Regional Economic Development in the new EU Member States - Role of Higher Education Institutions as Important Stakeholders
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2008 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | Čtyři roky členství zemí střední a východní Evropy v Evropské unii: důsledky a nové výzvy pro národní a regionální trhy práce |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Economy |
| Keywords | human capital theory;regional development;role of stakeholders;higher education institutions |
| Description | In the Czech Republic the major universities are currently facing challenges with respect of focusing their study programs on the relevant needs of rapidly changing labor markets as well as whole economy (influence of globalization processes, EU markets etc.). One of the most important one that higher education institutions are being confronted with are options concerning close cooperation with subjects form public and private sector on regional base with aim to enhance sustainable regional development in the EU member states. To fully use such a potential it is important that stakeholders active on the education, research and other fields will undergo transformation to knowledge based knots that are actively communicating with organizations and institutions from the region they are active in. Necessity of vital communication between universities and regional stakeholders had grown since the Czech Republic has joined the European Union and regional development has been gaining an increasing importance. Thus universities in the Czech Republic are now facing challenges how to define themselves as a regional development catalyst. According to the human capital theory there is no doubt that universities are generating high added economic value and it is necessary to foster their potential through optimal investment both from private as well as form public sources. We have to say that learning and the changing nature of knowledge need to be reflected in understanding of sustainability and sustainable development with relevance to given background connected with socioeconomic constants in the selected regions. Aim of the article is to show up how human capital theory could be used for finding optimal cooperation base between higher education institutions and other regional stakeholders including optimal investments from both public and private sources. |