HED/POL/2006/PI/24
Universities in peripheral countries: Researching ‘in the
regions’ or ‘for the regions’? Some evidence based on the
University of Évora experience
C. Rego
Presented at the Second International Colloquium on Research
and Higher Education Policy
UNESCO Headquarters, Paris
29 November - 1st December 2006
The UNESCO Forum for Higher Education, Research and knowledge
“Universities as Centres of Research and knowledge Creation:
An Endangered Species?”
Universities in peripherals countries: Researching ‘in the regions’ or ‘for the
regions’? – Some evidence based on the University of Évora experience.
Conceição Rego
Economics Department
University of Évora
1. Introduction
1.1 Theoretical framework
Universities are a source of significant multiplier effects upon local and regional economic
activity. In the case of economically depressed regions, the importance of universities is
enhanced. This is the case with the University of Évora (U.E.), located in the Alentejo
(Portugal), one of the poorest European Union (EU) regions, where it has been a key element in
the dynamics of local economic activity.
The economic development of countries and regions can be defined as the increase, supported
and irreversible, of the real income of its inhabitants (Polèse, 1998). Regional development can
be defined as the construction of a propitious way to innovation, and the sharing of it with local
agents. Thus, regional policies will not only have to be centred on the company, but must also
privilege the territorial system of production as well as the endogenous mechanisms for creating
synergies and relationships between the actors, with the aim of stimulating the capacities for
innovation and adaptation through nominated innovative regional agglomerations (Cooke,
1998:10). These can be constituted by large and small companies in the productive sector,
where the relations exist or can commercially be stimulated, activities of research and
institutions of higher education, private laboratories of R&D, agencies of technology transfer,
associations, governmental organizations and entities for professional training.
In a scenario where the universities do not make more use of the monopoly of the production of
scientific knowledge, to remain in the vanguard of knowledge, university researchers will have
to exchange knowledge with others, including producers of knowledge such as companies or
other organizations (Schuetze, 2000:189). From the establishment of diverse relations between
universities and companies, both institutions gain (Antonelli, 2001:26-27). In the universities,
the teachers and researchers are presented with specific technological problems, which has a
positive effect on the research undertaken. The companies, in their turn, have access, at reduced
cost, to a body of ability in relation to advanced techniques and to a specialized infrastructure
that is often characterized by a great indivisibility and strong fixed costs.
The effect of the research done in the HEI, or other units, is particularly important for SME’sthe predominant companies in the Alentejo, as well as in the majority of the regions of the
interior of Portugal – insofar as the companies are those which most need to look to the exterior
for technological developments capable of promoting improvements in the efficiency of their
productive processes. Large companies, in their turn, if they do not have R&D units installed,
look for these processes near to their headquarters, or in companies of the same group, or in
companies where such exists, through acquisition mechanisms, through co-operation or by other
means.
1
In the most peripheral regions (Rosa Pires, Rodrigues, e Castro, 1998: 3), the concept of the
triple helix, a metaphor illustrative of the relations between higher education, the productive
system and the government, has come to be considered as an essential factor in stimulating
and/or strengthening development strategies. The main argument developed presents the idea
that the installation of innovative dynamics in a regional economy depends on the capacity of
the region to synthesize three pairs of attributes: i) Coherence and diversity of the regional
productive system; ii) Competition and cooperation and iii) Access to tacit and codified
economic knowledge.
With the attributes indicated, the universities can contribute to improving and to consolidating
the regional capacity for innovation, through mechanisms in the area of education and research.
The coherence of the regional system will become more robust through a rigorous selection of
courses and curricula adapted to regional technological needs, and by supporting the
development of a culture using local techniques (accumulation of codified knowledge). At the
same time, the processes of creation, acquisition, adaptation and diffusion of new knowledge
developed in the universities, can consolidate the relationship capacity of the region where they
are inserted, developing projects that involve the sharing of co-operation between companies.
This can contribute to diminishing the distance between science, technology and the society,
between pure and applied research and between the discovery of new technologies and the
development of products and viable processes of production (facilitating the accumulation of
tacit knowledge).
