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8th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Contemporary achievements in civil engineering 22-23. April 2021. Subotica, SERBIA
| CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE (2021) |
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NEW FORMS OF ACADEMIA-BUSINESS
COOPERATION FROM ERASMUS+ CBHE PROJECTS
Željko Bačić 1
Vesna Poslončec-Petrić 2 UDK: 378.3
DOI: 10.14415/konferencijaGFS2021.04
Summary: The presumption of any modernization of study programs in higher education
is to understand the needs of the community and conduct intensive consultations with
community stakeholders, representatives of the businesses, public administration,
professional associations and citizens. The success of any study program in the
community is therefore largely related to the level of networking, i.e. the achieved
cooperation and understanding with the stakeholder representatives. European Union
Erasmus+ Capacity Building in the field of Higher Education (CBHE) projects support
the modernisation, accessibility and internationalisation of higher education in partner
countries. In addition to the main goal, CBHE projects are focused on ensuring the
sustainability of new educational content and forms in teaching at academic institutions
in partner states. Sustainability assurance is linked to the networking of academic
institutions in partner countries with business, public administration and professional
association subjects and their inclusion in educational processes at these institutions.
Participating in the implementation of several CBHE projects, whether as leaders
(BESTSID and GEOBIZ) or partners (SEED4NA and UN4DRR), we have paid special
attention to the issue of cooperation between academic institutions and business and
public administration subjects, finding new forms of cooperation that will result in a
more successful modernization of study programs and ultimately qualifying academic
experts who will be better prepared for inclusion in the businesses and public
administration by contributing to overall development and prosperity. Conducted
research and surveys, elaboration, testing and implementation of new or modified forms
of cooperation, as well as new levels of communication were applied in these projects.
The intention of this paper is to present activities and solutions aimed at achieving new
levels of cooperation and understanding of academia with representatives of the
businesses and public administration, as well as to point out obstacles in the realization
of this cooperation.
Keywords: modernisation of study programmes, business-academia cooperation,
Erasmus+ CBHE projects
1 Prof. dr. sc. Željko Bačić, dipl.ing. geod., University of Zagreb, Faculty of Geodesy, Kačićeva 26, Zagreb,
Croatia, tel: ++385 1 4639 280, e – mail: zbacic@geof.hr
2 Doc. dr. sc. Vesna Poslončec-Petrić, dipl. ing. geod., University of Zagreb, Faculty of Geodesy, Kačićeva 26,
Zagreb, Croatia, tel: ++385 1 4639 375, e – mail: vposloncec@geof.hr
8. МЕЂУНАРОДНА КОНФЕРЕНЦИЈА
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1. INTRODUCTION
Modernization of study programs has always been a challenge for academic institutions,
both in the design of new content and in their implementation. Today, the challenge of
modernization of study programs is even more pronounced because the speed of change
either at the technological or sociological level has accelerated to such an extent that the
contents of the subject individually need to be constantly modernized, and the entire
study programs modernized in shorter periods of time. The STEM area, which is
strongly influenced by the changes caused by the fourth technological (digital)
revolution, including geodesy, geoinformatics, construction and geography, is
particularly emphasized. In addition to the speed and quantity of changes, a significant
proportion of academic institutions do not have their own capacities sufficient to
implement these changes so that the gap in the introduction of new technologies and
related knowledge and skills between the economy and the academy is widening. That is
why academia and the wider community pay special attention to this problem, because
the unquestionable fact that adequate education that will meet the needs of the economy
is a prerequisite for the progress and prosperity of a particular community, i.e. the state.
In addition to investing in science and higher education, an important role in the
education of students, i.e. their acquisition of knowledge and skills, is played by the
business-academy cooperation. The success of the education system is therefore
measured today through investments of the economy in scientific research of academic
institutions, i.e. through the level of participation of businesses in the educational
process itself.
This is a challenge faced by all countries regardless of the level of development. In
Finland has been published a report commissioned by the Finnish Research Impact
Foundation on the current state of business-academia cooperation in Finland[1]
highlighting the continuing decline in funding from business and industry for research,
development and innovation (RDI) activities in the university sector since 2010. The
consequence of slowdown of cooperation between academia and industry was clarly
highlighted by Riikka Heikinheimo, Director of the Confederation of Finnish Industries
who pointed out that “if we can’t find the time to build up interaction and trust, then we
also won’t find the time to align the true needs of business development with the agenda
of academic research. This will frustrate both sides and cause them to drift apart” [2]. In
less developed countries, such a level of awareness of the importance of business-
academy cooperation has not been developed so that the challenges of modernization of
study programs and establishment of business-academy cooperation are even more
pronounced.
