This book provides a unique study of the role of universities as organisation systems in the
pursuit of the Europe 2020 strategy. While Europe 2020 focuses on creating the basis for the
advancement and cohesion of the EU's member states it also has an important role in
influencing the development strategies for potential candidate states. In this regard the book
examines two new member states - Slovenia and Croatia - and two potential EU candidate states -
Serbia and Kosovo - in the Western Balkans. Based on these cases the author argues that the
operationalization of the Europe 2020 strategy depends to a great extent of the role and
contribution of tertiary organisations such as educational institutions i.e. public and
private universities and therefore requires the formulation of an economic development
strategy at the national level that is capable of duly allocating the available financial
resources. The study suggests that the paradigm shift represented by Europe 2020has helped to
forge a new academic identity adding to the relevance of university organisations as
fundamental agents for the promotion of economic development in addition it shows that an
intensive learning process involving major structural changes is underway in the four countries
discussed as well as many other EU member states.