1.2. Regional and institutional framework
In Évora, like the other small cities of the interior where higher educational institutions have
been located, since the establishment of the University in 1979, deep alterations have been made
in the profile and the daily rhythms of the life of the city. . Évora, with its 56,525 inhabitants, is
the biggest city of the Alentejo. This region, with its 767,585 inhabitants (data for 2004),
occupying more than one third of the country, is the least densely populated Portuguese region.
The increasingly aged population basically lives in urban agglomerations of small to medium
size, while the agricultural areas are in the process of population desertification.
The active population is also tiny, not exceeding about 376,600 individuals. Until the 1990’s,
the Alentejo was a predominantly agricultural region, with this activity employing the majority
of the active population. Since then, the tertiary sector has become the main employer. In
characterizing the employed population, two main aspects stand out: on the one hand, the large
amount of unqualified labour, on the other, the importance of directors, controllers and
specialists. This second characteristic is related to the importance that public administration has
in the regional job market, the educational qualifications of employees in Alentejan companies
being weak, with few of the workers having middle- and upper-level qualifications. The low
average level of qualifications of the employed population results from the low levels of
education of the resident population in the region: in 2001, 35.8% had, as a qualification, only
the 1st cycle of basic education. Only 7.6% of the residents have higher level training.
In terms of the income of the region and its residents, the available data for GDP per capita
discloses that the Alentejo is one of the 25 poorest regions of the EU. Also, disposable family
income presents values lower than the average of the country (Portugal). The industry of the
Alentejo constitutes only a small part (3,4%) of the Portuguese total. These companies are
small to medium size, in terms of employees and in terms of sales.
The Alentejo, from the point of view of provision and support infrastructures for the population
and for economic activity, offers a picture with reasonable pointers for the future, but it
continues to present strong weaknesses in that touching its basic resource, the population,
insofar as this continues to show signs of ageing and of low qualifications. In this context, it can
not be expected that its economic dynamics will change in a significant way through the
2
activities promoted by regional economic agents, which makes the region dependent on external
initiatives for the promotion of its development.
Since its reopening at the end of the 1970’s, the U.E. has come to gain dimension and stature in
the context of Portuguese higher education, where it currently occupies a medium position.
However, the U.E., with about seven thousand students and more than five hundreds teachers
and researchers, is the main higher education institution, and the only public university in the
region: in the year 2005, it had 41,9% of the students in public higher education in the Alentejo,
and 44% of the teachers 1.
The U.E. is installed in 9 buildings in the historical centre of Évora2 and its environs, where the
teaching and all the other services function. This location provides it with an excellent historical
and patrimonial setting, contributing to the concept of a "university city". The effect is
strengthened by the fact that the students who are not resident in Évora choose the centre of the
city to reside in at the time when lessons are held, contributing for the occupation of the
buildings as well as to the incomes of the families who receive them.
Most of the students on undergraduate courses are women, not resident in the region of Évora.
The location factor is pointed to as one that most influences the choice of the U.E. In fact, just
30% of the students of the U.E come from the Évora region (Rego and Caleiro, 2004). The
courses of the U.E. that have more students are those of human and social sciences (25%),
economy and management (11,9%), agricultural sciences (12,9%) and technological
engineering (21%). The number of pupils on courses of advanced training (22%) has seen a
positive evolution, in the last 10 years.
This institution has in its service about a thousand employees, the majority of them teachers.
The functioning of the school is assured by an annual budget of around 42 million euros,
proceeding mainly from the Portuguese Government, and compromising, to a large extent, with
the payment of wages. The annual budget of the University, together with personal expenditure
of students over the year, has a multiplying effect on gross domestic product and disposable
local income with a value of 1,2. At the same time, we conclude that the activity involving the
U.E. is equivalent to 1.5% of the GDP of the Alentejo (Rego, 2003).
Being the main institution of research and development (R&D) located in the Alentejo, the U.E.
has increased responsibilities in the areas of the research and community service. With
reference to research, the areas prioritised for development are Natural Sciences, Social and
Human Sciences, and Agrarian and Veterinarians Sciences. In the scope of the activities of
community service, the U.E. offers services at the level of training and consultancy, or by
promoting the insertion of graduates in the regional labour market. It participates in many
regional entities, at the level of the respective administrations, seeks regional partners for the
institution through participation in activities of education or research, and maintains a special
relationship with the schools involved in other levels of education. The accomplishment or
promotion of cultural and similar activities has been one of the most systematic ways used for
involving the city.
