Higher Education Excellence and Local Economic Development : The Case of the Entrepreneurial University of Twente

The seemingly incompatible objectives of highereducation excellence and local economic development are examined using a casestudy of the University of Twente in the Netherlands. Interviewees believed that practices and attitudes of the University ofTwente favored private sector and competitive reforms; the University of Twenteviewed itself as being an "entrepreneurial university;" the monitoringsystem was shown to be effective and well-received; there was an adoption of astate control model and state supervising model; and the University of Twenteplayed a key role in the development of a knowledge economy and integrated anentrepreneurial culture into its research activities (e.g., spin-offcompanies). The findings suggest that relevance (local) and excellence (global) arecompatible objectives and can be simultaneously pursued, even by new orpoorly-endowed universities.However, universities need to adopt andimplement entrepreneurial principles and practices in order to achieve theseobjectives, as has been done in Twente. (NEE)