Introduction to special issue Building the entrepreneurial university: a global perspective

The entrepreneurial university is the next stage in the development of a medieval institution. Integrating a commitment to economic growth and social development with research and teaching, the entrepreneurial university supersedes the late 19th century Humboldtian synthesis that aligned research with teaching as the two primary academic missions (Etzkowitz, Minera, 1983, 21, 198–233). From its medieval origins, whether a student- or faculty-led foundation as in Paris or Bologna, the university has proved to be a flexible and evolving organizational form capable of reconciling conservatism with innovation. The passage of student generations combined with relative faculty autonomy is the basis on which these two institutional characteristics co-exist in a creative tension. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.