UNIVERSITIES' REGIONAL ENGAGEMENT IN ROMANIA. THE IMPACT OF THE EU FUNDING

This study traces some important advancements in fostering universities’ regional engagement at the European level, through strengthening research activities, promoting enterprise, contributing to the development of regional human capital and skills and supporting regional regeneration and smart specialization. At the same time, the study highlights the contribution of European funding to supporting Romanian universities’ missions in the eight development regions and gives some preliminary impacts of these funds on universities’ outputs. As resulted from the analysis, structural funds are by far the most important external funding source for Romanian universities, as they represent, on average, more than 22% in universities’ total income. Nonetheless, one can easily observe the uneven distribution of funds by regions and the real danger associated with increasing regional disparities instead of leveraging them. Policy implications are presented in the final part of the study