On 14 and 15 June in the Rousse University “Angel Kanchev” will be held a seminar “In Support of Institutional Change in Higher Education”. This is the last event in the field of higher education from the calendar of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The event is devoted to the HEInnovate tool, a joint initiative of the European Commission and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
In 2014, Bulgaria became the first country to undertake a comprehensive review of the level of entrepreneurship in the higher education system – an institutional review of five higher schools (University of Economics – Varna, University of Forestry – Sofia, University of Mining and Geology St. Ivan Rilski – Sofia, Ruse University “Angel Kanchev” and Technical University – Sofia) as well as the overall higher education system. The attractiveness of Bulgaria in this process has increased along with the interest of both teachers and students, as well as entrepreneurs and researchers working in this field.
HEInnovate allows the evaluation of the effectiveness of institutions in seven areas: 1. Leadership and management; 2. Organizational capacity; 3. Teaching and learning; 4. Pathways for entrepreneurs; 5. Cooperation between universities and business; 6. Internationalization of institutions; 7. Impact measurement.
The HEInnovate initiative is becoming more and more popular not only in Europe but also in the the USA and Asian countries. The number of countries that have taken part in national surveys on the level of entrepreneurship in their higher education institutions is also becoming increased – Poland, Ireland, Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria, Croatia. Earlier this year, the international policy-making network was launched with the help of the HEInnovate tool, which includes experts and professionals from various fields of entrepreneurship.
The seminar in Rousse will provide an opportunity for discussions on individual topics from the dimensions of HEInnovate. A separate closed session “Train the Trainers” will provide an opportunity for training of 40 European experts and academic teachers.