2. Context and Issue
In the last 30 years, the expansion of higher education has been one of the most important
happenings in Portugal in social terms. The alterations that have occurred in the domain of
higher education have influenced the functions that these institutions will have to perform. The
universities currently fulfil three primary functions (GEOIDEIA, 1993): i) The development of
1
2
In the Alentejo, there exist 3 public polytechnic institutions and 5 institutions of private higher education.
The city of Évora was classified as a World Heritage Site, by UNESCO, in 1986.
3
highly qualified human resources: the university trains graduates, masters and doctors generally
required in the work market, the educational system and the scientific and technological system;
ii) The accomplishment of activities of R&D: the goal of the university is to generate new
knowledge and sustain the chain of knowledge; the product of university research, scientific and
technological knowledge, is transferred to the exterior through a multiplicity of forms:
published books, monographs, articles, reports and other documents and iii) The synergic
relationship with the surrounding society: through the use of the scientific and technological
potential of the university by the exterior, from the accomplishment of research projects in
cooperation or contracted by industry to the provision of services and consultancies.
The University has centred the discussion of the relationship between economic activity and the
university on this third function, originating in the need to maximize the use of financial and
human resources, knowledge and scientific and technical information, through the
implementation of efficient mechanisms of transference between the university and the
productive sector. This transference implies, however, the existence, in the industry, of human
resources capable of absorbing the products of the university, as well the capacity for
formulating questions and presenting problems at university level.
Since the 1980s, Portugal has increased in absolute and relative terms the dedication of
resources to science and technology3. Total annual expenditure on R&D at constant prices in
2001 was 838 million euros (0.85% of the gross domestic product (GDP)). However, this is still
some way from the average for the countries of the EU, which spent, in the same period, around
1.9% of GDP. In Portugal, higher education absorbed around 36.7% of the total spent on R&D.
On average, in the EU, this participation by higher education is 21.4%, in OECD countries it is
17.2%, and in the USA and Japan around 15%. The component undertaken by enterprises is
31.8% in Portugal, as against the average for the EU of 64.2%, around 70% for OECD countries
and Japan and 73% for the USA
The financing of expenditure on R&D is fundamentally done by the state, which, in 2001,
participated with 61%, followed by enterprises with 31.5% of the total. So, in this indicator too,
Portugal is still a long way from the values of participation by state and by enterprises in the
most developed countries, which are estimated to be, respectively, 34.7% and 55.8% as the
average for the EU, around 28% and 65% as the average for OECD countries and the USA, and
21% and 72% for Japan.
The indicator of the volume of human resources involved in R&D activities shows that, in 2001,
the total personnel involved in R&D activities in full-time equivalent (FTE) units were 22,970
that is an increase of 90.7% relative to 1991. The activities of R&D occupy around 4.4 in every
1,000 activities. This value for Portugal has to be compared with the average for the EU of
around 10.1 in every 1,000.
Expenditure on R&D in the Alentejo also increased during the 1990s, but remained at average
levels that were lower than the average for Portugal, representing 2.4% of the total. In the
Alentejo, in 2001, the human resources involved in R&D were estimated to be 703 FTE units,
which represented around 3.06% of the country. However, in the Alentejo, the quota of
employment in R&D within the total working population was 3 in every 1,000, continuing at
lower levels than those for the rest of the country. In the Alentejo, the phenomenon of a double
concentration was registered in R&D activity: geographical (the district of Évora registered the
greatest expenditure in the region –around 85%) and sectorial (higher education, with more than
50% of resources, is the sector where most resources, human and financial, were concentrated).
This signifies the importance that the University of Évora has in the performance of these
variables.
3
The latest indicators available in the Observatório da Ciência e do Ensino Superior (OCES) were reported in 2001,
having been published in 2003.
