Commission staff working document accompanying the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee 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}
Date: 2009-04-02
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU programme, European Employment Strategy, business policy, education policy, integration into employment, organisation of teaching, university

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 2.4.2009 
SEC(2009) 424 

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 

accompanying the  

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE 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} 

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COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 

SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT ON A NEW PARTNERSHIP FOR 
THE MODERNISATION OF UNIVERSITIES: THE EU FORUM FOR UNIVERSITY-
BUSINESS DIALOGUE'' 

This  impact  assessment  will  accompany  the  Commission  Communication  on  'A  new 
partnership  for  the  modernisation  of  universities:  the  EU  Forum  for  University-Business 
Dialogue'.  The  Education  Council  in  its  resolution  on  modernising  universities  for  Europe's 
competitiveness  in  a  global  knowledge  economy  invites  the  Commission  to  support  the 
Member  States  with  regard  to  the  Modernisation  agenda,  including  through  encouraging 
partnerships between universities and industry/private sector. 

Education  and  training  was,  from  the  start,  identified  as  a  crucial  factor  in  achieving  the 
overall  objectives  of  the  Lisbon  Strategy.  Particularly  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 efforts 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  enterprise,  to  address  education  –  research  – 
innovation ecosystems have to be developed and implemented. 

The  Communication  of  the  Commission  “Delivering  on  the  Modernisation  Agenda  for 
Universities: Education, Research and Innovation”2 highlighted the key role 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  modernisation  of  the  sector  if 
Europe is not to lose out in the global competition in education, research and innovation. It 
proposed that business had a contribution to make in three areas: 

–  Governance: business management models could be imported to the university world; 

–  Funding: enterprises have a potential role to play 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, enterprises can both help to define that and can offer the kinds 
of placement which will help students make the transition from study to work. Enterprises 
must  also  feel  encouraged  to  release  their  staff  for  further  learning  and  updating  of  their 
skills throughout their working lives. 

The revised Lisbon strategy underlines the importance 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 

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COM(2008)  865  final  “An  updated  strategic  framework  for  European  cooperation  in  education  and 
training” 
COM(2006) 208 final "Delivering on the Modernisation Agenda for Universities: Education, Research 
and Innovation" 

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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 during later in the year. This showed 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  already  gained.  There  was  strong  support  for  a 
University  Business  Forum  at  the  European  level  to  act  as  a  forum  for  dialogue  and  for 
mobilising  partnerships  and  also  for  the  collection,  sharing,  exchange  and  dissemination  of 
good practices on how business and universities can cooperate to their mutual advantage. This 
Communication  proposes  to  formalise  the  University-Business  Forum  and  how  it  should  be 
structured  for  the  years  ahead;  it  draws  policy  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  issues  across  the  range 
identified in the 2006 Communication, notably: 

–  to support curricular development to ensure better employability 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 entrepreneurial mindset among graduates, professors and 

researchers; 

–  to support the development of appropriate Governance structures at Universities; 

–  to  support  the  development  of  HE  in  the  field  of  lifelong  learning,  more  precisely  the 
cooperation  between  universities  and  companies  in  the  identification  and  provision  of 
training/retraining programmes; 

–  to support inter and transdisciplinarity in the research and trainings agenda; 

–  to  support  the  exchange,  sharing  and  creation  of  knowledge  through  increased  mobility 
between  universities,  research  organisations  and  business  (students,  researchers, 
professors, other staff of HEI, company staff). 

This impact assessment considers potential impacts relating to two main objectives from this 
overall  agenda:  the  issue  that  too  many  graduates  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  level:  No  additional  action  (baseline  scenario); 
specific  actions  using  the  existing  instruments;  focused  policy  action  on  EU  level  including 
the issuing of a policy document on EU level together with the establishment of a platform on 
European  level  for  a  structured  dialogue  between  the  stakeholders;  focused  policy  action 
targeted at Member States. 

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For none of the options any environmental impacts are expected. The different options do not 
have budgetary impacts. All proposed actions would 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 the 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 issues 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  multiple  sources.  On  European  level  we  can 
improve synergies between existing 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 establishment of a platform on European level for a 
structured dialogue between the stakeholders 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 education and training, on the other specific surveys 
could be undertaken to assess progress in the field. 

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