INNOVATION COMPETITIVENESS OF UNIVERSITIES

HOW TO MEASURE IT?

Chief Assist. Prof. Dr. Zornitsa Yordanova

University of National and World Economy, Bulgaria

ABSTRACT

The paper presents a methodology for measuring innovation competitiveness

of universities stepping on the applied educational innovations within all
university functions. The purpose of presenting the methodology is its possible
repetitive application in many other than the currently undertaken research for
achieving better validation of the necessary steps for measuring Innovation
competitiveness of universities. An assumption in the study is that a university
may implement, develop and educate innovations only after its ability to manage
and implement them into its own organization. A second assumption is that
implementing educational innovation in all university functions is the only way
to improve the university education. Since educational innovations are highly
dynamic and developing field, also dependent from many factors as cultural,
political, financial, human and even religious aspects, the currently presented
methodology describes how the process of measuring innovation competitiveness
of universities may be achieved for a specific scope. The process of measuring
innovation competitiveness of universities goes through all stages from first
defining the attributes of educational innovation types involved, exploring
rankings for university competitiveness and realization of a survey across the
scoped for researching universities.
Keywords: university management, innovation, innovation management,
educational innovation, university competitiveness

INTRODUCTION
Innovation is located within the core of the European Union's efforts to make
the Union the most dynamic and competitive economy in the world and to ensure
high quality of life for European citizens. It tries to do this by focusing on
development of research, education and all forms of innovation. The Lisbon
Strategy, which has grown into a Community 2020 Strategy, is again focused on
innovation and is based on three main priorities: the first among which is
reasonable growth, i.e. developing a knowledge-based economy and innovation.
Innovation has been one of the most discussed and hot topics for the latest 20
years, and despite its wide spread and topicality, integration within all industries
and recognition of innovation significance, researches on them still do not still
bring the desired results and indicative values set by the EU to the member
countries. The reasons for this are many, varying and even inconclusive. But some
of the answers lie in the highly applicable nature of innovation, the extremely high
dynamics of the environment, and the coalescence of innovation with the human
nature and its desire for continual change and improvement. These factors outline
the complexity of innovation and place their interdisciplinary character in the
focus when choosing an approach to their research. All these allegations require
asking a major issue in innovation science. The question is whether their research
and study would lead to better results or their real use and optimization of their
management would actually help to achieve the necessary innovation level. The
EU expects to boost the economy's innovation by investing directly in the
economy rather than making efforts to root innovation in the future economy and
intellectual power of the Union - young people, by using the education for this
purpose. The existing model of stimulating innovativeness of the economy
"treats" the object in its current state of illness through financial injections instead
of taking care of the causes and sources of problems by integrating foundations
for its future high results. This is why educational innovations are extremely
important for the subsequent innovative development of the economy and their
integration into a pre-eminent position of the economy universities, is crucial
for achieving the Union's goals. However, innovation in universities is a huge,
broad and difficult for researching topic.
This paper presents a methodology for measuring innovation competitiveness
of universities.