4
3. Policies and Programmes
Currently, in Portugal, the documents related to national strategy for the period 2007-2013 are
unequivocal in classifying the theme of science and technology as the principal challenge that
the country has to face (GT QREN, 2006). The Quadro de Referência Estratégico Nacional
(QREN - National Strategic Reference Framework) has as its major strategic plan increasing the
proportion of Portuguese with qualifications, upgrading knowledge, science, technology and
innovation, as well as promoting higher, sustainable levels of economic and socio-cultural
development and of territorial qualification, within the framework of upgrading standards of
equal opportunity as well as increasing the efficiency and quality of public institutions.
The strategic priority of increasing the proportion of Portuguese with qualifications is
simultaneously understood as being an indispensable factor in the emergence of a more
sustainable model for economic growth, by way of providing an increase in human capital, and
in scientific and technical knowledge in the Portuguese economy and at the same time, as being
an essential element for social cohesion by way of strengthening the conditions for
employability and adaptability for those joining or those remaining in the labour market. This
strategic priority is thus configured as a factor both for well-being and for quality of life, as far
as scientific knowledge and culture are concerned, in themselves relevant measures for both
personal and social development. The inherent strategic sub-priorities provide major objectives
to be reached in the realms of raising the average level of academic and professional
qualifications for the population in general and especially for the adult population, of the
universal spread of pre-school education and of the lengthening of the period of minimum
compulsory education, of the strengthening of advanced scientific training among the
Portuguese population, of the raising of levels of employability, particularly among young
people moving from school into jobs, of the spread of a culture and practice of learning
throughout life, and of the social upgrading of scientific knowledge and of culture.
The strategy of UE for consolidating its position in relation to its surroundings and to the
sharing of the results of R&D has moved on to the creation of a science, technology, innovation
and enterprise park (EboraPark), responding in this way to the initiative inherent in the direction
that the government has mapped out for priorities in the QREN for the period 2007-2013
(U.E.a, 2006). At the same time, it has set down a challenge to enterprises in the industrial and
finance sectors, both Portuguese and foreign, for the construction of a joint platform of
capacities and competencies, with a synergy potential, capable, among other things, of
contributing to the following objectives: i) increasing the competitiveness of enterprises,
through the incorporation of knowledge that has the potential for innovation; ii) promoting an
increase in the number of qualified Portuguese, stimulating the acquisition of knowledge and
the development of skills, scientific and technological production and iii)promoting sustainable
growth, improving the competitiveness of the territory and the productivity of enterprises, and
attracting qualification-bringing business investment.
4. Research Results
4.1. Methodology
The analysis of the research and the extension work developed in U.E. was carried out through
presenting questionnaires to teachers and researchers, as well as through an analysis of the
content of protocols signed by the institution (Rego, 2003).
The questionnaire for teachers and researchers was applied in 2001 to 88 people: to Presidents
of Departmental Councils who held office in 1997/98 and 1998/99, 1999/2000 and 2000/2001
and their respective assistants; to Presidents of the Scientific Councils of Departmental Areas
and to Directors of Research Centres in UE. 52 replies were obtained (59.1% of the
questionnaires sent out) from all the sectors they were sent to.
5
With this questionnaire it was intended: i) to characterise the University of Évora from the point
of view of teaching, research and extension work in relation to its connection with the region; ii)
to characterise the existing contacts between the University of Évora and other entities relative
to questions of research and extension work; iii) to evaluate how the University of Évora
perceives its role as an entity that has the potential to promote the processes of regional
development.
The protocols signed by the U.E. with external entities (201 documents signed between 1978
and 1999) were studied with the aim of identifying the links between this institution and the
region, through the main characteristics of the content of signed documents. These documents
are the written expression of the involvement that exists between the U.E., through its teachers,
researchers and infrastructure, and the surrounding economic and social organisations.
To analyse the collected information, we proceeded to a descriptive analysis of the data
acquired by these instruments, with a view to making evident its basic characteristics through
the evaluation of the frequencies of the answers, as well as measuring the average value and the
standard deviation, when such was relevant. At the same time, an analysis was made of the
relationship between the variables to complement the treatment of the collected data. The
techniques of descriptive statistics were complemented by techniques of content analysis,
particularly in the treatment of some of the questions on the questionnaires, and in the treatment
of the protocols. In the content analysis, the technique of categorial analysis4 was used.
