university–enterprise cooperation

to all classes, including low-skilled and
disadvantaged groups, or older citizens.
Additionally, European Commission invited
the member states to:
• Address the issue of sectoral skills in
the context of developing skills and
competences, as a part of the ‘Education
and Training 2010’ Work Programme;
• Use future Community instruments in the
field of education and training to support
the development of sector-based approaches
to skills and competences;
• Ensure effective collaboration between
relevant ministries in the development
of strategies for skills and competences;
• Build partnerships, at national,
regional, local and sectoral levels with
key stakeholders, including employers
and trade unions, in accordance with
national legislation and practice;
• Instigate collaboration between
education and training providers to
exploit existing ICT infrastructures, in
order to widen participation in Lifelong
learning, and improve the level of
e-skills of their citizens.
3.2. Review of past experience, success
factors and recommendations
3.2.1. Past experience
Since the 1980s the European Commission has
promoted university-enterprise cooperation
through various programs for the promotion
of education and training. This was seen
as a mean of increasing the relevance of
education to the needs of the labor market, a
mean of improving graduates’ employability
and of maximizing the use of knowledge.
In 1986 the European Commission was launched
the Comett program to strengthen cooperation
between universities and enterprises in the
fields of training and technology. Through
this Comett program, a large number of
partnerships and grants between universities
and enterprises were set up. For example, it
was undertaken a partnership with European
Centre for the Strategic Management of
Universities, EDUCONSULT, Europe & Projects,
Sanon Developement International, and the
Austrian, Dutch, Finnish, French, Hungarian,
Lithuanian, Norwegian and Portuguese
national agencies.
This team of partners analyzed some 200
previously EU-funded project participants
(in SOCRATES, ERASMUS and LEONARDO),
with a goal to view and to explore the
barriers of transnational university-enterprise
cooperation and to identify the critical success
factors. The final step of this team work was
to develop recommendations for future models
and strategies.
Since October 2005, universities have been
recognized as providers of the highest levels of
education in EU-level policy making, because
they have the potential to be the world’s leading
knowledge-based economy and society.
Within the Lisbon strategy the Commission
has proposed the modernization of universities
and since then the modernization agenda
has been the one of the subject of global
knowledge-based economy.
By the 2006 Spring European Council the
Commission proposed the establishment of the
European Institute of Technology. The idea
was that this Institute contributes to improving
Europe’s capacity for scientific education,
research and innovation, by encouraging
multi-disciplinary approach and developing
the strong partnerships with business.
In the manufacturing field an important
reference is given by Manufuture. The
mission of Manufuture (European Technology
Platform) is to propose a strategy based on
research and innovation, securing high added
value employment and winning a major
share of world manufacturing output in the
future knowledge driven economy [53].
The best summary of past experiences in
cooperation between university and enterprise
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State of the art in the area of university-enterprise cooperation - EU level 3