SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY OF RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS SPECIALISED IN THE SPHERE OF HIGHER EDUCATION

The Bologna Process has introduced many changes in the traditional and habitual perception of the place and purposes of researches and research institutions. More attention has been paid to the economic efficiency of research teams and much significance has been attached to their social efficiency.

As the main sphere developed under the auspices of the Bologna Process is higher education, and one of the streamlines of the Bologna Process is integration of research and innovation into the teaching and learning processes, it seems natural that the authors’ attention has been devoted to the social and economic efficiency of research institutions specialised in the sphere of higher education.

The concept of economic efficiency of research institutions specialized in higher education is not so easy to analyse as they usually do not develop know-how to be patented and licensed and do not produce much added value. As regards to their social efficiency, the situation is even worse as the contribution of their researches to the national society or local communities’ development have almost dropped out of researchers’ attention and have practically been neglected for years.

Yet, today, when the European Universities have been building the European Higher Education Area for quite a number of years, the authors’ believe it’s time to look at European research institutions through the magnifying glass of efficiency, thus attaching more significance to their work both at the local and national levels.