4.2. Results
In U.E., research is undertaken in research centres (RC) and in departments. Currently, there are
16 RCs, in the most diverse areas of knowledge, of which 9 are funded by the Fundação para a
Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT – the foundation for science and technology). The research work of
the other RCs is predominantly realised through the provision of services, particularly within
the ambit of training and of consultation. The extension work activities of the University, or the
links with that environment, are developed through accords established with private enterprises,
schools, municipal authorities, associations, institutions, cooperatives and other institutions of
higher education (U.E.b, 2006).
In 2005, the budget in UE for R&D projects and for provision of community services reached
3.5 million euros, of which 39% was in respect of contracts for the provision of services to
public and private entities. R&D projects received the rest of the funding, with 43% provided by
the European Union and the other 17% by the Portuguese FCT. The financing of these activities
corresponds to 63.7% of the total own receipts of the institution (the rest is the funding provided
by the payment of fees) (U.E.b, 2006).
The teachers and researchers of the U.E. affirm that (Table 1), in the realm of research,
departments and research centres fundamentally undertake applied research related to questions
within the regional and national ambit. In relation to fundamental research, the classifications
attributed by the respondents show that this activity is undertaken much less frequently. The
research that is developed occurs largely in relation to the interests and concerns of the
researchers themselves, as well as in relation to the possibility of obtaining financing for
pursuing the research work, the characteristics and the problems of the country and of the region
being relegated to secondary concerns.
4
The technique of categorial analysis "consists of calculating and comparing the frequencies of certain
characteristics, previously grouped in significant categories" (Quivy, 1992: 226).
6
As far as the forms for implementing the development of research projects are concerned, we can
conclude that these occur within teams, with the collaboration of partners from other national
institutions and with various elements within the same department. It is registered that
participation in international teams is classified only as “reasonable”, with a frequency of only
30%. Among partnerships established for research, national partnerships with public universities
stand out. These integrate public institutions and organisms within local, regional, national or
international ambits, and the regions with research institutions. Among the means most used for
publishing the results of research are the conferences that take place in Portugal, conferences that
take place abroad or simply through sending the results to the entity that financed the study.
Table 1
Characteristics of the research undertaken
CHARACTERISTICS
MEDIAN
CLASSIFICATION
3
3 (24.4%)
Fundamental
Applied
- concerning questions of a regional character
4
4 (38.6%)
- concerning questions of a national character
4
4 (50.0%)
- concerning questions of an international character
3
4 (40.0%)
Elements taken into account in research undertaken
MEDIAN
CLASSIFICATION
Needs expressed by enterprises and/or institutions in the region
3
4 (29.5%)
ELEMENTS
Characteristics of the region
3
4 (34.1%)
Needs expressed by enterprises and/or institutions in the country
3
3 (32.6%)
Characteristics of the country
3
3 (38.1%)
Concerns and interests of the researchers
4
4 (53.2%)
Possibility of obtaining funding for the research
4
4 (40.9%)
MEDIAN
CLASSIFICATION
3
4 (27.8%)
Forms used to undertake the research
FORMS
Individually
In a team, with elements from the same department
3.5
4 (38.6%)
In a team, with elements from other departments/ research centres in UE
3
4 (32.5%)
In a team, with researchers and/or employees from other regional
institutions
2
2 (38.9%)
In a team, with researchers and/or employees from other national
institutions
3
4 (40.5%)
In a team, with researchers and/or employees from other international
institutions
3
3 (31.0%)
Forms used to publish research findings
MEDIAN
CLASSIFICATION
In national journals
3
3 (29.8%)
In foreign journals
3
2 (31.9%)
At conferences held in Portugal
4
4 (31.9%)
At conferences held abroad
3
3 (36.2%)
At public sessions concerned with publishing scientific work
2
3 (38.5%)
Results are sent to the entities that commissioned the research
3
3 (37.0%)
FORMS
Source: Own findings in Rego, 2003. The “Classification” column presents the response most referred to and the respective
frequency. For the evaluation of this item, a scale of 0 to 5 was proposed.
