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Developing Universities: The Evolving Role of Academic Institutions in Denmark

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Universities in Transition

Abstract

From a traditional economic point of view, it may seem as a paradox that a small country (5.5 million inhabitants) with high wages, high taxes, a large public sector, a relatively low level of R&D activity, and a relatively low proportion of people with a higher education in science and technology has been able to stay relatively competitive and rich for decades. Especially two interrelated explanations have been put forward in recent studies of the Danish National System of Innovation (Lundvall 2002b; Christensen et al. 2008).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Gini index for Denmark: 23.2 (2005, rank 1), HDI: 0.949 (2005, rank 14) and GDP per capita (PPP US$ 2005): 33,973 [source: OECD 2008 and UNDP 2007].

  2. 2.

    The entrance of doctorate students has increased from 1,168 in 1998 to 2,072 in 2008. The female share has increased from 39% to 47% in the same period (Statistics Denmark, 2009).

  3. 3.

    GTS–Danish acronym for Approved Technical Service Institutions.

  4. 4.

    After 2007, the Danish map of academic institutions has changed due to a new merger process. A few of the existing 12 universities merged into eight, and the majority of the existing 21 governmental research institutions were at the same time merged or integrated with the universities.

  5. 5.

    The public-financed share fell from 97.5% in 2000 to 96.7% in 2006.

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Correspondence to Birgitte Gregersen .

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Gregersen, B., Rasmussen, J.G. (2011). Developing Universities: The Evolving Role of Academic Institutions in Denmark. In: Göransson, B., Brundenius, C. (eds) Universities in Transition. Insight and Innovation in International Development. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7509-6_14

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