PROBLEM STATEMENT
Analyzing the state of art in the field of educational innovations and their
development, application and management in universities, major sources of
information are mainly research on principles of innovation management;
education as a means of achieving innovation and smart intelligence and growth;
all policies, recommendations and strategies of the EU; and a huge number of case
studies with educational innovations. But how actually application of educational
innovation is linked to the competitiveness of university and especially to
manage and educate innovations? There is a
knowledge gap on the topic in this regard.
There are almost no researches on the introduction and management of
educational innovations in universities and the impact of their implementation,
including obstacles to such actions. There is a lot of researches on how education
could help for boosting innovation in economy and scientific excellence, but
researches on how innovation in education results in universities' competitiveness
and in boosting innovation in the economy, and whether they are effective, are
missing. It is not clear also what are these educational innovations and if they are
aligned to global trends and good practices. There are too many case studies in
the literature without proper research on their typology and structure [1].
Despite the large amount of scientific literature in the field of educational
innovation, which confirms the relevance of the topic, no attempt has been made
so far to compare the use of educational innovations and the achievement of
university competitiveness, which proves the originality and innovative approach
of the research.
 Through the presented methodology in this paper, the author will further
explore and demonstrate that innovation in education is a key factor in achieving
universities' competitiveness and a key factor for improving the quality of
education and university leadership. Education has a fundamental role in
innovation development in the future economy. This gives education an extremely
important central position in the formation and development of the personality, in
particular higher education - for the development of all sciences and spheres of
development of human generations as a whole. It is education that has the
characteristics of an accelerator to achieve results by properly defining objectives
and using appropriate tools. In this sense, the objectives are clear developing
and researching innovation for the purposes of economic growth, but still the
instruments for boosting innovation remain ineffective. Given the function of
education to set a pattern and to be a tool for achieving goals and development in
every respect of human achievement, interests and needs, the lack of innovation
or their inefficiency in its realization is unthinkable and illogical. Therefore, they
should be researched and analyzed. In support of the fundamental nature of the
study, it is necessary to create common principles and good practices to which
universities aspire and a tool for assessing their efforts in this direction.
Till the moment, there is a lack of clarity, systematization, categorization and
analysis of educational innovations and their management in universities, how
they are used and what results they give, what are the obstacles to their effective
use and application, what are the good practices that would be appropriate for
implementing in university management. As there are separate sources of
information on innovation in primary and secondary education, they are almost
absent in the field of higher education. Analyzing the researches carried out
recently, special attention should be paid to the report of the European Economic
and Social Committee on the Modernization of Higher Education Systems in
Europe from 28 March 2012 [2]. It draws conclusions on the basis of a
comprehensive audit of existing educational problems and proposes the
development of a strategic innovation policy for universities. According to
Tsokov [3], innovation in education management is a process of creating or
introducing innovations that affect, in whole or partially, the educational policy,
its objectives, principles, strategies, functions, management structure, content of
its governing bodies, technologies, management of resources and processes in the
educational system aimed at increasing its quality. The objective of the present
methodology is to make a comprehensive analysis of the management of
innovation in universities, to study the application of educational innovations,
their importance for achieving competitiveness of universities, the efficiency of
their use, the competitive advantage of the universities using innovations and how
universities and the Higher education is positioned in the context of European and
world trends and best practices in the field. A number of researchers and leaders
declare their conviction that the future of higher education depends on innovation
and the project team believes in that.
 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF THE STUDY
The methodology presented in the paper aims at identifying and assessing the
importance and dimensions of educational innovations developed and applied in
universities and higher education as a major factor for enhancing their
competitiveness. As a sub-goal, the methodology may also explore the link
between the application of educational innovations and the state's innovation
performance. The methodology may be used in the context of a country or in a
scoped subject/type of universities. That is why, the current paper describes its
process and logic for its future re-use and application.

Tasks to perform the methodology in a specific scope:

Identification and categorization of educational innovations
developed, applied and used in universities and higher education;
Investigating the competitiveness of universities through indexes
measuring competitiveness of universities;
Investigation of the dependence between the educational
innovations used in universities from the scope and their
competitiveness (through the selected indexes) and an empirical
research of the dependence on the use of educational innovations in
universities and higher education and innovation performance of the
country;
Draw up recommendations and conclusions from the development,
implementation and use of educational innovations to increase the
competitiveness of universities and higher education;

Basic research hypothesis (H1):

Educational innovations developed and implemented in universities and

higher education are a key factor in enhancing their competitiveness and fostering
the future innovation of the economy.

Auxiliary research hypotheses:

The development and implementation of educational innovations at
universities promotes and supports research (H2);
The development and implementation of educational innovations at
universities promotes and supports teaching and learning (H3);
The development and implementation of educational innovations at
universities promotes and supports the administration and
management of universities (H4);
Developing and implementing educational innovations at
universities enhances the efficiency of the student-university-
business relationship (H5);
Educational innovations are an essential element of the
competitiveness of universities (H6);
 The right and effective management of educational innovation
fosters their development (H7);
The development and implementation of educational innovations
has a positive impact on the innovation of the country's economy
(H8);

Bearing in mind the stated above hypotheses, the methodology is built so as

a research based on it to confirm and assess these statements for a particular scope
of universities.