The extension activities developed by U.E. fundamentally occur in response to needs expressed
by diverse regional partners, as well as by the characteristics of the region (Table 2). These
activities are realised predominantly in a team with diverse elements from the same department
7
or through partnerships with researchers and/or employees from other national institutions. In
terms of special partnerships for pursuing these activities, teachers of UE identified local and
regional public institutions and organisms, national research institutions and regional enterprises
and other private entities.
Table 2
Elements taken into account in the extension work undertaken
MEDIAN
CLASSIFICATION
Needs expressed by enterprises and/or institutions in the region
3
3 (34.3%)
Characteristics of the region
3
4 (30.3%)
2.5
2 (37.5%)
2
2 (35.5%)
MEDIAN
CLASSIFICATION
Individually
3
3 (30.3%)
In a team, with elements from the same department
3
4 (40.0%)
In a team, with elements from other departments/ research centres in UE
2
2 (29.4%)
In a team, with researchers and/or employees from other regional
institutions
2
2 (35.5%)
In a team, with researchers and/or employees from other national
institutions
3
3 (35.3%)
In a team, with researchers and/or employees from other international
institutions
2
3 (32.3%)
ELEMENTS
Needs expressed by enterprises and/or institutions in the country as a whole
Characteristics of the country as a whole
Forms for realising the extension work
FORMS
Source: Own findings in Rego, 2003. The “Classification” column presents the response most referred to and the respective
frequency. For the evaluation of this item, a scale of 0 to 5 was proposed.
In the realms of research and of extension work we sought to identify the main partners, clients
and providers of funds of the activities developed at U.E. as well as the principal mechanisms
employed for promoting the connection with the region and the forms used for promoting the
transfer of technology and innovation to the regional enterprises and institutions. The U.E.
teachers and researchers identified as fundamental the same partners/clients/fund providers for
both activities. They are:
- entities within the regional or local ambit, particularly local authorities and respective
associations, decentralised public organisms, with the areas standing out being agriculture, the
environment and town and country planning and the planning of culture, the economy and
education, CCDRA (the coordinating commission and development for the Alentejo region),
cultural entities, associations for local development and professional associations, foundations
with a regional ambit;
- Public organisms within the national ambit, public institutions, and entities concerned with
health;
- Public and private enterprises within the regional and national ambit;
- Teachers from other levels of teaching as well as basic schools, secondary schools and nursery
schools.
The activities developed with a view to the transfer of technology or to innovation are generally
assimilated in the mechanisms put in place for promoting regional links, whether applied to
initiatives for research or for extension work. Among them, those most referred to are:
- activities to publish the work of research centres/departments through the realisation of diverse
initiatives (e.g. open days, field demonstrations, public presentation of research findings and
their respective publication, making available on-line specialised technical information, holding
of conferences and seminars on specific themes, participation in fairs, collaboration in activities
for the divulgation of science in the Living Science Programme), seeking to attain a range of
8
target public, among whom are teachers and students from other levels of education,
entrepreneurs, directors of a range of local and regional institutions.
- partnerships with professional associations, enterprises and diverse public and private entities,
both local and regional, and consolidating these through the placing of people for on-the-job
training, through support for realising end of course appointments to jobs, as well as through
applied research projects and through specific consulting work, among others;
- collaboration with other institutions of higher education, regional and in other parts of
Portugal, as well as the establishment of partnerships with teachers involved in other levels of
education in the region within the ambit of activity projects or training.
The diverse protocols signed between the University of Évora and external entities, the majority
in the second half of the 1990’s, have translated into a relationship, with a similar intensity, with
public and private entities, basically nation-wide. Initially, Rendering of Services Protocols
were established together with contract activities in the domains of research and community
service. Most of the activities were related to agricultural sciences, the traditional activity in the
region, natural sciences and environmental and social sciences.
The region of Lisbon and the Tejo valley is preponderant in relation to signed documents, while
the relations with the Alentejo are only intense at the level of the city of Évora. These
documents are, basically, bilateral: they involve only one department or departmental area and
only one external entity. At the same time, the degree of internationalisation is very weak, as
are the relationships with entities or localities situated in the bordering region
Alentejo/Extremadura (Spain). The U.E. carries out its research in a somewhat isolated form: it
is the leader in 57% of projects where it participates; co-operation with other universities or
R&D centres, national or foreign, has little significance.
