This document summarizes the results of a review of higher education institutions in Bulgaria conducted by HEInnovate. The review included surveys of leaders at selected universities and their students. It identified several barriers to entrepreneurship and innovation at universities, including a lack of strategic focus on local development, limited industry partnerships, and underdeveloped entrepreneurship support systems. Opportunities for universities include strengthening knowledge exchange activities, internships, and links to entrepreneurship ecosystems. The surveys found a mismatch between the entrepreneurship support offered by universities and student demand.
2. The Entrepreneurial & Innovative HEI
The HEInnovate working definition
The entrepreneurial & innovative HEI is …
• designed to empower students and staff to
demonstrate innovation, creativity and enterprise in
teaching, research and third mission
• its activities are directed to enhance learning,
knowledge production & exchange in a highly complex
and changing societal environment
• as an organisation, it is dedicated to create public
value via processes of open engagement
4. HEInnovate Review Objectives
Provide an external expert/peer perspective
in order to:
1. Identify key barriers & opportunities at
HE system and HEI levels
2. Develop recommendations and
introduce „learning models“ to remove
barriers & to make use of opportunities
5. Review process - six phases
1. Preparation (January-March 2014)
2. Study visit (19-23 May) to five case study universities
3. Online surveys of HEI-Leader and students (June -
October)
4. Intermediate report on case study universities
(July )
5. HEInnovate workshop (September)
6. Final report (October 2014)
7. Student survey – subsample with high
entrepreneurial intentions (n=196)
• Gender:
• Study progress:
• Stay on in region?
8. Barriers in the higher education system
1. Absence of a clear & visible national strategic
anchoring of HEIs´ role in local and regional
development
2. Separation of teaching and research
3. Legal framework for public private partnerships
and public procurement renders for public HEIs
business collaboration difficult
4. Burdensome accreditation process
5. Lack of effective HEI-HEI coordination and
collaboration at national and regional/local levels
9. Challenges for HEIs
1. HEIs are struggling to find strategic roles in local development;
they are unaware of opportunities
2. Effective involvement of industry and business partners in
curricula design & delivery is rare
3. Knowledge exchange activities are largely bound to personal
motivation and not part of core-strategy
4. Too few examples of truly interdisciplinary education activities
5. LLL offer is receptive demand-driven instead of proactive
demand-setting
6. Organising internships is difficult
7. Barriers in scaling up entrepreneurship promotion from
individual initiatives to core-strategy
8. Links with the entrepreneurship ecosystem are largely
underdeveloped
10. Session 2
Comment:
Current HEI practices in
entrepreneurship support and
students` demand
11. Offer & demand for teaching methods in
entrepreneurship education
n: 17 HEIs, 196 students
12. Offer & demand for start-up support
Access to research results
Support business plan…
Applications for public funds
Incubators, co-working space,…
Mentoring by university staff
Referral to external…
Support business plan…
Facilitate contacts with…
Assistance with IP
Post start-up support
Internationalisation support
Support for prototype…
Mentoring by entrepreneurs
Assistance with finding co-…
0% 50% 100%
Provision of financial resources
Offered
Planned
n: 10 HEIs, 196 students
13. Perceptions of start-up barriers
0% 50% 100%
Lack of capital
Bureaucratic hurdles in
registering/running a business
Unfair competition
Having insufficient technical knowledge
and skills to implement the business idea
Lack of a business idea
Having insufficient business management
knowledge and skills to implement the…
Access to public financial support
Access to technology and research
Hiring and managing skilled workers
Finding suitable office space/business
premises
Agree
No opinion
Disagree
n: 196 students
Editor's Notes
Link to the Framework and the event. This leads into Gibb presentation on the entrepreneurial university.
N= 367; 219 completed (59.7%), 148 exits (40.3%)
Of the completed questionnaires 196 have high entrepreneurial intentions - «Have you ever thought of starting up a business» (89.5%
1: Dispersed responsibilities impact upon resource allocation and policy evaluation
2: HEIs face difficulties in establishing reputation as research partners of industry & business
3: Legal framework for PPP and public procurement not finalised.
4. 1 Dovetailing of study programmes to needs & opportunities in the local economy is burdensome and costly. Adjustments due to technology/other changes are difficult.
4.2 Accreditation teams not always neutral peers. Training of evaluators?
4.3 Is the agency enhancing, improving study programme offers. Stick & carrot approach.
5. Overlap and duplication in the HE system – examples of spurious competition in establishing faculties, departments and study programmes. Lack of critical mass and decreasing numbers of students is an issue for several HEIs. Very high number of PhDs – source of income as students pay fees.
HEIs are not aware of the opportunities. Can involve the process of funding allocation. They can play an important role (RR)
Governance structure does not allow. Three documents need to be submitted 1) Partnership agreement, 2) OPs planning of spending – EC is commenting, 3) Ris3 strategy. In BGL these were written by three different people, with no connections.