EDUCATIONAL INNOVATION LITERATURE ANALYSIS

Innovation is considered as the main driver for growth and a determinant for
organizational and sectoral productivity, efficiency and competitiveness [4].
Many organizations have declared that improving and increasing innovativeness
and the ability to develop innovations are amongst the most substantial factors for
growth [5]; [6]. Innovations are equally important for the private and
governmental sectors, important for the humanity in general. Since it has been
clarified that innovations are the most reliable tool for transforming the past and
present up to a superior level, the issue how more effectively and successfully
innovations should be managed is still valid. The issue is critical when it comes
to education as this is the other recognized growth engine for humanity.
Educational innovations are defined by Taylor et al. [7] as any novel teaching
technique, strategy, tool, or learning resource that could be used by an instructor
to lead to effective (or promising) instructional techniques that benefit student
learning and engagement. According to Fullan [8], educational innovation must
contain three elements: use of new revised materials (curriculum materials or
technologies); use of new teaching approaches (teaching strategies or activities);
alteration of beliefs (pedagogical assumptions).
Much research has been done on problems that education is facing. Utilizing
the idea of problem driven innovation, the current research aims at extracting
some commonly identified problems and challenges because of the understanding
that these would be the directions for education innovation in the future.
According to OECD [9] the main issue in education and the starting point for
innovation in the sector are productivity and efficiency. In education, efficiency
means the balance between resources invested and the outcomes in terms of

According to Kozma [10], educational innovation means supporting a shift

from traditional paradigms towards emerging pedagogical approaches based on
information and Communication technologies (ICT) solutions such as fostering
learner-centred and constructivist processes, and the acquisition of lifelong
learning skills. Hannon [11] refers innovation to a complete shift in the
educational paradigm, driven by the four principles of social innovation, i.e.
openness, collaboration, freedom, and direct participation of those involved.
Innovation has become an essential ingredient in creating and sustaining a culture
of performance in higher education and keeps transforming higher education
[12].
Staley and Trinkle [13] formulated ten trends in managing higher education
and respectively referring the educations innovation. These are: Increasing
Differentiation of Higher Education; Transformation of the General Education
Curriculum; Changing Faces of Faculty; Surge in Global Faculty and Student

Mounti -
Jobs; College as a Private vs. Public Good; Lifelong Partnerships with Students.
Ebersole [14] has defined the following challenges which higher education
leaders face: a trend toward competency based education, tougher accreditation
standards, an emphasis on assessment, voids in leadership, and the growing
diversity of students as challenges that will plague higher education in the coming
years. Wai [15] detected globalization and collaboration as big challenges, which
the educational innovation should be, addresses as cross-disciplinary
collaboration received increasing attention. Sustainability has also been identified
as a crucial factor for as to encompass the different effects of human resources for
sustainable development.

METHODOLOGY
The methodology, an object of the paper is presented in fig. 1 below. It shows
the dependency and sequence of the necessary steps for assessing innovation
competitiveness of scoped universities.
 1.2.3. IDENTIFICATION OF MERITS
OF COMPETITIVENESS OF
UNIVERSITIES

DEVELOPMENT OF A
THEORETICAL MODEL FOR
COMPETITIVENESS OF
UNIVERSITIES AND
EMPIRICAL TESTING

3.1. SELECTING
COMPETITIVENESS
METRICS

2.4. SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS OF THE

RESULTS FOR THE USED EDUCATIONAL
INNOVATIONS

Figure 1. Methodology for repetitive measuring of innovation

competitiveness of universities

As it is shown in the visual representation of the methodology for measuring

innovation competitiveness of universities, the process starts with defining the
objectives of educational innovation for the scoped universities, subjects or a
country. The educational innovations may differ hugely based on the types of
universities or the focus of the research. Selecting indexes for measuring
competitiveness may also differ from a country to country or depend on the
science filed (U-Multirank for instance). Having selected the scope of these two
variables, leads to the next steps of the methodology proposed. Based on the
scoped educational innovations and a selected university competitiveness index,
then a questionnaire may be distributed to assess the level of the applied
educational innovations.

