SPHERE launches report on the research capacity of HEIs in the Western Balkans

A new report has been launched on the research capacity of higher education institutions in the Western Balkans (WB). This publication aims to provide recommendations to national governments and higher education institutions (HEI) in the Western Balkans and to the European Commission.

Under the title “Harnessing the potential: Research Capacity in the Western Balkans”, this study had the following main objectives:

To map research capacity in the WB, comprising human resources and research infrastructure, national funding and investments in research.
To deliver country analyses of research capacity, including some cross-regional and cross-EU comparisons.
To provide recommendations for national authorities with regard to the building of research capacity in the WB.
To highlight comprehensive recommendations for measures to be taken by the European Union (e.g. through future funding programmes).

The study was carried out under the European Commission’s initiative “Support to the Higher Education Report Experts” (SPHERE), between January and December 2017 and addressed Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Serbia. Preliminary results were presented last December at the SPHERE annual conference, held in Brussels.

According to the European Commission, “this report analyses and provides recommendations on how to increase research capacity in higher education institutions in the Western Balkans, helping them further integrate the European Research and Innovation Area. Research and innovation, together with a better skilled and better qualified work force, are of great value towards economic growth and should support the countries on their path to EU accession”.

The full report is available here:

Harnessing the potential: Research Capacity in the Western Balkans. Final Report.

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Appendix

Data collection for the report