Nataša Jakominić Marot Head of EU projects Department University of Rijeka Trg braće Mažuranić 10 HR Rijeka Croatia

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1 Nataša Jakominić Marot Head of EU projects Department University of Rijeka Trg braće Mažuranić 10 HR Rijeka Croatia Lidija Bagarić PhD student University of Rijeka Trg braće Mažuranić 10 HR Rijeka Croatia EU funds for support and research infrastructure in the aim of University development: Case study of the University of Rijeka Centralization and dependence on national budget are extremely high in Croatia and Universities do not have research equipment which would allow them to compete to the leading research centres in Europe. Funding from the national budget is insufficient and the only way for success is to opt for alternative funding, in the first place EU funds. In this regard, this article has analysed the development of the University of Rijeka in the light of material and non-material benefits deriving from participating in EU projects. First such benefits derived from participating in the Tempus assistance programme which helped establish the University s International Relations Office (IRO). It was the first University unit dedicated to foreign relations. At that time, international projects had only marginally been tackled by the Office. Croatia then joined the 6 th and 7 th Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development and international projects gained more and more importance and 1

2 project-related services began to grow. A person at IRO was assigned full-time to international projects. University got ever more projects, and Projects Office was established to keep pace with growing requirements. Attention shall now be turned to Structural Funds and the university is already working hard to grasp the benefits as soon as Croatia joins European Union. Keywords: University of Rijeka, research infrastructure, EU funds, high-quality research 1. INTRODUCTION During their meeting in Bergen in May 2005, the Ministers of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) adopted the overall three-cycle framework for qualifications in the EHEA. A quality second and third cycle education must build on high-quality research at universities. All high-quality education, especially doctoral education, has to be research-based and researchoriented. In order to include research elements into its education, Croatia has an urgent need for a more concerted participation in research activities. In this frame the higher education and research sector in Croatia are going through major changes. The Bologna reform processes have been introduced on the basis of the Higher Education and Scientific Act, passed in August 2004 by the Croatian parliament. University studies have been transformed into three cycles and European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) and Diploma supplements are being implemented. The Lisbon Agenda in 2000, set goals to be reached in order for the EU to become the world s most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy by The development of the European Research Area (ERA) has been set as one of the most important ones. In order to achieve this goal, the EU strived to overcome outdated geographical, institutional, disciplinary and sector boundaries. However, most of these goals have not been reached by now. Spain Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero said it was necessary for the 2020 Economic Strategy to take on a new, binding, nature suggesting this was the reason for the failure of the Lisbon Agenda. ( 2

3 Since the EU needs to define where it wants to be by 2020, Europe 2020 strategy was proposed by the European Commission on 3 March It sets out a vision of Europe's social market economy for the 21 st century, putting forward, among three equally important priorities Smart growth: developing an economy based on knowledge and innovation. (Europe 2020, 3) To this end, the Commission proposes the following EU headline targets: 75 % of the population aged should be employed. 3% of the EU's GDP should be invested in R&D. The "20/20/20" climate/energy targets should be met (including an increase to 30% of emissions reduction if the conditions are right). The share of early school leavers should be under 10% and at least 40% of the younger generation should have a tertiary degree. 20 million less people should be at risk of poverty. These targets are interrelated and critical to our overall success. To ensure that each Member State tailors the Europe 2020 strategy to its particular situation, the Commission proposes that EU goals are translated into national targets and trajectories. (Europe 2020, 3) If Croatia, as the EU candidate country, wants to contribute to reaching the EU 2020 goals, it will have to invest in research and increase its technological output effectively in the coming years. In order to reach this ambitious goal, a more strategic approach of universities is required. Only with a high degree of professionalism, research results in Croatia can be used as a basis for innovation and improved competitiveness of the socio-economic sector. Improving administrative and academic capacities for participating in Research Programmes and securing adequately trained staff must be a high priority in Croatia, both for universities and for the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports (MoSES) and represents a major challenge. The most important goal to be reached is to increase the responsiveness of the university research to the economic needs and the needs of the Croatian society. Therefore, the University of Rijeka (UoR) founded the EU projects Department. The department started preparing applications for structural funds projects to be ready once Croatia joins the European Union. It shall be a practical tool to bypass fragmentation and provide state-of-the-art equipment to promote excellent research. It is also important because all equipment purchased in 3

