Factors conditioning the role of higher education institutions in transition economiesan exploratory study of the Republic of Belarus

Resumen

The global knowledge-intensive economy and the entrepreneurial society require higher education institutions (HEIs) that respond to the new challenges of becoming key players in the development of regions and countries. Thus, during the past two centuries, HEIs have evolved from “accumulators” of knowledge, which were largely separated from society, to “knowledge hubs,” which are deeply embedded in systems of innovation, foster interactions and knowledge spillovers to link research with application and commercialization, and take on the role of inducing innovation-driven economic and social development. In contrast to developed Western countries, HEIs in transition economies are not considered as key actors in cutting-edge innovation and in creating entrepreneurship capital, rather tending to focus on the teaching of jobseekers, knowledge workers, adaptation, redevelopment and dissemination of existing innovations. In addition, the Soviet heritage preconditioned the pattern of HEI transformation as well as knowledge creation and transfer in most of these economies. At the same time, observing the role of HEIs in promoting entrepreneurship and creating entrepreneurship capital in the USA and Western Europe, policy makers in many transition economies realized that such entrepreneurial transformation at HEIs is needed to respond to the challenges of the global knowledge economy. In this regard, this dissertation investigates the contribution of HEIs to economic development of countries in different stages of progress and factors that condition the role of HEIs in transition economies. In so doing, we examine the development of contemporary HEIs at three different levels – international, national and organizational – with a specific focus on the Republic of Belarus. As a result, the dissertation has several noteworthy contributions. Firstly, it advances knowledge on the impact of the three HEI missions at the international level in different stages of economic development. Secondly, the dissertation makes substantial progress towards identifying resources and capabilities that drive the knowledge commercialization by HEIs in a transition economy. Finally, we demonstrate how organizational and environmental factors condition entrepreneurial activities in the context of a leading post-soviet HEI – the Belarusian State University.