HIGHER EDUCATION AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT: WHAT RELATIONS?

There are many challenges to the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) regarding their role and impact on the quality of life of the population, not to be overlooked their influence on economic growth and regional development, in particular their contribution to the improvement of human capital, innovation and knowledge transfer. This work is based in the U-Value research project, The impact of Higher Education Institutions on the quality of life of their regions, which aims to study the impact that HEIs may have on the quality of life and sustainability of their regions, qualitatively and quantitatively, and the characterization of their efficiency in the transformation of funds public, own funds and various types of human, social and organizational capital in outputs that influence the quality of life of the populations and the sustainability of their regions of influence. It includes the identification and collection of the main inputs and outputs of HEIs that may have an impact on regional development. In this article, supported in the literature, we intend to analyse some indicators, based on the inputs and on the outputs, such as students, R&D, activities with local enterprises, human capital, knowledge creation and knowledge management. It is hoped to find examples of some good practices and to list the kind of relationships that are established or can be established between HEIs and industries in terms of collaboration, improvement of human capital, promotion of innovation and transfer of knowledge as well as between HEIs and the population and local authorities. The results of this project will contribute to the definition of new higher education policies by identifying the main variables and the different types of effects that can be induced by HEIs in the sustainable development of the regions and, consequently, of the country.