4 this way shall belong to the University, thus all researchers who might need it. The current practice of equipment being used by only one research group shall thus cease. 2. UNIVERSITY OF RIJEKA SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR EU PROJECTS AND FUNDS The University of Rijeka considers that it is necessary to intensify international cooperation of the university by involving scientists in international projects; by establishing closer cooperation with foreign universities and by inclusion into European and international programmes of university collaboration. (University Strategy , 19) Having recognised the importance of integrating into the European research area (ERA) and European Higher Education Area (EHEA), the University of Rijeka has initiated a number of activities aiming at successfully involving the academic and administrative staff in EU projects. For several years, these activities tried to change people s way of thinking, working, living and doing science. They spread information about international projects and their role in the development of institutions, improving the quality and relevance of the science and research at the University. Figure 1 shows how EU programmes went hand in hand with the development of the University and helped its transformation into a modern research University striving towards excellence. Below, we shall give a brief overview of the development of UoR project-related services. Participation in Tempus project Development of University International Offices in Croatia (2001) enabled the University of Rijeka to establish a strong, professional, well equipped International Relations Office which promotes and facilitates integration of the University of Rijeka to European programmes. For a long time, only 1 person within the University professional services worked on international programmes, and it was within the International Relations Office (See Figure 1). In 2007, the University has applied for a project entitled Training for EU liaison officers in Croatian universities: Pursuing Bologna and EU integration aims - TRIUMPH which lead to the 4

5 appointment of science managers at Croatian universities and research-related institutions. The project aimed at supporting the progress of reforming Croatian Higher Education to the Bologna principles and its integration into the European Research Area. Within the project the working group of EU liaison officers and science managers at Croatian universities was officially established in November (TRIUMPH, 2008). Currently, the network consists of 16 science managers, 7 of which are at the University of Rijeka, which testifies to UoR being the most proactive, even if not the largest Croatian university. In 2008, Research department has been established in order to encompass all activities related to international projects, technology transfer, science and intellectual property rights. Within this unit, two people were assigned to work in the International Projects Office. Office staff continued to improve its skills through participation in various projects, and also to expand its range of activities. Activities have been undertaken to link professionals at University constituents involved in EU projects with the University central project office, thus forming a network of science managers with theoretical and practical knowledge and experiences to promote and facilitate participation in EU projects. In early 2010, EU projects Department was established which merged staff from the International Projects Office and Centre for Sustainable Development. The Department s four employees offer a wide variety of services ranging from project management, partner search, development of the project from the idea to the final report, including consulting services throughout the project lifecycle, solving issues in the implementation phase (especially financial ones), etc. The Department tries to contribute to the access to worldwide scientific activities by providing lectures, information sessions and workshops for topics within its scope of work. It also applies for and manages important projects for the whole university, such as interdisciplinary projects or strategically important ones. [Figure 1 here] 5

6 3. EU FUNDS AND DEVELOPMENT Very soon Croatia will be able to use structural funds and all hopes are focused on that source of funding, expecting that it will bring the awaited economic growth. The Croatian industrial sector today is not very competitive on the European and global markets. The import-export relation is 2:1, the national GDP (Ministry of Finance 2010) is negative in range of 2.5%, financial deficit of the Croatian budget is closed to 7 billion Euros per year, or 4.2% GDP and the unemployment level (Croatian Employment Service 2010) is about 300,000 persons, unemployment rate is 17%, a small number of high-tech products are developed and commercialized. However, through the implementation and development of new technologies and high-added value commercial products, Croatia can catch up with the EU and other developed economies. Financing from European Social Fund grant is for all member states and is one of the pillars of the Strategy for development and employment. In the period were allocated funds amounting to about 75 billion Euros to European Union objectives in terms of economic and social cohesion. With European Social Fund funding, there is about 454 operational programs in the member states (Nicolau 2010). Number of authors analyzed the impact of Structural funds on regional competitiveness and economic growth (some authors found a positive impact of structural funds on economic growth (Dall'erba 2005 and Ramajo et al 2008), others found a weakly positive (Esposti and Bussoletti 2008) and no statistically significant impact (Dall'erba and Le Gallo 2008). The problem is of special concern as the current literature often utilizes structural funds commitments instead of actual payments. This results in a measurement error as commitments may not be entirely completed or be called up with a delay, due to missing absorption capacity (Mohl and Hagen 2010, 354). [Table 1 here] Universities are the point of encouraging the regional development and competition and University of Rijeka launched the following steps: [Figure 2 here] 6

