Brussels, 29/02/2008 (Agence Europe) - The first European University/Business Forum was held in Brussels on 28-29 February, and was attended by some 250 delegates from higher education institutions and associations, companies, business associations and public authorities. The aim was to facilitate the exchange of good practice between universities and businesses, provide for mutual learning and networking, and inspire further action in the member states. The Forum responded to calls from universities and companies for there to be a regular, lasting platform for dialogue, exchange, sharing and learning, explained the Commission in a press release. The aims of the Forum are in line with the Commission's 2006 Communication "Delivering on the Modernisation Agenda for Universities: Education, Research and Innovation” (COM(2006) 208 final), which highlights that universities must recognise “that their relationship with the business community is of strategic importance and forms part of their commitment to serving the public interest”.
Launching the Forum, EU Education, Training, Culture and Youth Commissioner Ján Figel stressed the absolute necessity of much stronger partnership between business and education: "Europe has been too weak for too long in bringing the worlds of university academia and business enterprise together, to achieve successful commercial exploitation of academic excellence. Europe's universities have tended to shy away from 'getting their hands dirty' with business! This attitude is totally inappropriate in the 21st century." Jan Figel regretted the absence of involvement and dialogue with companies, which he said was holding back the EU's ability to fully meet the challenges posed by globalisation. He hoped that the creation of the European Innovation and Technology Institute would help fill the gaps. The Forum looked at four main topics: 1) Curricular development, and how it can lead to greater employability and an entrepreneurial mindset among graduates; 2) Continuing education, and how to explore and improve cooperation between universities and companies in the provision of training/retraining programmes; 3) The modernisation of governance structures within universities, with the help of business expertise; and 4) Development of mobility, including student mobility, but also mobility of researchers and teaching staff, between academia and businesses, and vice versa. (I.L.)