Universities and Strategic Knowledge Creation: Specialisation and Performance in Europe (Prime Series on Research and Innovation Policy in Europe)

Although the role of universities in the knowledge society is increasingly significant, there remains a severe lack of systematic quantitative evidence at the micro-level, with virtually all policy discussion based on country level statistics or case studies. This book redresses the balance by examining original data from universities in six European countries - Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. The authors provide micro-based evidence on the evolution of the strategic profile of universities in terms of scientific research, contract research, education and the third mission. The result is a highly innovative book that combines detailed national case studies and comparative institutional analyses with state-of-the-art quantitative techniques. Applying for the first time new generations of nonparametric efficiency measures on a large scale, "Universities and Strategic Knowledge Creation" will be of great interest to researchers and post-graduate students in higher education, economics of science and technology, and innovation studies. It will also appeal to policymakers and administrators in governments, ministries and universities.