Abstract:

Technical universities play a key role in the field of innovation being involved in achievement, implementation and promotion of innovations, both in technological and educational fields. Universities are responsible for familiarizing students with innovation and the process of innovation and to develop students as innovators. A part of the innovations realized in universities concerns the development of products, technical/technological processes and procedures and the other regards the introduction of changes in the teaching and learning, both involving students in these processes. The aim of this paper is to investigate the students’ opinions about innovations, teacher’s involvement in the development of innovations and the role of innovation in educational process. Respondents were future engineers, and they participated voluntarily in this survey. SPSS was used for data processing and analysis. The obtained data highlights the fact that students see the innovation approach as a sinuous process. Creativity, the ability to solve problems, open mind, curiosity and facing challenges are considered by the respondents to be the most important abilities and personality traits of an innovator. Students also appreciate as important the role of the teacher in promoting and cultivating innovation in higher institutions, in general, and in stimulating students’ interest in innovation, in particular. Regarding the relationship between universities and innovation, students consider innovation competency to be educable and therefore, all students must benefit from training programs as innovators, offered by their university

Keywords:

Innovation, technical university, students, survey.