The regional links of universities in Bosnia-Hercegovina, Croatia, and Serbia

In the knowledge economy the role of the university is supposed to be significant. Universities are the object of public and private investment and therefore, the society has placed great expectations upon them (Kerr 1983). Universities are required to perform multiple roles: educate a more diverse student population, improve rates of graduation, internationalize their activities, respond according to the needs of the market, be involved in basic and applied research, and more importantly, contribute to the national and regional economic competiveness and growth. Universities are critical components of national and regional work-force-development and innovation systems. The role of the universities in their regional development is very important and reflects universities’ ‘third mission’ (see particular Pineheiro, 2012). Universities’ legitimacy to society is gradually assessed by the level and quality of a university’s commitment to its various stakeholders (Jongbloed et al. 2007). Benneworth and Arbo (2006) noted that stakeholders’ demands could possibly drive universities to create new approaches to governance and strongly influence social responsibility, professional management and a makeover of the higher education institutional business model. Improving collaboration between stakeholders and universities continues to receive considerable attention and therefore is enthusiastically encouraged by the European Union, especially for research universities (EC 2007). In this chapter, the regional links of universities in the Western Balkan region is investigated by looking more deeply into the characteristics and challenges of three specific countries in the region – Bosnia- Hercegovina, Croatia and Serbia. In particular, the chapter explores to what extent regionalization efforts can be regarded as coherent from a systems perspective. By looking into recent government initiatives, institutional missions and organizational routines, but also specific practices and concrete activities aimed at improving regional links, the chapter points to possible shortcomings in current policies and practices. Due to limitations with regards to space and capacity, three specific countries are in focus of this chapter. The selection of Bosnia-Hercegovina (BiH), Croatia, and Serbia was made due to the fact that these are key countries in the Western Balkans, while also showing some of the diversity found within the region. Hence, we argue that the characteristics and challenges identified in this chapter migt have relevance also beyond the specific countries in question.