role of universities - georgia institute of...

Role of Universities in Developing Countries

Ulrich [email protected]

Fraunhofer

ISI

InstituteSystems andInnovation Research

Ulrich Schmoch, Fraunhofer ISI 2

Background of the presentation

� Participation in a multi country study on the role of universities in developing countries

� UniDev project: Lead by the University of Lund, Sweden

� Project commissioned by SIDA (Swedish development agency)

� Detailed documentation of activities on

http://DevelopingUniversities.blogsome.com


Different types of developing countries

� Least developed countries

� Less developed countries

� Catch-up countries (Newly industrialisedcountries

� Countries with capitalist background

� Countries with communist/socialist background

=> Different strategies necessary


Traditional concepts of competitive advantage

� Advanced industrialised countries strong in capital and technology

� Strengths of developing countries: raw

materials, cheap labour force


Traditional concepts of economic development of less advanced countries

� Improved production of agrarian goods

� Improved yield of raw material

� Substitution of import goods

� Diversification of export goods

� Export of cheap lowtech goods


Terms of trade

80

90

100

110

120

130

140

150

160

1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

Year

Index Less/least dpd ctrs

Catch-up ctrs

Advanced ctrs

Source: UNCTAD statistics


Observation of the last decades

Growing number of catch-up countries:

Mexico, Brazil, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa, Taiwan, India, China, South Korea, Singapore, Poland, Romania etc.


Pattern of industrialization, the German example in the 1900s century

� Acquisition of base funds through raw material export etc.

� Systematic imitation of advanced technology (in the UK) in small segments

� Entrance in world market with cheap technology-based products

� Reaching the technological break-even point

� Development of own new hightech products

� Enlargement of the technology segments


Similar strategies of other countries

� Japan

� South Korea

� Taiwan

� China etc.

� Literature on "Flying geese" phenomenon

Japan


The technology option

� Generating start income by agrarian goods, raw materials, and lowtech goods

� Long-term investment in knowledge

� Entrance in hightech fields

Typical development of standard indicators

� Growth of publications

� Growth of international patents with substantial delay


Different stages, different strategies

� Seven examples for illustrating different levels of development in terms of SCI publications and international patents (PCT)

� The examples show that the technology option is not appropriate for all countries


1st example: South Korea

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05

Year

Publications

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

Patents

Publications

Patents


2nd example: Brazil

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

18000

90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05

Year

Publications

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

Patents

Publications

Patents


3rd example: Egypt

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05

Year

Publications

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Patents

Publications

Patents


4th example: Malaysia

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05

Year

Publications

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Patents

Publications

Patents


5th example: Kenya

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05

Year

Publications

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Patents

Publications

Patents


6th example: Uruguay

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05

Year

Publications

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Patents

Publications

Patents


7th example: Niger

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05

Year

Publications

0

1

2

Patents

Publications

Patents


The investment in knowledge

Shift of universities from

� pure basic fields and focus on social sciences and humanities to

� Applied fields in the natural sciences and engineering

� Problems of brain drain to advanced countries

� Problems of match between supply and demand for skilled labor force

Nevertheless, investment in higher education necessary pre-requisite for further development


The traditional basic needs option

� Basic needs option still favored by the development aid of advanced countries

� This option aims at- Medical care- Basic food supply- Water supply- Energy supply

� Advice by "experts" from advanced countries


The enhanced university option, 1st and 2nd

mission

� Change of orientation of teaching (1st mission)

� Orientation of research on urgent domestic problems- Food, agriculture- Health- Energy- Water- etc.


The enhanced university option, 3rd

mission

� University activities in- Legal advice- Medical care- Regional planning- Policy advice (in economics, nation building,e.g., integration of minorities etc.)

� Advice by domestic experts with knowledge of the specific features of their country and the possibility of long-term monitoring of the effects of specific measures


Problem of late catch-up countries

Competition with other catch-up countries, in particular China, in the low-wage sector

Example: South Africa in competition with China in textiles

Good source: Raphael Kaplinsky: Globalization, poverty and inequality, 2005.


Conclusions

� Universities have an important role for developing countries

� Universities should orient their 1st and 2nd

mission activities on the needs of their country

� Even for less developed countries the research activities can be important

� For more advanced countries, the engagement in hightech is a realistic option

� A pre-requisite for the new university role is the dedicated support by the government

role of universities - georgia institute of...

Documents