2. ERASMUS+ CBHE PROJECTS
Erasmus+ is the European Union's (EU) programme to support education, training, youth
and sport. The Programme is made up of three so-called "Key Actions" (Mobility,
Cooperation and Policy) two additional actions (Jean Monnet and Sport). They are
managed partly at the national level by National Agencies and partly at the European
level by the EACEA. The importance attached by the EU to the Erasmus+ programme is
8th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Contemporary achievements in civil engineering 22-23. April 2021. Subotica, SERBIA
| CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE (2021) |
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best seen in the number of participants and funding earmarked for the programme. Thus,
in the financial period 2014-2017, the EU planned the participation of 4 million
participants in all forms of Erasmus+ activities, allocating 14.7 bil. € for this purpose [3],
while 12 million participants are planned to participate for the 2021-2027 financial
period, for which 24.7 bil. € has been secured [4]. In the frame of Key Action 2:
Cooperation for Innovation and Exchange of Good Practices Cooperation activities
focused on addressing capactiy building, modernization of education and business-
academia cooperation are Sector Skills Aliances (SSA) and Capacity Buliding in the
filed of Higher Education (CBHE) projects. While SSA aim inside EU to tackilng skills
gaps with regard to one or more occupational profiles in a specific sector, the CBHE
projects aim to encourage cooperation between the EU and Partner Countries and
support eligible Partner Countries in addressing challenges in the management and
governance of their higher education institutions. This includes improving the quality of
higher education, developing new and innovative education programmes, modernising
higher education systems through reform policies as well as fostering cooperation across
different regions of the world through joint initiatives [5]. CBHE projects were initially
designed as a platform for knowledge transfer and modernization of study programmes
in Partner Countries between EU and Partner Countries academic institutions. However,
recognizing that there is no successful implementation of modernized study programs
without establishing cooperation with the business sector, CBHE projects further
emphasized the need for business-academy cooperation and from year 2020, beside
academic institutions also companies are enabled to be partners on this projects, giving
them a new dimension.
Faculty of Geodesy University of Zagreb is since 2017 involved in four Erasmus+
CBHE projects either as project coordinator or as a partner institution. Those projects are
covering modernization of study programs in filed Spatial Data Infrstructure (SDI), GIS,
Earth Observation (EO), Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and technologicaly driven
courses in filed of geodesy, geoinformatics, geography and agriculture. The overview
Faculty of Geodesy CBHE projects is given in table 1.
Table 1. Faculty of Geodesy CBHE projects
Project
Region
Field of
modernization
Time frame
Western Balkans academic education
evolution and professional's sustainable
training for spatial data infrastructures
(BESTSDI)
Western
Balkan
SDI
2016
-
2019
Business driven problem
-
based learning
for academic excellence in geoinformatics
(GEOBIZ)
Western
Balkan &
Moldova
Technologicaly
driven courses
(EO, GNSS,
Laser, GIS)
2019
-
2022
SDI & EO Education and Training for
North Africa (SEED4NA)
North
Africa
SDI and EO
2020
-
2023
University Network for Disaster Risk
Reduction and Management in Indian
Ocean Rim (UN4DRR)
Indian
Ocean
Rim
EO and GIS for
DRR
2020
-
2023
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3. GOVERNMENT-ACADEMIA COOPERATION
From the perspective of these professions, as well as many others, there are three main
groups of stakeholders that contribute to the development of the profession, thereby
higher education, the business, the state and public, and academc sector. For academia,
more broadly, both stakeholder groups, the business and the state and public sectors
represent business partners. Therefore, depending on the field of modernization of study
programs, the focus is on the development of business-academia cooperation of
individual projects on a different group of stakeholders. As part of the BESTSDI project,
which aimed to introduce SDI into partner university study programmes, a
comprehensive analysis of stakeholder needs was initially carried out, which showed that
in the establishment of SDI, the dominant partners are representatives of the state and
public sector who are also the holders of its establishment, while the academic and
business community are in the partner countires relatively passive participants [6]. That
is why the project paid particular attention to raising awareness among all stakeholder
groups of their role in building national, regional and local SDI’s, as well as the need for
all stakeholders to actively take their role in the process and contribute to the SDI
establishment. Of course, the special focus was on partner universities and profiling their
role.
