University-business cooperation (UBC) is currently one of the key strategic challenges facing higher education in Europe. It holds implications for support for graduates’ career success, international mobility, modernisation of curricula and the more practical orientation of higher education in general.

In a survey among 700 enterprises and enterprise associations in Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, Slovenia, Spain and other countries, the EMCOSU consortium sought answers to three interrelated questions:

1. which are the most relevant modes and results of cooperation?;
2. what determines cooperation?; and
3. which are the future developmental needs?

While at the moment many countries are developing university-business cooperation policies there is still room for improvement in terms of more efficient communication, legal support and better integration of various stakeholders. Although some economic sectors, such as information and communication technology, already have a long established tradition of cooperation with universities, others are still lagging behind due to national and disciplinary limitations. The most general factors that facilitate UBC are common goals in terms of mutual benefits, needs and aims, commitment of the ‘right people’ starting from the leadership and involving all levels, and communication that includes open dialogue and a shared understanding of the challenges

The EMCOSU project’s main findings are presented according to the following headings: diversification and mutual facilitation of modes of cooperation, the centrality of tacit elements, bureaucratic obstacles, the development of competencies, companies’ expectations of universities, the importance of work experience, future surveys, the role of employers’ associations, own consortium experiences, and future challenges.

The full text of this Executive Summary and the report itself  "Emerging Modes of Cooperation between Private Enterprises and Universities – Insights of European Enterprises and Employers Organisations", are featured below...