Viviana Rojas, Master Thesis, MARIHE - Thesis summary

1. Assessing 3 Peruvian universities under
HEInnovate Entrepreneurial
Universities Framework.
Are Peruvian
Universities ready
for the future?
Presented by: Viviana Rojas
Master of Research and Innovation in
Higher Education (MARIHE)

2. Agenda
Research Problem
& Research Gap
01
Research Purpose
& Questions
02
Theoretical
Framework
03
Methodology
04
Main Findings
05
Conclusions &
Recommendations
06

3. Research Problem
01:

4. The “Future of Work”
is already transforming and
forcing Higher Education
institutions to rethink their
own nature and essence.
Employability
Industry 4.0, Automation,
exponential technologies, etc. and
all the challenges that these
represent for HE relevance.
The skills gap
72% of HEIs believe they
prepare their students well for
the workforce; however, only 11%
of industry leaders believe so.
Digitalization
Traditional HEIs face the challenge of
transforming their culture, administrative
and learning infrastructure so that
technology is at its DNA.
COVID-19 & future uncertainty
COVID-19 has greatly impacted HEIs
around the globe. The world has changed
and HEIs need to find innovative ways to
address future and uncertain challenges.
HEIs are being “threatened” by many factors...
And it is still not clear if they are prepared to address them.

5. Research gap
01:

6. Most research focus on the context of the “global north”
● The challenges brought by the aforementioned concepts are not occurring
the same way in all geographies (Shwab, 2019).
● Most of the research in this topic is focused on the higher education
contexts of the USA and Europe (the so-called ‘Global North’), and few are
focused on the Latin American context.
There is a lot to research in the Peruvian context of HE
● In 2019, Peru reached its best historical score in competitiveness according
to the World Economic Forum.
● However, although its pillars of innovation capacity and entrepreneurship
culture have an increasing tendency, the pillar of professional skills
presents a decreasing tendency, particularly in the fields of quality
vocational training, skills of graduates and digital skills among the active
population (Shwab, 2019).

7. Research purpose
02:

8. To assess Peruvian universities’ “future
readiness” under the HEInnovate
Entrepreneurial Universities framework
to analyze their current capacity to adapt
and tackle potential future challenges
specially related to 21st-century Skills
Development, Employability, and
Digitalization.
To provide recommendations
for improvement based on the
results.
Research Purpose

9. Research questions
02:

10. To what extent can Peruvian universities be considered
entrepreneurial and ready for tackling the challenges
brought by the future?
What are the factors
supporting or preventing
Peruvian HEIs to thrive in
terms of Innovation, Skills
development,
Employability, and
Digitalization?
What are the global
trends related to the
Future affecting
Higher
Education?
What measures could
Peruvian HEIs take in
order to maximize its
entrepreneurial and
future-proof potential?
How do Peruvian
HEIs rate in
entrepreneurial
capacity according to
the HEInnovate
framework?

11. Theoretical Framework
03:

12. Entrepreneurial Universities
● The normal model of a university in an Entrepreneurial Society (where innovation
is key).
● A university that has the ability to innovate, recognize and create opportunities,
work in teams, take risks and respond to challenges on its own; that seeks to
work out a substantial shift in organizational character so as to arrive at a more
promising posture for the future (Clark, Kirby, and Etzkowitz).
● A university that is a natural incubator of innovation, that provides support
structures for teachers and students to initiate new ventures: intellectual,
commercial and co-joint (Guerrero, M. et al; 2006).
● In developing countries: Active actors in combating poverty within their societies
following the Quadruple-Helix model of innovation (Doh, 2012).

13. The HEInnovate Framework
Leadership &
Governance
Organizational
Capacity
Entrepreneurial
Teaching &
Learning Entrepreneurial
Support
Digital
Transformation
Knowledge
Exchange &
Collaboration
Internationalization
Measuring
Impact

14. Methodology
04:

15. Methodology
● Literature review + Qualitative case studies
● Sample: Stakeholders from 3 Peruvian leading private universities (deans, directors,
professors, administrative managers and students).
● Phase 1 - Quantitative: HEInnovate assessment
● Phase 2 - Qualitative: Interviews based on the assessment results (15 in-depth interviews)
● Result analysis and suggestions based on the interviews

