This presentation shows how colleges and universities can support regional economic development and innovation and how to design and develop curricula to support these goals. It highlights the need for a robust diagnosis of skills supply and demand and presents the key problems in curricula. It shows what steps three universities in Australia, Denmark and Canada have taken to reform their curricula to support regional growth and innovation: 1) Design programmes that widen access to and improve success in education in Victoria University, Australia, 2) Develop transferable skills: Problem-based learning in Aalborg, Denmark, and 3) Develop relevant skills: Co-operative Education, the University of Waterloo, Canada. It also shows how the curricula design can support the university transformation by presenting two cases from ITSON in Mexico and the University Rovira i Virgili in Spain.

1. HIGHER EDUCATION IN REGIONAL
INNOVATION – REFORMING
CURRICULA
4 JUNE 2013
EFMD leadership
programme for Lobachevsky
University of Nizhni
Novgorod
JAANA PUUKKA

2. CONTENT
1. How can universities support regional growth and innovation?
2. What are the constraints and barriers?
3. Curricula design and diagnosis of skills supply and demand?
4. What are the common problems in curricula?
5. How to reform curricula to support regional growth and
innovation?
 Three cases
 Key elements
6. How the curricula design can support the university
transformation?
Two cases

3. WHAT IS UNIVERSITY’S ROLE IN
REGIONAL GROWTH & INNOVATION?
University
Skills
Innovatio
n
Society
at large
Capacity
building
JAANA.PUUKKA@INNOVATIONENGAGE.COM
• University-
government
• University-
industry
• University-
community
• University-
education sector
Partnerships
•Globalisation
•EU supranational
policies
•National policies
•Rise of city
regions
Context
Global, National and Local Context

4. WHERE DOES THE EVIDENCE COME
FROM?
JAANA.PUUKKA@INNOVATIONENGAGE.COM
COURTESY TO THE OECD
2005 - 2007 2010 - 2012
2008 - 2011 Kazan 2007
Between 2005 and 2013 OECD reviewed the role and impact of
Higher Education in 35 cities and regions in 25 countries

5. HOW WERE THE
REVIEWS CONDUCTED?Self-evaluation / background report
owned by the Regional Steering Committee
Review visit by international experts
Review Report tailored for the city/region
Dissemination of outcomes
JAANA.PUUKKA@INNOVATIONENGAGE.COM COURTESY TO THE OECD

6. WROCLAW, PL
• Location and first mover advantage:
FDI, flagship events , EU funding
• City investment in knowledge-based
economy
• HE hub , student town
Context
• Ageing & uneven development
• Traditional HE sector: weak industry
links, inflexible governance
• Lack of focus on equity & relevance
Challenges
• REVISIT the HE management
• DEVELOP a robust evidence base
• ENHANCE HE collaboration
• Integrated LLL, entrepreneurship, PBL,
internships in all programmes
How to move
forward
City of Wroclaw wants to mobilise
HE system to build a knowledge &
cultural hub in central Europe
JAANA.PUUKKA@INNOVATIONENGAGE.COM

7. Barriers to engagement: results from
OECD review
National Sub-national
Institutional /
HEI-level
Uncoordinated HE, STI
and regional policy
Fragmented regional
governance, weak
leadership
Weak management,
lack of entrepreneurial
culture
Limits to HEIs’
autonomy and/or
underdeveloped
accountability schemes
Intra-regional & inter-
institutional competition
Tensions between
regional engagement &
pursuit for world class
excellence
Limited incentives to
HEIs
Exclusion of HEIs from
strategy development &
implementation
Lack of incentives to
individuals
JAANA.PUUKKA@INNOVATIONENGAGE.COM

8. Curricula design and
diagnosis of skills supply
and demand
JAANA.PUUKKA@INNOVATIONENGAGE.COM

9. MAKING THE RIGHT DIAGNOSIS OF
SUPPLY & DEMAND OF SKILLS
7/12/2013 9

10. 7/12/2013 10Source OECD LEED

11. THE REALITY? GAP BTW LABOUR MARKET
NEEDS & COMPETENCIES ACQUIRED IN HEIS
– GRADUATES’ VIEWS (SCALE 1-7)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Us e c o mp uters an d the
i n tern et
Us e ti me effi c i en tly
As s er t y o ur auth ori ty
Co me up wi th n ew i deas
an d s o luti ons
Neg o ti ate effec tivel y
W ri te an d s peak i n a fo reign
l an g uage
Al ertn es s to n ew
o p p ortuniti es
Co o rdinate ac ti viti es
Perfo rm wel l un der pressure
Pr es en t p r oducts , i deas o r
r ep o r ts
Kn o wl edge o f o ther fi elds
Mak e y o ur mean i ng c lear to
o th ers
Mas tery o f y o ur own fi el d
Q ues ti o n y our o wn an d
o th er s ' i deas
Mo bi l i ze th e c apaci ties o f
o th er s
W r i te r ep or ts, memo s o r
d o c uments
W o r k p roducti vely wi th
o th er s
Rap i d ly ac quir e new
k n o wledge
An al y ti cal th inking
Required Acquired

