Abstract:

There are many challenges to the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) regarding their role and impact on the quality of life of the population, not to be overlooked their influence on economic growth and regional development, in particular their contribution to the improvement of human capital, innovation and knowledge transfer.

This work is based in the U-Value research project, which aims to study the impact that HEIs have on the quality of life and sustainability of their regions, qualitatively and quantitatively, and the characterization of their efficiency in the transformation of public funds, own funds and various types of human, social and organizational capital in outputs that influence the quality of life of the populations and the sustainability of their regions of influence. It includes the identification and collection of the main inputs and outputs of HEIs that may have an impact on the life of the population.

In this article, supported in the literature analysis, we intend to analyze some indicators, based on the inputs: students, R&D and activities with local enterprises; and based on the outputs: human capital, knowledge creation and knowledge management. To quantify the indicators to be analyzed Portuguese public databases, such as PORDATA (www.pordata.pt) and the National Statistics Institute (www.ine.pt), will be used.

It is hoped to find examples of some good practices and to list the kind of relationships that are established or can be established between HEIs and industries in terms of collaboration, improvement of human capital, promotion of innovation and transfer of knowledge.

The results of this project will contribute to the definition of new higher education policies by identifying the main variables and the different types of effects that can be induced by HEIs in the sustainable development of the regions and, consequently, of the country.

Keywords:

Knowledge transfer, human capital, innovation, quality of life, higher education.