7 After developing the administrative base by establishing the EU projects Department with educated and competent human resources, ensuring the high level of research equipment and sciences will lead to successful science results and favourable base for future development. Cooperation with the local industry, SMEs and community will accelerate the economic growth and regional competitiveness. 4. EU FUNDS FOR RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE: EXAMPLE OF ACTUAL PROJECT RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE FOR CAMPUS-BASED LABORATORIES AT UNIVERSITY OF RIJEKA 4.1. Background The University of Rijeka seeks to ensure the quality workspace and leading research equipment for its scientists and students. Significant step forward was the beginning of construction the University Campus on Trsat, which Concept were adopted by the Senate in The University of Rijeka Strategy ( ) in its seven-year period is seen as the period for restructuring and strengthening the University, with the goal of developing it into a strong integrated institution. In that light, the construction of the University Campus in Rijeka is seen as a significant developmental step forward (University Strategy , 14), with the purpose of achieving the following: enhancing student standard (regarding both studying and living), enhancing conditions for scientific work, building a modern information system to integrate the University and link it to other world education and research centres. The Strategy (University Strategy , 14) further emphasizes that the building of a contemporary research-based University in a European environment demands the subsequent construction of a scientific and entire university infrastructure which will ensure excellence in university classes and scientific work as well as an equal position of the University within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and the European Research Area (ERA). Development of natural sciences (namely of the following scientific fields: physics, mathematics, information science, microtechnology and nanotechnology, scientific calculation, ecology, molecular 7

8 medicine and molecular biology) has been given a priority in this period. Besides building appropriate facilities, special attention is therefore put on the procurement of equipment. The strategic importance of the University of Rijeka Campus Investment Programme was recognized and supported by the Croatian Government and the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports (MoSES) because of its strategic importance for regional development and enhancement of the overall Croatian science and higher education system. After the completion of the infrastructure phase, where all facilities have been built, the Operation proposed to be financed from EU funding is aimed to round the investment circle and enabling the University of Rijeka to become a significant factor in economical, educational and social development of western Croatia Project in a relation with EU and national strategies Strategic directions of Primorsko-goranska County and the Strategy of the University of Rijeka are to contribute to the competitiveness of Croatian economy, in line with Lisbon Strategy and relevant regional needs and priorities. The Regional Competitiveness Operational Programme (Priority axis 2. Enhancing the Competitiveness of the Croatian Economy, Measure 2.2. Technology Transfer and Support Services for Knowledge-based Startups) are in accordance with those directions as well as priorities of national strategic documents (Science and Technology Policy of the Republic of Croatia , Action Plan 2007 Science and Technology Policy of the Republic of Croatia, Action Plan to Encourage Investment into Science and Research, 2008). Project Research infrastructure for Campus-based laboratories at University of Rijeka will provide the required infrastructure at Rijeka Campus, necessary for the establishment of a strong and competitive research basis in the area of natural and technical sciences. In 2009, Project has been submitted to MoSES and The Business Innovation Center of Croatia BICRO Ltd. in the frame of project preparation and technical assistance from the Phare 2006 Project Pipeline for IPA/Structural Funds. At the end of 2009, the MoSES and BICRO, had collected relevant project concepts in the area of innovation infrastructure that would be financed under future Structural Funds. Campus project was selected together with another 5 projects following the criteria below: 8

9 1. Relevance of project with regards to areas of national research and economic priority 2. Their estimated potential to produce outcomes of economic, social and cultural benefit to Croatia 3. Existence of critical mass of knowledge for the area applied 4. State of project readiness and the likelihood of timely implementation (n+2) 4.3. Research infrastructure for economic growth The project Research Infrastructure for Campus-based Laboratories at the University of Rijeka will secure the full functionality of three research centres, which are envisaged as future Centres of Excellence in Nano-Bio-Info Sciences and several laboratories for improvement of research infrastructure in Civil Engineering. University of Rijeka then will become regional leader in Nano-Bio-Info-Convergence (technologies resulting from the development in one field are useful and tend to become essential to the research development in other fields) and important actor in applied research in area of civil engineering. The Project will consist of equipment supply needed for the performance of basic research and education functions and will create basic infrastructure needed for participation of Rijeka University in international collaborative research projects. It will enable higher level of research performance in monodisciplinary research in biotechnology, ICT, micro and nano sciences and civil engineering. Through its Centres, the University will enhance opportunity of researchers for collaboration with other research organizations and industry, on local and regional levels. Also it will increase educational quality at graduate and post graduate levels. One of the most important impacts will be on the applied research and enhancement of the university-industry activities and joint projects. Research infrastructure will contribute to technology transfer and commercialization capacities of University of Rijeka, sustainable development and industry competitiveness, which will be accomplished through research projects, development of new products and patents. It will also allow developing interdisciplinary research and innovation-related challenges, managing the interface to external industry and leading to high-quality research, develop scientists and enhance the competitiveness of the economy. 9