Therefore, activity to inform SDI stakeholders, raise their awareness about SDI
stakeholders at national levels and establish cooperation has been designed and
implemented. This activity included affirmative informing of stakeholders using online
newsletter what took place during whole project lifetime and even beyond it. Newsletters
were used to promote SDI, role of stakeholder groups and animate them to join the
cooperation in introducing SDI courses in higher education in partner countries. Second
activity was preparation and dissemination of annual national SDI reports for Albania,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia. Three annual reports have
been prepared, a total of 14 of them, and they provided, for the first time, view of
academic institutions on SDI establishment in their countries. Those reports aimed to
establish and strengthen cooperation among the stakeholder groups. The achieved effect
was better understanding between academic and governmental sector representatives and
resulting in several cooperation agreements between academic institutions and
governmental organizations. Also, new type of SDI events has been introduced, like
Joint IMPULSE – BESTSDI projects workshop “SDI education for stakeholder’s
benefit” organized in Banja Luka on April 16th – 17th, 2018 or 1st SDI Day in Federation
of Bosnia and Herzegovina organized in Mostar on September 6th, 2018. The results of
mentioned project efforts were investigated in a survey on business-academia survey on
needs and cooperation in field of SDI, which took place at the end of the project lifetime
[7]. The survey has indicated positive effects of conducted activities and growing
interest for SDI in Partner Countries.
Rather similar, but not identical, approach is under development in frame of two new
projects, SEED4NA and UN4DRR. In SEED4NA the SDI and EO courses introduction
and modernization in the project focus. Therefore, in SEED4NA a combined cooperation
approach, towards governmental and public stakeholders for SDI component, and
towards business stakeholders for EO component is under development. Unlike the
SEED4NA project, the UN4DRR project focuses on cooperation with state and public
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stakeholders involved in disaster protection and rescue systems as well as NGO's active
on such occasions. Both projects will therefore, using also BESTSDI and other projects
experience, develop a model of cooperation that best matches the issue covered by the
project and the specifics of each of the countries covered by the projects.
4. BUSINESS-ACADEMIA COOPERATION
GEOBIZ project deals with rapid technological changes and the related challenge of
their up-to-date introduction into the study program in geodesy, geoniformatics, civil
engineering, agriculture and others. Since universities are independently unable to
modernize classes at the required speed, business-academia sector cooperation is
logically imposed as a solution to this situation. In order to find innovative solutions that
will be developed through business-academia cooperation within the framework of the
project, two studies have been produced. Business and Users Needs Survey Analysis [8]
in Partner Countries and Business-Academia Cooperation Best Practices Study [9],
which pooled best practices from programme (EU) countries. The idea behind the
approach is to involve business partners in development of problem based business
driven cases which will be introduced in practical part of technologicaly driven courses
covering applications realted to GIS, GNSS, EO, Laser scanning and sensor integration
which will after introduction be further upgradable by students supported by teachers
and in cooperation with businesses. Since business-academia cooperation is one of the
objectives of the project, beside 15 academic institutions also 3 companies from Albania,
Bosnia and Hrezegovina and Serbia are project partners. The task of partner companies
on the project is to contribute to the development of cooperation and innovative
solutions from a business perspective, as well as to contribute to the development of
cases that will be business driven.
The first step in preparing the cooperation was to identify and develop innovative
business driven problem based cases [10] as the result of need assesment analysis [8],
which were then systematized and shaped into 24 units covering all identified cases. The
next step is a detailed elaboration of defined cases into practical tasks that will be
implemented in modernized courses at partner universities. In parallel, based on
collected best practices of business-academia cooperation the GEOBIZ business-
academia cooperation platform is under development. Since the project goal is to include
as many economic entities as necessary in this cooperation intensive communication
with identified companies is ongoing and ultimately business-academia workshops will
be held during second year of the project lifetime at which cooperation, based on
metioned platform, with interested companies should be formalized and launched.
Strong interaction and workflow of mentioned activities together with implementation of
developed cases in the partner universities study programes and their execution in the
third year of the project lifetime is shown in Figure 1.
8. МЕЂУНАРОДНА КОНФЕРЕНЦИЈА
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Figure 1. Business-academia cooperation activities workflow
Foreseen final project result of all listed activities should be introduction of modernized
technology driven courses at partner universities and set of Long-life learning (LLL)
courses delivered to the stakeholders. Also, developed cases and courses will be loaded
in the project repository enabling continuous upgrade of cases and courses. Repository
should also enable access to interested stakeholders and use of developed content.
5. CONCLUSION
Importance of business-academia cooperation for modernization of technology driven
courses in several fields of STEM area has been elaborated and shown how Erasmus+
program Key action 2 CBHE projects can be used to establish or strengthen this
cooperation. The content and form of cooperation depend primarily on the field of
modernization of study programs and which group of stakeholders can optimally
contribute to the development of curricula and its implementation in universities.
Attention should always be paid to local specificities, such as the organization of higher
education systems, the relationship between the public and private sectors and the
potential of each stakeholder group. However, establishing business-academic
cooperation through Erasmus+ CBHE projects is a demanding and complex task that
must consider a number of factors and be realized in a relatively short time, which is
evident in the examples presented. Nevertheless, well-conceived and implemented
activities of establishing business-academic cooperation enable the realization of modern
and advanced study content, which ultimately results in better educated professionals
who will be able to better contribute to the development of the business sector and the
well-being of the community.
