Assessment of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Newcoming Romanian Entrepreurial Universities

In the dynamic changing environment, entrepreneurial universities have been playing an increasingly important role for socio-economic innovation and development. The aim of this study is to perform an analysis, involving the observation of the dimensions of entrepreneurial universities. We consider that nowadays the evaluation of universities should take into consideration the tools that school leaders, professors and students may use to evaluate teaching programs in innovation and entrepreneurship. As a result of the fact that the tertiary education institutions are appreciated by the way they relate to the social and economic needs and characteristics of the individuals, the Romanian universities are currently pursuing and trying to undergo a development process making the shift from a classical university to an entrepreneurial university. Specific literature has argued that the dynamic culture of the entrepreneurial university encourage students and graduates to new innovative and entrepreneurial initiatives and increase their employability. The purpose of the current paper is to inspire debates and actual steps to be taken so as higher education institutions in Romania to become even more competitive and support economic growth by fully embracing the role of entrepreneurial universities. Research methodology includes the application of the questionnaire conceived by the HEInnovate team in two universities from Romania, authors comparing the results through a qualitative analysis and interpretation within the European framework. Results underline a similarity between the responses among the seven pillars of HEInnovate tool, but given the area of influence we identify the gaps and propose specific recommendations for short and long-term future. The conclusions of paper area meant to enhance performance in development of innovation and entrepreneurial skills in students in North-East region of Romania, with the aim to raise the region’s competitive edge.