Competence Portfolio Model as an Innovative Form of Networking
Author: Lamut, Urša , lamut.ursa@gmail.com
Department: Sociology
University: School of Advanced Social Study, Slovenia
Supervisor: Borut Roncevic
Year of completion: In progress
Language of dissertation: Slovenian
Keywords:
Triple Helix Model
, transfer of knowledg
, social capital
, competence portfolio
Areas of Research:
Education
, Senses and Society
Abstract
Assessing the adequacy or sufficiency of cooperation between actors in higher education and economic actors has always been a topical area of interest, and as much as it brings answers, it continuously raises new questions. The main challenges of our time is to better understand how these two spheres cooperate in the context of (co-)creating socially relevant knowledge and at the analysis of social changes to anticipate their interactive form in the future.
Studying the interaction between higher education and economic spheres shows the relevance of the Triple Helix Model, which emphasizes the importance of the influence of internal transformations of the higher-education sphere in terms of approaching the latter to the marketing concepts and expansion of the social functions purview into the entrepreneurial stance of the academy, consequently converging the needs of the economic environment.
Moreover, the importance of identifying specific mechanisms of enhancing the understanding between the higher-education and economic participants is emphasized in the reflection on appropriate cooperation between the two in the processes of creating socially relevant knowledge. This raises the question of what role social capital can have in making other forms of capital and their productive combinations (even) more effective. Social capital in this instance can be defined as “invisible glue” which holds together the participants of the spheres of higher education and the economy, and enables more efficient knowledge production.
The dissertation identifies a model for a more effective and coherent knowledge production between the higher-education and economic spheres in the portfolio of competences – a tool for a (self-)evaluation and reflection of different areas of operation of participants, and based on the identified priority and challenging segments of operation, a resource for the strategic planning to manage the environment, relationship and cognitive mechanisms in the production and transfer of socially relevant knowledge between the higher-education and economic participants in the future.
