Prof.dr. F.A. van VughtProf.dr. F.A. van Vught

Rector MagnificusRector Magnificus

INNOVATIVE UNIVERSITIES:challenges and perspectives

• changing environmental conditions• effective reactions

INNOVATIVE UNIVERSITIES:basic characteristics

• a strong steering core• a developmental periphery• a diversified funding base• a strong academic heartland• an integrated entrepreneurial culture

(B.R. Clark, 1998)(B.R. Clark, 1998)

INNOVATIVE UNIVERSITIES:the context of scientific

research• academic interests application interests

• disciplinary transdisciplinary

• homogeneity heterogeneity• hierarchical flatter

organisations organisations

• existing structures transient structures• academic societal

quality control quality control

(M. Gibbons, 1998)

INNOVATIVE UNIVERSITIES:major challenges

• other knowledge producers• students and employers• other education providers• new technologies

UNIVERSITIES

- need to rethink their roles and positions- need to innovate- need to become more entrepreneurial

“ Knowledge is of no real value if all you can tell me is what happened yesterday. It is necessary to tell what will happen tomorrow… You must be willing to stick your neck out.”

R. Feynman, R. Feynman,

The Meaning of It AllThe Meaning of It All,,

London, 1998, p. 25London, 1998, p. 25

• Universities are no longer the remote source and wellspring of invention and creativity.

• Universities can become part of broader problem identification and problem solving networks.

• Universities need to change their view of intellectual capital

• Universities need to look for strategic partnerships

“The high value enterprise …… need not be organized like the old pyramids that characterized standardized production….. messages must flow quickly and clearly…. There is no place for bureaucracy ….. Creative teams solve and identify problems. Most coordination is horizontal rather than vertical… Mutual learning occurs…. as insights, experiences, puzzles, and solutions are shared… Instead of a pyramid… the high-value enterprise looks more like a spider’s web”.

R. Reich, The Work of Nations,

New York, 1991, pp 87 - 89

INNOVATIVE UNIVERSITIES:effective strategies

• research

–sharing resources–strategic partnerships–elements in high-value webs

• universities need to rethink their educational roles

• universities have to make the jump from training ‘disciplinary specialists’ to ‘professional knowledge workers’.

• ‘professional skilling’ rather than ‘transmitting past knowledge’

• redefining the very idea of academic learning

• combining ‘expansion and cultivation of the mind’ (Newman) with new skills

New Skills

• process knowledge in a professional field

• willingness to change• multi-disciplinarity• learning to learn• social intelligence• iCT-skills

INNOVATIVE UNIVERSITIES:effective strategies

• teaching and learning

–new process skills– in combination with academic

skills– from ‘disciplinary specialists’ to

‘professional knowledge workers’

INNOVATIVE UNIVERSITIES:effective strategies

• knowledge transfer

–movement of people– team sport–successful instruments

INNOVATIVE UNIVERSITIES:governance and

management

• accept the new challenges• redefine roles and positions• do not manage like business firms• accept fundamental characteristics

INNOVATIVE UNIVERSITIES:governance and

management

• develop external dimension of management by emphasizing self-organising capabilities of decentralised units

• develop internal dimension of management by stimulating integrated entrepreneurial culture, using interactive planning & control cycles

ACADEMIC CAPITALISM ?

- Betrayal of academic values- Opportunism in teaching and research- Raids for cash- Unnecessary external activities

INNOVATIVE UNIVERSITIES:academic capitalism?

• underestimation of challenges• overemphasizing of traditional

academic culture

INNOVATIVE UNIVERSITIES

• want to adapt to changing conditions• and have found successful ways of

doing so!

“It is not the strongest that survive nor the most intelligent.But those that have adapted best to the changing conditionsin their environment.”