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REFERENCES
[1] Koski, I., Suominen, A., Hyytinen, K.: Tutkimus– yritys- yhteistyö. Finnish
Research Impact Foundation, 2021
[2] https://www.vaikuttavuussaatio.fi/en/report-on-business-academia-cooperation-
attracts-wide-attention-publication-event-online/, download 27.02.2021.
[3] https://ec.europa.eu/info/education/set-projects-education-and-training/erasmus-
funding-programme_en, download 20.02.2021
[4] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/society/20190222STO28402/the-
future-of-erasmus-more-opportunities, download 20.02.2021
[5] https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-plus/actions/key-action-2-cooperation-for-
innovation-and-exchange-good-practices/capacity-building-projects-in-field-higher-
education_en, dowload 20.02.2021
[6] Crompvoets, J.: BESTSDI Task Report – T1.3 Requirement Analysis, BESTSDI
project, 2017. 1-28, www.bestsdi.eu
[7] Crompvoets, J., Poslončec-Petrić, V., Bačić, Ž.: Academia-Business survey on
needs and cooperation in field of Spatial Data Infrastructure. EuroSDR & BESTSDI
project, 2020. 1-34
[8] Vandenbroucke, D.: GEOBIZ Task Report – T1.1 Business and User Needs Survey,
GEOBIZ project, 2020. 1-103. www.geobiz.eu
[9] Wytzisk-Arens, A., Crompvoets, J., Jovanović, D., Ląci, S., Meha, M., Nevistić, Z.,
Papathimiu, S.: GEOBIZ Task Report T2.1 Business-Academia Cooperation Model
design. GEOBIZ project 2021. 1-34. www.geobiz.eu
[10] Obrenović, B., Popović, S.: GEOBIZ Task Report T2.2 Developing Innovative
Busines – Problem Based Cases. GEOBIZ 2020. 1-66. www.geobiz.eu
NOVI OBLICI SURADNJE AKADEMSKE I POSLOVNE
ZAJEDNICE IZ ERASMUS+ CBHE PROJEKATA
Резиме: Pretpostavka svake modernizacija studijskih programa u visokom obrazovanju
je razumijevanje potreba zajednice i provedba intenzivnih konzultacija sa subjektima u
zajednici, predstavnicima gospodarstva, javne uprave, profesionalnih udruženja i samih
građana. Uspjeh bilo kojeg studijskog programa u zajednici povezan je zato velikim
dijelom s razinom umrežavanja, odnosno postignute suradnje i razumijevanja s
predstavnicima subjekata. Erasmus+ projekti Europske unije izgradnje kapaciteta u
području visokog obrazovanja (CBHE) podržavaju modernizaciju, dostupnost i
internacionalizaciju visokog obrazovanja u partnerskim državama. Pored glavnog cilja,
CBHE projekti su fokusirani na osiguranje održivosti novih obrazovnih sadržaja i oblika
u nastavu na akademskim institucijama u partnerskim državama. Osiguranje održivosti
povezano je s umrežavanjem akademskih institucija u partnerskim državama sa
subjektima gospodarstva, javne uprave i profesionalnih udruženja te njihovog
uključivanja u obrazovne procese na tim institucijama. Suđelujući u provedbi više CBHE
projekata, bilo kao voditelji (BESTSID I GEOBIZ) ili partneri (SEED4NA i UN4DRR),
8. МЕЂУНАРОДНА КОНФЕРЕНЦИЈА
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pitanju suradnje akademskih institucija sa subjektima iz gospodarstva i javne uprave
posvetili smo posebnu pažnju, iznalazeći nove oblike suradnje koji će rezultirati
uspješnijom modernizacijom studijskih programa i u konačnici osposobljavanjem
akademskih stručnjaka koji će biti bolje pripremljeni za uključivanje u gospodarstvo i
javnu upravu doprinoseći svekolikom razvoju i blagostanju. Provedene istraživanja i
ankete, razrada, testiranje i implementacija novih ili modificiranih oblika suradnje, kao
i nove razine komunikacije primijenjene su u navedenim projektima. Namjera je ovog
rada predstaviti aktivnosti i rješenja usmjerena postizanju novih razina suradnje i
razumijevanja akademske zajednica s predstavnicima gospodarstva i javne uprave, kao i
ukazati na prepreke u realizaciji te suradnje.
Кључне ријечи: modernizacija studijskih programa, gospodarsko-akademska suradnja,
Erasmus+ CBHE projekti