16. Findings
05:

17. General Results

18. Enablers & Stoppers of Entrepreneurialism
Category Systemic issues Organizational Culture Leadership, Governance & Strategy Budget People
Enablers Risks in general
(COVID,
socio-economic
pressure, etc.)
- Young, for-profit, results
driven organizational nature
- Organizational culture of
openness and articulation.
Leadership & Governance
- Committed, supportive, competitive and future-driven
- Flexibility and fast decision making
Strategy
• Clear goals and planning for innovation and
entrepreneurship strategy
• I&E articulators:
Innovation Hubs
Innovation Committees
Innovation Ecosystem
• Focus on Triple Helix Collaboration
- Entrepreneurial minded
people
- Intrapreneurship
Stoppers Peru’s systemic
issues:
- Low investment in
STI
- Low level of digital
connectivity
- Lack of Triple helix
articulation
- Misunderstanding
of
“entrepreneurship”
Academic Culture
(understood as):
- Traditional university
nature: slow, heavy,
risk-averse, comfortable,
against entrepreneurship.
- Lack of articulation,
cannibalization
- Lack of interaction with
external organizations and
industry.
Leadership & Governance
- Lack of awareness of the value of entrepreneurship
- Not relating entrepreneurship with innovation
- Uncommitted and unsupportive of entrepreneurship
- Lack of management skills
- Bureaucracy and overregulation
- Excessive fear of tainting reputation
Strategy
- Lack of a strategy and planning for Entrepreneurship
and Innovation
- Lack of planning and investing in Digital Infrastructure
- Lack of focus on staff development
- Lack of interaction with external stakeholders
General Lack of
Budget
- For staff
recruitment and
development
- For incentives and
rewards
- For entrepreneurial
support
- For Digital
infrastructure
- For entrepreneurial
support activities
- For funding for
entrepreneurs
- Lack of innovative skills and
mindsets
- Lack of digital skills
- Lack of teachers
entrepreneurial training skills
- Age
- Lack of industry relationship
building skills
- Lack of international
perspectives

19. Actions on 21st Century Skills,
Employability, and Digitalization
Concept Actions
21st-century
Skills
Positive side:
- Leveraging the use of agile methodologies and project or
challenge based learning across all the curricula.
- Increasing involvement with external stakeholders to
generate joint-projects.
Negative side:
- These practices are not mandatory and regulated, but left to academic
freedom.
- Little or none measurement/visibility of the impacts.
- General lack of training in technological skills
Employability Positive side:
- Relationships are being generated with external
organizations, whether public, private or social, in order to
generate interaction between them and the students.
Negative side:
- This is not a standardized practice, nor is it considered crucial in all institutions.
- In several cases it is done in isolation, at the will of the professor, without
formally belonging to the employability strategy.
- It is a practice that is just being explored, so its scope is still very limited.
- The general vision of “employability” is still linked to the traditional vision of
having a job bank and organizing fairs or networking events.
Digitalization Positive side:
- Thanks to COVID this has become a priority and has been
accepted as necessary even by the most conservative
members of the universities.
Negative side:
- There are still doubts as to whether this will still be the case when the
pandemic is over.
- Lack of planning and investment in digital infrastructure.
- Generalized lack of digital mindsets and digital skills.

20. Ideas to maximize Entrepreneurial
and Future-proof potential
Systemic
issues: Ideas
for policy
Action
● Generating Awareness and Industry pressure
● Ensuring Articulation of entrepreneurship and innovation
initiatives
● Increasing Funding and Incentives for Entrepreneurship
and Innovation
Leadership &
Governance
● Reinforcing Leader capabilities and flexibilizing
operations
● Generating Awareness of the value of Entrepreneurship
● Focus on Strategy, Articulation and Empowerment
● Creating safe spaces for entrepreneurship and
innovation
Organization
al Capacity
● Increasing Budget and Incentives for Innovation and
Entrepreneurship
● Developing People & Culture in entrepreneurial skills and
mindsets
Entrepreneur
ial Teaching
& Learning
● Sharing and Standardizing best practices
● Reinforcing interdisciplinarity, innovative skills and
mindsets
Preparing and
supporting
entrepreneurs
● Increase financial support for startups
Digital
Transformation and
Capabilities
● Radically improve planning and
investing in Digital Transformation
Knowledge
Exchange and
Collaboration
● Establish coordinators of Knowledge
Exchange and Collaboration
● Innovating in Employability efforts

21. Conclusions &
Recommendations
06:

22. The Peruvian universities studied are still in an initial state of innovation,
entrepreneurship and future-readiness.
Although some show more progress than others on the road to becoming entrepreneurial, especially those
with a committed leadership, a clear strategy and a culture of open innovation, they are all affected by
systemic problems in the country.
As long as these problems continue to exist, even universities that demonstrate high potential and
motivation will continue to be limited, since these shortcomings have direct effects on their leadership,
culture, budget and talent.
To what extent can Peruvian Universities be considered
entrepreneurial and ready for the future?

23. Recommendations for Policy Action
1. Generating awareness and pressure for Entrepreneurship and
Innovation
2. Ensuring Articulation and Entrepreneurial Skills Development
3. Increasing Funding and Incentives for Entrepreneurship and
Innovation

24. Recommendations for Universities
1. Improving Leadership and Governance
2. Improving Organizational Capacity
3. Enhancing 21st century skills development through Entrepreneurial Teaching and
Learning
● Sharing and Standardizing best practices
● Reinforcing interdisciplinarity, innovative skills and mindsets
4. Enhancing Employability through Knowledge Exchange and Collaboration
● Establish coordinators of Knowledge Exchange and Collaboration
● Innovating in Employability efforts
5. Planning and investing in Digital Transformation

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¡Gracias!
danke!
Questions? Comments? :D