For any society that strives for growth and development, focus on quality education is of particular importance. With the adoption of the Lisbon strategy in 2000, the European Union (EU) started an upward trajectory towards the most competitive economy in the world. Cooperation in education has become an important instrument for mutual understanding and sharing of European values. This cooperation is supported with numerous relevant policy strategies, action plans, available statistical data, evaluation reports, road maps, thematic working groups and programmes, special network structures and idea exchange platforms within the EU. Key relevant strategies, plans and respective indicators are analyzed in this paper. Special attention is given to progress in candidate and potential candidate countries with regards to recommendations and goals of EU. It is concluded that more effort of the educational authorities is needed in all countries and one of the areas that needs to be further developed is evidence based policy making in education.

The current study investigates how attitudes towards digital transformation and personal innovativeness affect the acceptance of emergency remote learning in the COVID-19 pandemic environment. The pandemic has affected all aspects of societies across the globe, including higher education that was also a significant push-up factor for the digital transformation of higher education. Thus, the main aim of this paper is to investigate the factors affecting emergency remote learning acceptance among the higher education students in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The results presented in this paper gained from a study carried out among higher education students in BiH cover the period of April – July 2020 via the open-source platform. The study focused on the students’ attitude towards a digital transformation is a significant factor in accepting emergency remote learning. Also, the personal innovativeness score has proven to be a crucial factor for adopting this new learning setting, i.e., more innovative students have a greater emergency remote learning acceptance than students with a lower personal innovativeness score. Hence, this study pinpoints the necessity of changing the attitudes towards technology applications in education. It would increase the usage of remote learning services and provide students with knowledge and skills for the new labour market

The relationship between education and labor market is significant and complex. Education increases employment opportunities and reduces the chance of occurrence and duration of unemployment. Earnings, among other things, represent private returns on investment in education and are in the center of the analysis of this article. The main aim of this article is to estimate private and social returns on investment in primary, secondary and tertiary education in selected old and new member states of the European Union (EU) by using two methods (Earnings function and Short-cut method) based on the Mincer equation. Results have shown that there is no statistically significant difference between the estimated private and social returns on investment in primary, secondary and tertiary education in groups of old and new EU members. New members converge towards the old members, at least when it comes to returns on investment in these three education levels. The results also indicate the existence of low and negative returns on investment in education in both old and new EU members. Thus, this article with its new findings contributes significantly to the literature that studies the universality of conclusions on returns on investment in education and the methodology that is used.

Abstract Digital transformation has put tremendous pressure on employees to innovate with the use of information technology (IT). This paper explores the extent to which digital literacy and personal innovativeness contribute to individual’s innovative work behavior (IWB). To test our hypotheses, we apply double bootstrapping chained mediation analyses paired with relative importance analysis on a dataset collected from employees (N = 167) in a pharmaceutical company. The results showed the existence of a double-mediation chain whereby digital practices and attitude toward digitalized innovation mediate the positive relationship between digital literacy and IWB. Surprisingly, said chain was not supported for personally innovative individuals, indicating that digital literacy plays a relatively more important role in stimulating attitudes toward digitalized innovation and IWB. Our findings add further specificity to research on digital natives and may help organizations understand the role of digital literacy and personal innovativeness in organizationally-relevant outcomes, such as IWB.

PurposeLiterature suggests that open innovation approach of large firms shows different characteristics with small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), so this paper tends to shed light on these structural differences. With the aim to gain a deeper understanding of the adoption of inbound innovation practices among firms in one small transition economy, this study is focused on the question of how different dimensions of inbound innovation practices affect the innovative performances of SMEs and large firms and how, eventually, these practices should be framed and managed differently.Design/methodology/approachThis paper develops a research model which analyses inbound innovation practices on a data set of 227 SMEs and large firms operating in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The data were collected by using a questionnaire specifically designed for this research. Association between the level of innovation of products in firms and inbound practices, between exploit and explore strategies, between types of industry and different types of collaborations with partners outside the firm is assessed by canonical correlation.FindingsThe research results revealed that inbound innovation practices of manufacturing firms in different stages of innovation development process starting from idea generation, experimentation, up to the commercialization, have positive influence on their innovative performances.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the existing research on open innovation by providing empirical evidences for different dimensions of inbound innovation practices in SMEs and large firms. We offer a very important insight into open innovation practices and challenges beyond well-researched developed countries.

Abstract One of the biggest challenges facing the education system in Bosnia and Herzegovina is bridging the gap between the current state of higher education and the demand for research, innovation and a robust STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) curriculum. Higher education instiutions (HEIs) face poor R&D infrastructure while companies struggle with limited resources and the lack of internal researchers, all of which affect their capabilities to utilize university knowledge and research that will lead to further collaborations and innovations in STEM. Universities are primarily seen as a source of future employees as well as as a source of knowledge and innovation. This study aims to provide an overview and systematic analysis of the current state of scientific and research infrastructure and human resources in public and private universities located in the Sarajevo Canton region. This is done by using primary data collected through semi-structured interviews and a self-reporting comprehensive questionnaire in order to identify areas where further reforms and investments are needed. An analysis of the secondary data sources, such as current strategic documents and the existing assessments of education, was conducted. Consequently, this study offers several practical implications, including policy recommendations in areas such as higher education, research infrastructure and academic excellence, cooperation with the private sector, and IT infrastructure improvements.

Abstract Employment has been identified at the top of the list of young people’s concerns across Europe. Given the fact that in Bosnia and Herzegovina youth is one of the most vulnerable group, mainly due to the high unemployment rate, the main goal of this paper to determine the key individual and household characteristics of young people that influence their employment probability in order to support further development of decision-making policies in the labour market of Bosnia and Herzegovina. By using the USAID MEASURE-BiH National Youth Survey data set we analyse the effects of various individual and household characteristics on the probability of youth employment in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The analysis has revealed that education, age, gender and certain household characteristics have an impact on the probability of youth employment. The paper is expected to produce useful pieces of information that might be helpful for government decision-makers in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the process of creating employment policies to support young people.

Znacaj obrazovanja za ekonomiju poput Europske unije je nemjerljiv. Ulaganje u obrazovanje, istraživanje i razvoj, promocija suradnje obrazovnih institucija i gospodarstva samo su neki od strateskih ciljeva EU-a. No, nejednakost i heterogenost, nezaposlenost, evidentno smanjenje povjerenja u institucije, sveprisutna korupcija i dr., prijetnja su daljem povecanju jaza i nejednakosti. U skladu s tim, ovaj rad imao je za cilj analizirati trenutne strateske pravce razvoja obrazovanja, trendove u koordinaciji i harmonizaciji specificnih politika obrazovanja u zemljama clanicama Europske unije. Pored navedenih, u radu su kriticki analizirani drustveni i ekonomski ciljevi obrazovanja definirani u strateskim dokumentima EU-e. Zakljucuje se da su kljucni izazovi koji predstoje pred EU-om: ogranicena nadležnost u podrucju obrazovanja i osposobljavanja te potreba za kontinuiranom pilagodbom specificnim potrebama nacionalnih obrazovnih sustava.

Abstract Education plays a central role in today’s understanding of growth and development dynamics. However, its relationship with other factors is complex. This paper aims to investigate the effect of different forms of education on youth employability in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is done by using the USAID MEASURE – BiH National Youth Survey. Research has shown that formal education and non-formal education through internship programmes, volunteering, paid jobs other than internships are significant predictors of youth employment status. The study also has several implications for academics and practitioners since it provides new insights into both employment patterns and practices in one transition economy but also calls for further analysis of the link between education, formal and non-formal, and youth employment.