Challenges of University-Industry Cooperation in Albania
Challenges of University-Industry Cooperation in Albania

Summary/Abstract: Purpose: Albanian universities have a rigid experience, especially in their effort to become competitive and respond to market demands. Today, it is a necessity for Albanian universities to become dynamic academic units, to go on an entrepreneurial path and to affect innovation in the region. This paper aims to measure the perception of university management staff regarding the challenges and barriers that appear in university-industry cooperation. It sheds light on the identification of factors that motivate the academic staff toward such cooperation Study design/methodology/approach: This paper implies a qualitative-based methodology and relies on the methods used by the ERASMUS + CBHE ‘KALCEA’ project. Questionnaires used on KALCEA Project collect data from universities, businesses and research centres. The questionnaires pose a set of standard questions as well as a set of tailored questions for each of the three categories. The high management staff of universities completed the questionnaire in June-July 2022. From 39 universities and higher education colleges established in Albania, the questionnaire was sent to 22 institutions and received answers from 16. Respondents are positions of rector/vice-rector/dean. Findings: One of the significant challenges of the current high education system is demonstrating the capacity to adapt to societal changes and its emerging economic demands. Nowadays, in higher education institutions in Albania, the biggest challenges are internationalisation, connection with industry, commercialisation of knowledge and academic entrepreneurship. Originality/value: Findings of the paper have interest for universities, industry, and politicians in Albania. They go in line and add value to the new Albanian law on HEIs (2015), which provides more autonomy to Departments and poses a challenge for them to cooperate with industry and act entrepreneurially.

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