Loretta HUSZÁK
5. Dual study programmes and academia-business collaborations in County Fejér
As a consequence of the above described, we can observe in Hungary the proliferation of dual (work-based) higher education programmes, the so-called dual or collaborative study programmes. In this chapter, we aim to analyse in detail the experience of Hungarian higher education institutes with the dual study programmes. For data collection purposes, the collaboration of the Corvinus University of Budapest (CUB), campus Székesfehérvár were further examined. At this university location, CUB offers dual bachelor study programs in cooperation with business partners in five different areas (see Table 3).
Table 3 Corvinus University of Budapest, Székesfehérvár campus, dual education, location of partners (2018/2019)
Name of the
degree program Degree
level Nr of dual partners,
2018/2019 Location of partners Supply-chain
Accounting Bachelor 13 All in Budapest
Tourism and
Catering Bachelor 4 All in County Fejér
Source: own depiction, data from Corvinus University of Budapest
The Corvinus University of Budapest has an excellent reputation both nationally and internationally. It hosts more than 10,000 students at its 3 faculties, offering degrees at undergraduate, graduate, postgraduate and PhD level in numerous specialisations taught in Hungarian, English or German.
Compared to the total number of students of CUB (in the academic year 2015/16:
10.948, Corvinus University of Budapest, 2018), the number of currently in dual study programmes enrolled students is relatively low: in the academic year 2018/19 in total 70 students were enrolled into dual programmes, at campus Székesfehérvár 48 students participated in such study programmes. (Interview 1, with further internal statistical data).
At the Székesfehérvár campus, most students (22) were enrolled within the study program Business and management, on bachelor level. Collaborating companies have signalised that they had the capacity for around 150 students (see Figure 2).
Figure 2 Corvinus University, dual education, number of study places at affiliated partner companies, size of companies, academic year 2018/19
Source: own depiction, data from Corvinus University of Budapest and ceginformacio.hu
However, finding and convincing collaboration partners for the dual study programmes was quite a challenge for the university, especially with those collaboration partners who can only offer training place for a few students (Interview 5). The negotiation process with smaller companies is time-consuming and give rise to increased transactional costs (Interview 1). Indeed, dual study programmes call into question the cooperation capacity of the mid-sized business sector. The partner companies have divers’
characteristics. In order to incorporate more small and medium-sized companies in the emerging system of dual studies, the Hungarian Ministry of Human Capacities elaborated a network of “dual studies centres” to give support to new partners. (EMMI, 2018) Especially for smaller companies, it is often too complex and expensive to enter into and
large enterprises SMEs
internally implement such a training programme. Having analysed the size of the collaboration partners, the research shows following results, visualised in Figure 3: 48% of all cooperating companies were large enterprises, 52% belonged into the small- and medium-sized enterprise category (incl. micro enterprises).
Figure 3 Corvinus University, size of collaboration partners, dual education
Source: own depiction, data from Corvinus University of Budapest and ceginformacio.hu
Conversely, large companies seem to be more relevant for universities than small ones and may therefore tend to exert strong influence on the design of the curricula in some cases (see the example of John von Neumann University in Kecskemét, established 2016 with the merger of the Colleges of Kecskemét and Szolnok, under the extremely strong cooperation with Mercedes-Benz Manufacturing Hungary Kft.). Therefore, the robust influence of individual companies on the design of specific dual study programmes can risk the holistic quality of the academic components of the study programme, thus favouring firm-specific content (Interview 1).
We also analysed where the collaboration partners are located. Currently (January 2019) the Corvinus University of Budapest has 44 contracted collaboration partners within the dual education in Székesfehérvár. As Figure 4 illustrates, 60% of the business partners have their registered office not in the county, with an upward tendency for more collaboration partners from outside of the small region.
micro enterprise small sized enterprise medium sized enterprise large company
Figure 4 Corvinus University, collaboration partners, dual education, location of partners
Source: own depiction, data from Corvinus University of Budapest and ceginformacio.hu
As the dual system requires a considerable administrative commitment from the higher education institutes, it seems to contribute to a reassessment of academia-industry/business collaborations, with an increasingly peripheral interest in research result commercialisation on the part of the universities. (Interview 1, 2, 3 and 4)
6. Summary
„Universities are a critical ‘asset’ of the regions, mainly in the less developed regions where the private sector may be weak or relatively small, with low levels of research and development activity.” (JRC Science Hub, 2013, p. 83). Universities and research institutions can become central interfaces for regional technology transfer – this is what many governments and the European Commission expect of them. (European Commission, 2017) The role of academia in knowledge transfer is crucial. However, the impact of new strategies in the knowledge transfer has not yet received much critical attention in academic literature. This paper articulates these tensions and explores how and whether Hungarian academia exploits its technological knowledge and know-how in practice and makes up collaborative projects with local or regional firms that help reveal information about the future value of certain specialisations.
In the empirical part of the paper, we concentrated on Hungary. The applied research questions were as follows: 1) how far regional academia is prepared for knowledge transfer, 2) what the regional patterns of knowledge-based cooperation of universities and research institutions with business are and 3) how intensive the collaboration of academia with the regional industry is, especially within the framework of dual study programmes. In addition to succinct desk-research, expert interviews were conducted with university staff members.
Overall the research reveals a multifaceted picture of still emerging (and potentially conflicting) dynamics around the shift in university and research knowledge transfer since 2015 from the framework of TTOs towards the introduction of dual study programmes. The forced introduction of dual study programmes has the potential to reconfigure the role of universities in regional innovation networks. The Hungarian innovation policy is guided by German patterns and refers explicitly to the model of dual study degree programs.
Knowledge and technology transfer are not as focused at the higher education institutes as they were between 2008 and 2014 when TTOs operated in each analysed university.
Today, technology transfer, including the formulation of long-term, business-based cooperation between the university and industrial partners, is mainly limited to five plus three FIEK institutions. The analysed Hungarian universities and research institutes receive only limited public support for knowledge transfer activities and – to a great extent - had to give up their former TTOs. They concentrate the resources on the implementation of dual study programmes; other options of business-academia collaboration (e.g. with focus on research) remain increasingly unnoticed.
The positive effect of excellence cooperation programmes like FIEK is that at least when cooperating with these few preselected institutions, the business might get access to the knowledge-base of HEIs and PROs in a structured, professional and (hopefully) sustainable way. We hope that these collaborations will have long life-span to foster the achievement of significant results and will serve as a benchmark for other HEIs and PROs in Hungary.
Notes
Analysed publicly funded (budgetary) research institutions (PROs) and higher education institutes (HEIs):
• Corvinus University of Budapest (with a campus in Székesfehérvár)
• Óbuda University Alba Regia Technical Faculty
• University of Dunaújváros
• Kodolányi János University of Applied Sciences
• Centre for Agricultural Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Interviews:
• Interview Nr 1: 11 June 2018 (via Skype);
• Interview Nr 2: 12 July 2018 (via phone);
• Interview Nr 3: 13 July 2018 (in person, Székesfehérvár);
• Interview Nr 4: 13 July 2018 (via phone);
• Interview Nr 5: 3 September 2018 (in person, Budapest)
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