12. What are the common
problems?
JAANA.PUUKKA@INNOVATIONENGAGE.COM

13. Supply-driven
education
Traditional learning
modes
Lack of data
Study programmes are
weakly aligned with the
labour market needs and
have limited practical
orientation
Lack of focus on lifelong
learning and flexible
ways of delivery (online,
mixed mode)
Limited capacity to
identify long term labour
market needs and
trends on a regional
basis
Employers do not
participate in
curriculum/course design
and delivery
Lack of experiential
learning, work-based
learning,
entrepreneurship skills;
Traditional academic
modes
Lack of robust data
about student
progress/achievement
and labour market
outcomes
Education is based on
faculty interests and
expertise rather than
labour market needs
Lack of interdisciplinary
programmes, disciplinary
silos
Mismatch of skills
supply and demand
JAANA.PUUKKA@INNOVATIONENGAGE.COM

14. How to reform curricula
that support regional
growth and innovation:
three cases
JAANA.PUUKKA@INNOVATIONENGAGE.COM

15. DESIGN PROGRAMMES THAT WIDEN
ACCESS TO AND IMPROVE SUCCESS IN
EDUCATION, VICTORIA UNIVERSITY,
MELBOURNE
VU’s catchment area is one of the fastest
growing but poorest areas of Melbourne with
a large non-English speaking population.
VU provides both higher education and
technical and further education with well
developed pathways which are reflected in
the curricula.
VU’s strategy includes collaboration with
schools and community to raise aspirations
to HE among youth and adult population
(financial/social/ academic support;
recognition of prior learning in curricula.
Images credits: Victoria University
JAANA.PUUKKA@INNOVATIONENGAGE.COM

16. DEVELOP TRANSFERABLE SKILLS:
PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING IN
AALBORG, DK
In Aalborg University up to 50% of study
work is undertaken in problem-oriented
projects. Aalborg curricula stresses
transferable skills, employability and labour
market links.
Students work in multidisciplinary teams that
solve real life problems, identified together
with firms, public sector and NGOs.
At any one time, 2 000-3 000 ongoing
projects ensure that Aalborg University is
engaged with its community and well tuned
with the labour market needs.
Map credits: Google Maps™
Images credits: Aalborg UniJAANA.PUUKKA@INNOVATIONENGAGE.COM

17. DEVELOP RELEVANT SKILLS: CO-
OPERATIVE EDUCATION, THE
UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO, CA
In the University of Waterloo
(Ontario) 16 500 students (60%) and
3 500 employers are involved in co-
operative education programme.
Curricula include integrated work-
study programme with placements in
local and global firms or student start
ups.
Waterloo model has spread to more
than 100 colleges and universities in
Canada.
Map credits: Google Maps™
Images credits: Waterloo UniversityJAANA.PUUKKA@INNOVATIONENGAGE.COM

18. How to create curricula
that supports regional
growth and innovation?
Key elements
JAANA.PUUKKA@INNOVATIONENGAGE.COM

19. DEVELOPING NEW
CURRICULA
• Courses with the local needs
Align
• Employability skills, work-based learning, internship, entrepreneurialism in
all curriculaEmbed
• learning pathways from schools to HEIs and LLL to ensure flexible
learning, up-skilling and re-trainingCreate
• data about labour market needs and students employment outcomesDevelop
• With employers in course design and delivery
Co-operate
• partnerships with colleges, vocational institutions, universities, government
Nurture
7/12/2013 19
JAANA.PUUKKA@INNOVATIONENGAGE.COM

20. How to transform the
university and curricula:
two cases of strategic anchoring +
connecting knowledge transfer
and local growth
JAANA.PUUKKA@INNOVATIIONENGAGE.COM

21. TRANSFORMING THE
UNIVERSITY 1: ITSON, MX
1993 - Goal to become an engine of change in Southern Sonora
1993 - Curricula redesigned: professional competencies + student as
good citizen - responsible professional - entrepreneur. Compulsory
cultural, technological and sports activity and English courses.
2002 - demand-led competencies-based curricula. Practice, PBL,
project-oriented learning. Strategic initiatives with industry and
community that offer work-based learning: business incubator, the
software-development company, community development centre etc
2008 - Strategic Plan for Development of Southern Sonora with four
local governments to create innovation eco-systems based on local
capabilities. ITSON takes the lead in business incubation and
acceleration of companies in key sectors.
JAANA.PUUKKA@INNOVATIONENGAGE.COM

22. TRANSFORMING UNIVERSITY CASE 2:
UNIVERSITY ROVIRA I VIRGILI, SPAIN
URV leadership and management is closely
connected with the region of Tarragona.
Management innovations include Research and
Academic Staff Commitment Agreement.
URV’s education and R&D are linked with chemical
industry, energy, tourism and agro-food in the
region of Tarragona. Industry contributes to design
and delivery of study programmes
URV-led partnership with Labour Unions,
Employers’ Associations, Chambers of Commerce
and the Port of Tarragona. 2008-2014 Strategic
Plan for the Region
During the economic crisis, a network of
company-led technological centres (back office in
the university) increased the volume of research
and consultancy contracts.
Photography's credits: University of
Rovira i Virgili
Map credits: Google Maps™
JAANA.PUUKKA@INNOVATIONENGAGE.COM

23. THANK YOU FOR
YOUR ATTENTION
Jaana.puukka@gmail.com
Jaana.Puukka@innovationeng
age.com
www.innovationengage.com