Jutland-Funen, Denmark
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OECD/IMHE project Supporting the Contribution of Higher Education Institutions to Regional Development Self-Evaluation Report: Jutland-Funen, Denmark Søren Kerndrup March 2006 0. INTRODUCTION 5 1. OVERVIEW OF THE REGION 7 1.1. The Jutland-Funen Co-operation of Business Development 7 1.2. Geographical situation 7 1.3. Demographic situation 8 1.3.1. Population growth 8 1.4. The economic and social situation in Jutland-Funen 9 1.4.1. Education 9 1.4.2. Personal income 10 1.4.3 Employment 10 1.5. Occupational structure 10 1.5.1. Resource area geographical specialization 11 1.6. Research and development in the public and private sectors 14 1.6.1. Innovation 15 1.6.2. The interaction between knowledge institutions and local industries 15 1.6.3. Use of highly qualified labour force 15 1.6.4. Knowledge based entrepreneurs 15 1.7. The Danish system of government 16 1.7.1. Public sector financing in Denmark 16 1.7.2. Distribution of public sector services in Denmark 16 1.7.3. Distribution of health services 17 1.7.4. Distribution of responsibilities in relation to the promotion of industry and economic development 17 1.7.5. The distribution of responsibilities for educational services 18 1.7.6. Responsibilities for cultural initiatives 20 1.7.7. Financing of the educational system in Denmark 21 1.7.8. Regional influence on higher education and research 22 1.7.9. The Jutland-Funen Co-operation of Business Development 22 1.7.10. The Science and Enterprise Network 22 2. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HIGHER EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM 24 2.1. Summary of the national university system 24 2.2. Other players involved in research 25 2.2.1 State Sector Research Institutions 25 2.2.2. Hospital based research 26 2.2.3. The GTS Advanced Technology Group 26 2.3. The training and education system in the Jutland-Funen Region 27 2.3.1. Aalborg University (AAU) 28 2.3.2. Aarhus School of Business (ASB) 28 2.3.3. The University of Aarhus (AU) 29 1 2.3.4. Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences (DIAS) 29 2.3.5 University of Southern Denmark (SDU) 29 2.4. The new Universities’ Act of 2003 29 2.5. Development contracts as a strategic development tool 30 2.6. Management and direction of higher education courses 31 2.7. Financing 31 2.8. Growth via greater co-operation between universities and society 32 2.9. The prevalent culture within the universities 32 2.10. Universities as regional hothouses for growth 32 3. RESEARCH AND INNOVATION 34 3.1. Introduction 34 3.1.1. Regional development potential 34 3.1.2. Interaction between universities and external interest groups 34 3.2 How does research relate to regional strategies 35 3.3 The strategic framework of universities 36 3.4 Development of industry via research, innovation and co-operation 37 3.4.1 The relationship between research and existing business areas 37 3.4.2 The relationship between research and growth-oriented business areas 42 3.5 Contact interfaces which facilitate the utilization and transfer of knowledge 48 3.6 Commercialisation of research, incubators and research parks. 50 3.6.1 The process of commercialisation 50 3.6.2 Research parks 51 3.6.3 Development of differentiated incubators 52 3.7 Conclusion 54 3.7.1. Co-operation with non-university knowledge environments 54 3.7.2. Co-operation with other regional interest groups 55 3.7.3. SWOT 55 3.7.3 Proposals for initiatives in certain areas 57 4. EDUCATION, LEARNING, QUALIFICATIONS, AND THE LABOUR MARKET 58 4.1. The regional framework 58 4.1.1. Level of education and qualifications 58 4.2 The universities’ strategic framework 59 2 4.3 The regional dimension in degree programmes 59 4.3.1. Interplay between degree programmes and regional needs 60 4.3.2. Regional co-operation 61 4.3.3. Interregional co-operation 61 4.4 Recruitment to the educational programmes 62 4.5 Graduates and labour market 63 4.6 Lifelong learning 64 4.6.1. Master programmes and special bachelor programmes 65 4.6.2. Short-cycle courses 65 4.7 Types of degree programmes 66 4.7.1. External relations 66 4.7.2. Student placements and student jobs as interplay 66 4.7.3. Application of new technology in education 66 4.8 Entrepreneurship 68 4.8.1. IDEA 68 4.9 The regional educational system 69 4.9.1. Horizontal relations among universities 69 4.9.2. Vertical relations among universities and educational institutions offering both medium-length and short-cycle degree programmes 70 4.10 Conclusion 70 4.10.1 Regional and inter-regional co-operation regarding the supply of academic educations 72 4.10.2 Co-operation with non-university colleges of higher education 72 4.10.3 Co-operation with other regional interested parties 73 4.10.4 SWOT 73 5. THE CULTURAL, SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL DEVELOPMENT 75 5.1 The regional framework 75 5.2 Universities’ frames 75 5.3 The socio-economic development 76 5.4 Urban renewal 76 5.5 The cultural development 77 5.5.1. Culture and natural sciences 78 5.6 The environment 79 5.7 The social development 79 5.7.1. Degree programmes and social development 80 5.8 Conclusion 80 3 6. BUILDING A REGIONAL CAPACITY 83 6.1 The regional regulatory framework 83 6.2 The universities’ operational framework 84 6.3 Building up competencies 84 6.3.1. Regional innovation fora 84 6.3.2. Networks within new areas of growth 85 6.3.3. Research centres as catalysts for co-operation between university and local industry 86 6.3.4. Building capacity in the training and educational system. 86 6.3.5. Co-operation between research institutes. 86 6.3.6. Co-operation between companies and students 87 6.4 Building inter regional capacity 87 6.4.1. The west Danish IT initiative. 87 6.4.2 Competency areas 88 6.4.3. Networks 89 6.4.4 Development possibilities 89 7. CONCLUSION 92 APPENDICES 96 Appendix 1: Regional Educational Level 97 Appendix 2: GNP per Capita (In 1 000 DDK) 98 Appendix 3: Facts and Figures concerning the Universities 99 Appendix 4: The University Act 103 4 0. INTRODUCTION This report represents a combined analysis of the contribution of higher education institutions and research for regional development in the Jutland-Funen region of Denmark. In all, five research and educational institutions from the Jutland-Funen regions have taken part in this analysis. These are the University of Southern Denmark, Aarhus School of Business, the University of Aarhus, the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences at Foulum, and Aalborg University. These five institutions have compiled constituent reports (appendix 1-5) containing a review of the kind of impact the individual institutions have had on regional development. The constituent reports form a substantial part of the background material for this combined report and were developed by the individual institutions, both on the basis of internal studies, and on the basis of a dialogue with external partners, coming typically from municipalities and county authorities, local businesses and other local educational institutions. The five participating educational research institutions enjoyed ample room for manoeuvre in the creation of the constituent reports, though a common thread for all five reports was that four overall questions were addressed: 1. How do the university’s research programmes contribute to regional development? 2. How do the university’s teaching and degree programmes contribute to the regional labour market? 3. How does the university contribute to the social, cultural and environmental development of the region? 4. How can the capacity for regional co-operation be developed in the region? A number of limitations were placed on the self-evaluation report, which is important to note here. The first limitation is on the range of research and educational institutions included in the self-evaluation study. This has led to a sole focus on public institutions offering research-based teaching to their students and postgraduate PhD students. In other words, there is a range of short and medium cycled higher education institutions that do not feature in this self-evaluation report. This is in spite of the fact that these institutions maintain close contact with groups and individuals in their surrounding community. At the same time, however, if all higher and further education institutions in the Jutland-Funen region were to be included in the self-evaluation report, the number of institutions would become so large that the report would become unwieldy and focus would be lost. We have, therefore, decided only to include those institutions where research is also being carried out, and which feature in the Science and Enterprise Network (ForskerKontakten). A number of clarifications are necessary in relation to the actual regional limitations applied to the subject matter of this report. The Jutland-Funen region, which is the starting point for this self-evaluation, is a geographical region consisting of a series of counties and municipalities in which the relevant task management and decision- making competencies are to be found. The Jutland-Funen region has (by virtue of the Jutland-Funen Co- operation of Business Development) a joint trans-county committee whose objective is to reduce the imbalance between eastern and western Denmark. This body also has the aim of reducing the internal imbalance within the Jutland-Funen region itself. The individual institutions have therefore concentrated on local and regional cooperative relations they already have, which in several instances narrows the geographical focus even within the Jutland-Funen region.