This review was a collaborative effort between the OECD’s Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE) led by Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, Director, and the European Commission’s Directorate for Innovation, International Cooperation and Sport in the Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, led by Antoaneta Angelova-Krasteva, Director. It was undertaken in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research, of Austria.
Raffaele Trapasso, Coordinator of HEInnovate, and Andrea-Rosalinde Hofer, former CFE staff and currently in EDU, prepared the report under the supervision of Lucia Cusmano, Acting Head of the SMEs and Entrepreneurship Division, CFE. Maria Sobron Bernal, CFE, provided major assistance. HEInnovate is part of the programme of work of the OECD Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Programme.
The OECD is particularly grateful to Peter Baur, Directorate General for Education and Culture of the European Commission, for his participation in various review activities.
A team of experts contributed to the drafting of this report. These include: Brigitte Ecker, WPZ Research GmbH, Austria; Ruaidhri Neavyn, Policy advisor to the Higher Education Authority, Ireland; Maria Helena Nazaré, Head of the Higher Education Council, Portugal; Magneleus Klofsten, Professor at the Linkoping University, Sweden; Asa Lindholm-Dahlstrand, Professor at the Lund University, Sweden; and Christos Kolympiris Associate Professor at Warwick Business School. Thomas Estermann, European University Union. Andrew Gibson, Trinity College, Dublin, provided additional drafting and expertise. Reem AbouElenain, Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree, accompanied the team in one of the study visits. Finally, Stojan Sorčan, Director General for Higher Education in the Ministry for Education, Science and Sport of the Republic of Slovenia participated in one study visit as observer.
The review team wishes to thank the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research for its contribution to the review, and in particular Maria Keplinger, Head of Department, Evidence based higher education development, and Elisabeth Doppler. Special thanks to Brigitte Ecker, WPZ Research GmbH, and her team of experts, who prepared the National Background Report.
Site visits to Higher Education Institutions were instrumental to the production of the report. The review team extends its gratitude to to Elke Welp-Park, WPZ Research GmbH, who organised the visits to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The team is also grateful for the support provided by the staff involved in each site visit. They include: Andrea Bernhard (Graz University of Technology), Sara Matt-Leubner (University of Innsbruck), Irene Reckendorfer (Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg), Brigitte Hahn (Danube University Krems), Lucas Zinner (University of Vienna), Susanna Boldrino (University of Applied Sciences Campus Wien), Josef Glößl, (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, BOKU), Regina Aichinger (University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria), Alexandra Lachout (Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration), David Campbell (University of Applied Arts Vienna, Die Angewandte), Kristina Edlinger-Ploder (University of Applied Sciences, Graz), Philipp Marxgut (Complexity Hub).
Members of the steering group of this review also provided key insights and comments reflected in this review. Theses members include distinguished professionals of Universities Austria (uniko), the Austrian Council for Research and Technology Development, the Association of Austrian Universities of Applied Sciences (FHK), the Austrian Private Universities Conference (ÖPUK), the Rector’s Conference of Austrian University Colleges of Teacher Education, the Federation of Austrian Industries (IV), the Austrian Chamber of Labour, the Federal Economic Chamber (WKO) and the Federal Ministry of Digital and Economic Affairs.
Thanks are also due to Eleonore Morena for editing and formatting the report and to Pilar Philip, CFE, who prepared the final publication.