EN    EN EN 
 
EN    EN  COMMISSION OF THE E UROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussels, 2.4.2009 
SEC(2009) 424 
COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 
accompanying the   
 
COMMUNICATION FROM THE CO MMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMI TTEE OF THE REGIONS 
 
"A new partnership for the modernisation of universities: the EU Forum for 
UNIVERSITY-BUSINESS DIALOGUE'' 
 
Impact Assessment Summary  
 
 
{COM(2009) 158 final 
SEC(2009) 423 
SEC(2009) 425} 
 
EN 2   EN COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 
SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSM ENT ON A NEW PARTNERSHIP FOR 
THE MODERNISATION OF UNIVERSITI ES: THE EU FORUM FOR UNIVERSITY-
BUSINESS DIALOGUE'' 
This impact assessment will accompany the Commission Communication on 'A new 
partnership for the modernisation of univers ities: the EU Forum for University-Business 
Dialogue'. The Education Council in its resolu tion on modernising universities for Europe's 
competitiveness in a global knowledge economy  invites the Commission to support the 
Member States with regard to the Modern isation agenda, including through encouraging 
partnerships between universitie s and industry/private sector. 
Education and training was, fr om the start, identified as a crucial factor in achieving the 
overall objectives of the Lisbon Strategy. Partic ularly important in this context is the 
Knowledge Triangle as a key driver of the knowledge economy in delivering sustainable 
growth. Europe has to reinforce its effort s to make the triangle fully operational1. Universities 
have a key role to play in this regard and new forms of cooperation between universities and 
research organisations with the world of en terprise, to address education – research – 
innovation ecosystems have to be developed and implemented. 
The Communication of the Commission “Deliv ering on the Modernisation Agenda for 
Universities: Education, Research and Innovation”2 highlighted the key ro le Universities play 
in Europe’s future and for the successful transition to a knowledge-based economy and 
society. It underlined the need for  in-depth restructuring and mode rnisation of the sector if 
Europe is not to lose out in the global comp etition in education, research and innovation. It 
proposed that business had a contri bution to make in three areas: 
– Governance: business management models coul d be imported to the university world; 
– Funding: enterprises have a potential role to pl ay in funding university activities in both the 
education and the research fields; and 
– Curricula: students need to receive the kind of education which will prepare them for the 
world of work of the future, en terprises can both help to define  that and can offer the kinds 
of placement which will help students make th e transition from study to work. Enterprises 
must also feel encouraged to release their staff for further learni ng and updating of their 
skills throughout their working lives. 
The revised Lisbon strategy underlines the importa nce of a partnership approach: the Lisbon 
agenda must be owned by all stakeholders at EU, national, regional and local level. All should 
contribute to construct Europe’s future. Mobilisation and collective effort are the key 
                                                 
1 COM(2008) 865 final “An updated strategic framework for European cooperation in education and 
training” 
2 COM(2006) 208 final "Delivering on the Modernisation Agenda for Universities: Education, Research 
and Innovation" 
 
EN 3   EN elements of the partnership. Universities, research organisations and companies are 
crucial actors in such partnerships.  
The Commission organised a first University -Business Forum in February 2008 and three 
subsequent thematic seminars dur ing later in the year. This show ed that stakeholders value the 
dialogue. Discussions did not focus on the "IF there should be cooperation", but on "HOW 
cooperation is to be organised" so  that it is beneficial for all stakeholders. Participants from 
both the enterprise and the education sides welcomed the opportunity to dialogue on these 
issues and to build on the experience alr eady gained. There was strong support for a 
University Business Forum at the European le vel to act as a forum for dialogue and for 
mobilising partnerships and also for the coll ection, sharing, exchange and dissemination of 
good practices on how business and uni versities can cooperate to th eir mutual advantage. This 
Communication proposes to formalise the Univ ersity-Business Forum and how it should be 
structured for the years ahead; it draws polic y conclusions from the dialogue to date and 
outlines issues to be addressed in the next phase of its work. 
The University-Business Forum should address a wide range of issu es across the range 
identified in the 2006 Communication, notably: 
– to support curricular developm ent to ensure better empl oyability of graduates; 
– to support the identification of those skills that graduates are expected to have when 
entering the labour market; 
– to support the development of an entreprene urial mindset among graduates, professors and 
researchers; 
– to support the development of appropriate Governance structures at Universities; 
– to support the development of HE in the fi eld of lifelong learning, more precisely the 
cooperation between universities and companie s in the identifica tion and provision of 
training/retraining programmes; 
– to support inter and transdis ciplinarity in the resear ch and trainings agenda; 
– to support the exchange, sharing and creatio n of knowledge through increased mobility 
between universities, research organisati ons and business (students, researchers, 
professors, other staff of  HEI, company staff). 
This impact assessment considers potential imp acts relating to two main objectives from this 
overall agenda: the issue that too many gradua tes do not have the right mix of knowledge, 
skills and competences for the labour market , and the second, the insufficient innovation 
capacity of Europe.  
Four main options exist for action on EU leve l: No additional action (baseline scenario); 
specific actions using the exis ting instruments; focused polic y action on EU level including 
the issuing of a policy document on EU level toge ther with the establishment of a platform on 
European level for a structured dialogue be tween the stakeholders ; focused policy action 
targeted at Member States. 
 
EN 4   EN For none of the options any environmental impa cts are expected. The di fferent options do not 
have budgetary impacts. All proposed actions wo uld be implemented within existing financial 
resources. 
Observation shows that successful university-business cooperation has positive economic and 
social impacts. However it is difficult to assess to what extent the proposed options would have direct economic and social impacts in th e Member States. There is no way to prescribe 
on European level that and what  action is to be taken by the Member States. The EU can only 
provide supporting measures to the Member States . The EU can show that there is urgency for 
action, it can identify and inform about main i ssues and possible solutions, it can provide a 
platform for discussion and exchange between the stakeholders and it can provide access to 
examples of good practice stemming from multip le sources. On European level we can 
improve synergies between existi ng initiatives and programmes. 
Option 3, namely a focused policy action on EU  level including the issuing of a policy 
document on EU level together with the establis hment of a platform on European level for a 
structured dialogue between the st akeholders is considered to be the most advantageous one. 
Monitoring and evaluation would on one side  be addressed under the updated strategic 
framework for European cooperation in educat ion and training, on the other specific surveys 
could be undertaken to a ssess progress in the field.