University-business cooperation : current situation in Slovakia and Europe

Abstract

One of the purposes of higher education institutions is to educate specialists that will cover the needs of labour market. In order to fulfill this mission the university-business cooperation is necessary as this is the only way how graduates could fit in the requirements of the employers. In the times of knowledge economy and global economic crisis this cooperation should be even more intensive. The university-business cooperation is also important in research as both can benefit from the results. That is why we concentrated on this topic in the article and investigated the current situation in university-business cooperation in Slovakia and Europe. We present the results of our survey on this topic and compare it with the results of the surveys conveyed by other institutions. On the basis of the survey results and opinions of specialists on university-business cooperation we proposed the solutions to form strategic partnership of businesses and universities.