10 4.4. Research equipment The capital investment in equipment will improve the provision for services that are not currently available at the University and the region. Through this Project, the following Laboratories will be equipped: Center for high throughput technology in Biomedicine 1) Laboratory for Proteomics 2) Laboratory for Systems Biomedicine 3) Laboratory for Cell cultures 4) Laboratory for Organic and Solid State Chemistry 5) Laboratory for Bioorganic Chemistry Centre for Micro and Nano Sciences and Technologies 1) Laboratory for Surface and Materials Science 2) Laboratory for Precision Engineering and Microsystems Technologies 3) Laboratory for Elemental Microanalysis 4) Laboratory for Ultrafast Optocustics & Quantum Optics Center for Advance Computing and Modelling 1) Laboratory for Computer and Network Technologies 2) Laboratory for E-Science, E-Learning and E-Business 3) Laboratory for Signal Processing and Communication Technologies 4) Laboratory for AI Technologies and Modelling Faculty of Civil Engineering 1) Hydraulic laboratory 2) Geotechnical laboratory 3) Transportation laboratory 4) Materials laboratory 10

11 5) Structures laboratory 4.5. Project impact Types of services which will be delivered through three centres and civil engineering laboratories are provision of basic research infrastructure for researchers and students of the University of Rijeka and visiting students and researchers; provision of applied research for the benefits of SMEs and public institutions/companies; provision of training for students and networking with R&D institutions on national level and level of ERA. This Project will have a huge impact on different target groups, to industrial and research partnerships, enhance innovative fundamental and applied research, development of new products, promotion of multidiscipline and joint for more research projects. Services provided will have influence to following target groups: 1. University of Rijeka through main decisions towards development of the University as a strong research oriented university in the European research area will enhance attractiveness of the University to students and higher ranking and harmonization with EU priorities in S&T. 2. Established Centres and laboratories through Equipment selection, direction of development of Centres, university support, R&D activities, creation of new PhD and post-doc positions, selection of employees, impact to development of industrial sector and local government, development of new products and providing new services. Recognition of centres as Centres of excellence in a highly competitive fields, attractiveness to students, employees, to local industry, to research collaborators, contribution to increase of the research capacity of University and its development 3. Researchers will enable the quality of provided services, collaboration with industrial and academic sector, grant applications, teaching portfolio and quality. It will enhanced attractiveness to better students, to industrial and research partnerships, enhanced scientific productivity, possibility of innovative fundamental and applied research, development of new products, promotion of multidisciplinarity. 11

12 4. Students will get the higher employability, higher scientific output, higher mobility of students due to collaboration with other academic institutions, higher exchange of knowledge with international colleagues due to attractiveness of programs to international students and researchers. 5. Collaborating research institutions through synergy in equipment and expertise, research directions, grant applications, joined PhD and post-doc students, mobility and collaborations with industrial sector will improve the collaborations with industry, bring the better financing of activities and enhance visibility, higher attractiveness to students, participation to mobility programs and higher scientific output. 6. Industrial partners who will need assessment and prediction of future needs for applied research and technology transfer activities will achieve increased competitiveness on European and global markets, new and improved processes and products, enhanced productivity, implementation of new technologies and attractiveness for high skilled employees. 7. Public sector institutions through co-financing of activities of Centres will get the Quality of local academic and industrial sector and also increased income from taxes. Specific objectives are: - developing the knowledge and skills in an area that has been identified as a priority globally, at the EU level and on the national level - increasing the collaboration of the academic and industrial sectors in this field - development of new products and services to the Croatian economy - increasing the collaboration with the government institutions - increasing the level of scientific output in this area - increasing the number of University students - enhancing synergic effects with other research institutions, especially abroad - development of new graduate and post-graduate educational curricula - introduction of new scientific instrumentation and methods to the Croatian S&T sectors Especially in this time of recession, the Universities have urgent need for development of competitive research infrastructure that will enable partial financial auto sustainability. The 12