CONCLUSION

The practical use of this paper is a possible application of the proposed

methodology for measuring and assessing the innovation competitiveness of
universities for further research projects. The methodology has been already
applied from Bulgarian researchers scoping more than 25 universities from all
around the world for first validation of the methodology. In this very first trial of
this methodology application, educational innovations have been categorized into
19 types: new skills for development, related to the new world challenges; quality
requirements; the increasing globalization in education and in all related fields; e-
learning as a main trend; culture, incl. migration issues; collaboration, educational
model changes; ICT development and its implementation in education for future
generations; efficiency; motivation, incl. motivational issues for the new
generations; the increasing complexity of education bearing in mind the
globalization and digitalization of it; process innovation; accreditation equitation;
new leadership requirements; achieving sustainability; creativity as a main core
value for future students; faculty management and mobility as a means of
extending options for students. U-Multirank has been selected as a ranking
assessment variable. A detailed online questionnaire is available on request as
well as the results and data from the already undertaken research.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Acknowledgments: The paper is supported by the BG NSF Grant M 15/4 -

2017 and No KP-06-OPR01/3-2018.

REFERENCES
[1] Yordanova, Z. Educational Innovation: Bringing Back Fads to
Fundamentals, ISPIM Innovation Conference Celebrating Innovation: 500
Years Since daVinci, Florence, Italy on 16-19 June 2019
[2] European Union Committee, The Modernization of Higher Education in
Europe, Authority of the House of Lords, HL Paper 275
[3] Tsokov, G. Organizational changes required for Bulgarian universities in
the Context of Lifelong Education. Lifelong Education. Theory and practice
of Lifelong Education for sustainable development., Saint-Petersburg, 2010.,
102-220 ISBN 978-5-8290-0911-3
[4] Arvanitis, S., Kubli, U. and Woerter, M., University-industry knowledge
and technology transfer in Switzerland: what universities scientists think about
co-operation with private enterprises, Research Policy, Vol. 37, No. 1, 2008,
pp.1865 1883.
nal innovation Ameta analysis of effects

No. 3, 1991, pp.555 590.

the innovation management evoluti

Production Management, Vol. 13, No. 1,2016, pp.16 30, DOI:
10.14488/BJOPM.2016.v13.n1.a2.
[7] Taylor et al., Propagating the adoption of CS educational innovations,

[8] Fullan, M., The New Meaning of Educational Change, Teachers College
Press, 5th edition, 2007
[9] OECD, Innovating Education and Educating for Innovation: The Power
of Digital Technologies and Skills, OECD Publishing, 2016, Paris.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264265097-en
[10] Kozma, R. B., Technology, Innovation, and Educational Change. A
global perspective: A report of the Second Information Technology in Education
Study Module 2, ISTE publisher, 2003
[
in the 21st Century, Centre for Strategic Innovation, 2009
[12] Wai, C., Innovation and Social Impact in Higher Education: Some
Lessons from Tohoku University and the Open University of Hong Kong. Open
Journal of Social Sciences, 5, 2007, pp. 139-153. doi: 10.4236/jss.2017.59011.
[13] Staley, D. J. & Trinkle, D. A., The Changing Landscape of Higher
Education, Educause Review. Vol 46., 2011. pp. 15 31

January 13, 2014

[15] Wai, C., Innovation and Social Impact in Higher Education: Some
Lessons from Tohoku University and the Open University of Hong Kong. Open
Journal of Social Sciences, 5, 2017, pp. 139-153. doi: 10.4236/jss.2017.59011.