Abstract:

University-Business cooperation has been and remains one of the major factors in the development of human capital. On the one hand, the interaction between business and universities makes it possible to train specialists on demand; on the other hand, it enables graduates to find work according to their education. In this regard, the task of finding and development forms and mechanisms of cooperation taking into account the interests and capabilities of all stakeholders (government, business, society, certain social groups and citizens) remains up to date. It is obvious that joint efforts in the long run would lead to improving the quality of human resources, labor productivity, improve the country's competitiveness in the global market.

Broad research of University–Business cooperation topics was carried out in a survey conducted in countries EMCOSU (Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, and Spain) provided by University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) under European Commission. Besides EMCOSU countries the analyses also included responses of employers from several other countries and regions that were involved in the large scale survey in the framework created by a consortium of universities. Among the countries the survey was focused to Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Italy with additional regions comprising several countries: continental, ex-YU countries, Scandinavia and Russia.

The goal of the survey was to identify the various forms of University–Business cooperation, as well as to identify factors that contribute to the development of interaction between the system of education and business. In addition, aspects related to the expectations of universities and enterprises on cooperation were studied. The survey identified the main trends in the development of the education system in both developed and developing countries. Currently, many countries are actively developing the mechanisms of interaction of education and business; there is still room for improvement in terms of more effective communication, legal support and better integration of the various stakeholders. In some sectors, such as information and communication technology, already there is a long tradition of cooperation with universities and other industries are still lagging behind due to national and disciplinary restrictions.

The analysis of the survey results revealed that for both developed and developing countries are characterized by similar trends. For example, the interaction between university and business is carried out in the following areas: training of skilled professionals, planning objectives and outcomes of education, design and development of educational programs, the development of an innovative environment through the integration of science and business, development and implementation of new educational technologies to achieve the required outcomes of education, developing new procedures to assess the education received and qualifications and many others.

Thus, the article presents the main problems specific to developing countries in the model of University–Business cooperation, as well as possible ways to overcome them on the basis of the experience of developed countries.

Keywords:

University, business, cooperation, survey, trends.