13 project will ensure both: development of capacities and opportunity for development of the concept of research Universities. Students in the field of Bio-Nano-Info sciences in Croatia, still lack access to modern research equipment and methodologies and competitiveness on the EU level is very low. 5. CONCLUDING REMARKS Centralization and dependence on national budget are extremely high in Croatia and Universities do not have research equipment which would allow them to compete to the leading research centres in Europe. Improving administrative and academic capacities for participating in Research Programmes and securing adequately trained staff represents a major challenge. The University of Rijeka can only fasten its development by diminishing its dependence on national budget. It thus has to turn to other funding sources such as EU projects and funds, contracts with industry, international funding agencies, as well as local and regional governments. The legal prerequisites have already been fulfilled. Having signed the association agreements, Croatia can participate in the most important programmes as a full partner. Nevertheless, the role of individual universities is very important in this regard. Largest Croatian universities still have the problem of being loose associations of legal entities which are functionally and legally not integrated. However, the University of Rijeka is working hard to integrate university functions in order to create a unique and strong research university. The Campus is being built to speed up the development of the university. To facilitate all that, the University of Rijeka founded the EU projects Department (CEUP). EU programmes went hand in hand with the development of the University and helped its transformation into a modern research University striving towards excellence. CEUP already started preparing applications for ERDF funding projects to be ready once Croatia joins the European Union. Such centralised approach shall also facilitate bypassing fragmentation and provide state-of-the-art equipment to promote excellent research. The most important goal to be reached is to increase the responsiveness of the university research to the economic needs and the needs of the Croatian society. 13

14 REFERENCES Mohl, P. and Hagen, T Do EU structural funds promote regional growth? New evidence from various panel data approaches. Regional Science and Urban Economics 40, Nicolau, A Structural funds and the concept of lifelong learning in Romania Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 2 (2010), Strategic directions of Primorsko-goranska County , retrieved Science and Technology Policy of the Republic of Croatia , retrieved Action Plan Science and Technology Policy of the Republic of Croatia 2007, retrieved Action Plan to Encourage Investment into Science and Research 2008, retrieved University of Rijeka The University of Rijeka Strategy , available at (in Croatian). EUROPE 2020: A European strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, available at Official website of Ministry of Finance, retrieved Official website of Croatian Employment Service, retrieved Official website of Croatian institute of Technology, retrieved Official website of Ministry of Science, Education and Sports, retrieved

15 Spain calls for binding EU economic goals - and penalties ( ), retrieved TRIUMPH Tempus project publication, 2008, available at 15

16 Table 1 Previous literature on the impact of structural funds on economic growth Autors Central results Operationalisation of structural funds Ramajo et al. Faster cond. convergence Separate regressions for of relative income levels of regions belonging to (2008) regions belonging to Cohesion countries vs. Cohesion countries than in non-cohesion countries non-cohesion regions Dall'erba and SF have no statistically SF payments and significant impact on remaining Le Gallo regional convergence commitments from (2008) Time period (as % of GDP) [endogenous] Bouvet (2005) SF have a modest positive ERDF payments per impact on regional growth capita [endogenous] rates Dall'erba (2005) Positive relationship SF payments and between SF and regional remaining commitments growth from (as % of GDP) [exogenous] Percoco (2005) SF induce a high level of Obj. 1 payments (as % of volatility in the level of GDP) [endogenous] growth rates 16

17 Rodriguez-Pose Limited impact of SF on Obj. 1 commitments (as and growth; only SF funding % of GDP) [exogenous] Fratesi (2004) on education and human capital have positive effects Soukiazis and SF promote convergence; ERDF per capita Antunes (2006) small positive impact on growth; more effective in [exogenous] coastal than in interior regions Eggert et al. SF accelerate a region's SF payments (as % of , (2007) convergence, but reduce the average growth rate GDP) [exogenous] , Becker et al. Positive and significant Dummy variable=1 for , (2008) growth effect of Obj. 1 regions regions receiving Obj. 1 funding, 0 else , [exogenous] Source: Mohl, P. and Hagen, T

18 Figure 1 University of Rijeka Support System for EU Projects and Funds - timeline TEMPUS project Stimulating Croatia s Entrepreneurial Activities and Technology Transfer in Education - CREATE IMG TEMPUS grant Nataša Jakominić Marot ERDF TEMPUS project Establishment of International Relations Offices at Croatian Universities TEMPUS project TRIUMPH TEMPUS project Capacity Building for Research in Croatia TEMPUS project Opening University towards Society: Linking Education- Research-Innovation - OPUS Source: author 18

19 Figure 2 University of Rijeka Development Steps Step 3: Higher level University (University Enterprise cooperation) Step 2: Research infrastructure (Equiping the Laboratories ) Step 1: Administrative infrastructure (establishment of Department for EU projects) 19