slovak Universities and BusinessesfromTheBusinesses’ Point of View – Opinions on the statement: “Cooperation of the universities and businesses in Slovakia is sufficient”

10. Cooperation of The Universities and Businesses in Slovakia – Answers to the question: “Does your company cooperate with any university?”

11. Motivation Factors to MakeThe Business-UniversityCooperationMore Intensive

12. Level of Cooperation of The University and Businesses – Teachers’ and Students’ view

13. InekoSurvey • INEKO(Instituteforeconomical and socialreforms) - organizationthatsupportseconomical and socialreforms by removingthebarriersoflong-timepositivedevelopmentof Slovak economy and society. Itisnon-profit and non-governmentalorganization. • 87 companiesthathave more than37 000 employeeswereinvolved in thesurvey.

14. Results • More than 58 % ofthecompaniesconsiderthequalityofrecentgraduatesasinsufficient. • More thanonethirdofthesurveyparticipantsconfirmedthattheyhave tried to influencetheeducationbased on theirneeds and over 80 % ofthemsucceeded. • Themainformofcooperationofthebusinesseswiththestudentsisadvisingfinalthesis. • Companieshardlyeveraffecttheeducationdirectlyatschools. Onlysomeofthemprovidelectures or create new studyingprogrammes. • Thecooperationofschools and businessesisnotstandard. • More thantwothirdsofthecompanieshave never tried to influencetheeducation in spite ofthefactthey are notsatisfiedwiththequalityofrecentgraduates. • 20 % ofthebusinesseswhichshowedtheinterest to cooperatewereunsuccessful.

15. TheScience-to-Business Marketing Research Centre Survey • Science-to-Business Marketing aimsat a successful marketing ofresearchcompetencies, capacities and results. TheobjectiveoftheResearch Centre "Science Marketing" is to develop, test and provide new models, instruments and proceedingsforresearchcommercialisationthatenableuniversities to markettheirresearch more effectively. • Surveyconveyed in a periodoffifteen and halfmonths in 2010 and 2011withinexisting and candidatemembersofEuropeanUnionandthosepartlycommitted to theEuropeanUnioneconomy and regulations. • Highereducationinstitutionsand academicsweretargetrespondentsofthesurvey. • Surveysent to over 11 000 highereducationinstitutionmanagers. • Responsesobtainedfrom4 123 academics, 1 150 highereducationinstitutionmanagers and 1 007 universityprofessionalsworkingwithbusinesses

16. Areasofevaluation: • collaboration in research and development - CRD, • mobility ofstudents - SM, • commercialisationofresearch and developementresults - CRDR, • lifelonglearning - LLL, • curriculum developement and delivery - CDD, entrepreneurship - E, • governance – G, • mobility ofacademics – AM • Scale: 1 – 10 • 1,0 = no cooperation • 1,1 – 4,0 = lowlevelofcooperation • 4,1 – 7,0 = mediumlevelofcooperation • 7,1 – 10,0 = highlevelofcooperation

17. Results • Acrossallcountriesmost academics are notengagedatall in university-businesscooperation or onlyat a lowextent, whereasattheinstitutionallevel, most highereducationinstitutionsengagein somedegreeofthecooperationwithbusinesses. • 40%ofacademicsare notengagedin university-businesscooperationatall, 20%ofacademicsundertakeonlya lowextentofthecooperationwithbusinesses, whilstonly40%ofacademicsundertakea medium or highextentof U-B cooperation. • Most ofthehighereducationinstitutionssurveyed (92%) engage in somedegreeofuniversity-businesscooperationataninstitutionallevel, withapproximately65%ofhighereducationinstitutionshavingatleast a mediumdegreeofuniversity-businesscooperation.

18. Extent of Academic University-Business Cooperation per Country • According to the perception of academics thebest level of university-business cooperation achieved Lithuania and the worst Poland. • The best value 4,9 of Lithuania still represents only medium level of university-business cooperation. • Slovakia achieved evaluation 4,1= medium level of cooperation. • CzechRepublicwasnotincluded in the report. • TheEuropeanaverageis 4,0 = lowlevelof U-B cooperation. • The best results are achieved in the area of research and development collaboration and the worst in the area of governance. • Slovakia also reports the best results in the area of research and development and the worst in governance.

19. Extent of Higher Education Institution University-Business Cooperation per Country • On the institutional level Ireland achieved the best university-business cooperation score – 6,9 = mediumlevelof U-B cooperation. • Slovakia reached the worst score – 4,6 = mediumlevelof U-B cooperation. • The average of whole Europe is 5,7 – mediumlevelof U-B cooperation. • The best results are again reached in the area of research and development collaboration and the worst in the area of mobility of academics • Slovakia reports the best result in the area of lifelong learning and the worst in entrepreneurship • CzechRepublicachievedscore5,3withthebestresults in curriculum development and deliveryandlife-longlearningandtheworstresults in governance • Fordetailedinformationseethefull text ofthearticle

20. Recommendations on Effective U-B Cooperation • Bothhighereducationinstitutions and businessesbenefitfromworkingtogether; cooperationencouragesthe transfer and sharingofknowledge, helps to createlong-termpartnerships and opportunitieswhilstboostingstudents' futureemploymentprospects. • Thecooperationonly on finacialbasisisnotenough. Itisnecessary to developstrategicpartnership.

21. Recommendations on buildingstrategicpartnership • Keep the ship steady – for longterm strategic partnership stable and predictable environment of funding and regulation is crucial. • Give universities autonomy to operate effectively and form partnerships. • Reward activists and collaborative universities and encourage to be more that way –e.g. the rewards given by economic magazine Trend as mentioned above. • Help universities strive for the excellence as companies always want to cooperate with the best. It is necessary to support and promote the best universities.

22. Recommendationsof Slovak Employers • Itisnecessary to informtheschoolsaboutthepossibilitiesofcooperation and presentthebestexperienceofthecooperationprojects. • Itisnecessary to publishtheinformationaboutunemploymentrates and salariesofrecentgraduates. Schoolsshouldbemotivated to cooperatewiththecompanies on a financialbasis – theyshouldbeprovidedlessfinancialsupportiftheirgraduates show highlevelofunemployment. Currentlyuniversities are fundedbased on thenumberofstudentsnotbasedontheirresults. • Itisnecessary to conveythesurveysofsatisfactionoftheemployerswiththeuniversities and theirgraduates.

23. RecommendationsBased on Vysoká škola manažmentu / City UniversitySurveyResults • Informregularlythestudents and academicsaboutthepossibilitiesofcooperationwiththecompanies by organizingworkshops, conferences, seminars and meetingsofthemainrepresentantsoftheuniversities, companies and studentsaswediscoveredsomediscrepancies in students’, teachers’ and businesses’view on U-B cooperation. • To understandtheneedsofeach party, effectivecommunicationisnecessary. • Motivationisthecrucialfactorforimprovingeducation in general and alsofordevelopinguniversity-businesscooperation. Companieshave to bemotivatedtocooperatewiththeuniversities. Theyhave to beconvincedthattheywillbenefitfromthecooperation. To thinkthiswaythelong-termorientationofthecompaniesisnecessary. • Itisimportant to motivatetheacademics by theirparticipation in thenational and internationalprojectsthatrequireapplicabilityoftheresearchresults in thepractice. Studentsshouldconsiderthisfactorwhilechoosingtheuniversity and a particularteacher.