The documents signed with local and regional entities are mainly in the form of Rendering of
Services Protocols (61,3%), basically involving the departmental areas of natural sciences and
environmental and social sciences. These contracts also involved, in a significant way, the areas
of agricultural sciences, economics and management sciences. The regional entities that signed
these documents are diverse: city councils and associations of cities, public institutions of
regional scope, regional delegations of some ministries, professional associations of regional
scope, particularly in the domain of agriculture, local development associations, companies with
headquarters in the region, other educational establishments and cultural entities, among others.
The documents signed with local and regional entities relate, basically, to activities in the area
of research, education, training and community service. The participation of the U.E. in these
partnerships has taken different forms, among which we highlight the accomplishment of
specific training activities, the exercise of activities of consultancy and other provision of
services close to the contracting entities, as well as the integration of the social agencies of other
institutions.
5. Recommendations and Final Remarks
Being the main institution of research and development located in the Alentejo, with more
human resources and having the best levels of qualification, the U.E. has increased
responsibilities in the areas of the research and community service. Obviously, Alentejo with a
small participation in the Portuguese R&D activities should increase the participation in these
activities and theirs HEIs, particularly U.E., should improve the relationship with local entities
and enterprises.
9
In this paper we can conclude that the research developed, in U.E., is applied to nationwide and
some regional questions, reflecting the concerns and the interests of the investigators, such as of
the possibility to get financing. On the other hand, the community services responded to the
needs presented by regional partners, and has become a team based on members of the same
R&D unity.
Thus, this activity does not reflect entirely the regional context where the institution is located.
The Alentejo would have much to gain if the teachers and researchers of the U.E. applied the
scientific method of research to dealing with regional problems. This is teamwork, together with
members of the same department or of other national or regional institutions, its results being
divulged predominantly at conferences in Portugal or other similar sessions. Community
services, in its turn, has responded to the needs presented by regional partners, and has become
a team based on members of the same department.
The activities of knowledge transference and innovation for the surroundings, in the Alentejo,
are particularly difficult for two reasons: i) the enterprises are very small and theirs
entrepreneurs has low levels of qualification; thus, the perception of the possibilities of the
potential benefits for the companies in result of the relationship with HEIs is very low, ii) the
teachers and researchers of the HEIs, and the U.E in particular, disclose some resistance to the
development of the R&D activities potentially useful for the companies. In fact, the research
developed occurs in relation to the interests of the researches themselves as well as I relation of
the possibility to get financing.
In this scenario, on the one hand, the public policy should stimulate researchers for the R&D
activities and projects with potential for application in the enterprises; on the other hand, the
improvement of the average qualification level of labour market and of entrepreneurs, is
fundamental in order to introduce innovation and knowledge in theirs activities and products.
6. References
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aglomeração geográfica, Lisboa, Imprensa das Ciências Sociais, Estudos e Investigações nº 17, pp. 19-28
COOKE, P. (1998), “Introduction – origins of the concept, Regional Innovation Systems” in Braczyk, H.J.; Cooke, P.; Heidenreich, M. (eds) Regional Innovation Systems, UCL Press, pp. 2-25
GEOIDEIA (1993), Um Enquadramento para o Plano de desenvolvimento Estratégico da Universidade
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POLÈSE, M. (1998), Economia Urbana e Regional, Coimbra, Colecção APDR
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envolvente”, Tese de Doutoramento, não publicada, Évora
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ROSA PIRES, A.; RODRIGUES, C.J.; CASTRO, E. A.(1998), “A Cooperação Universidade-Sociedade
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SCHUETZE, H.G. (2000), “L’innovation industrielle, la création et la dissémination des connaissances:
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Centre pour la Recherche et L’innovation dans l’enseignement, OCDE, pp.183-198
U.E. a (2006), Plano de Actividades & Orçamento para 2006, Reitoria da Universidade de Évora, Évora
U.E. b (2006), Plano de Desenvolvimento Estratégico 2006-2009 - 1º Draft, Núcleo de Desenvolvimento
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