This highly original book analyses the results of a pioneering set of microdata on higher education institutions in 27 European countries in order to address key issues in higher education and research.For the first time, data on individual European higher education institutions (rather than data aggregated at the country level) is used in order to examine a wide range of issues that are both theoretically challenging and relevant from policy-making and societal perspectives. The contributors integrate statistics on universities and colleges with other sources of information such as patents, start-up firms and bibliometric data, and employ rigorous empirical methods to address a range of key questions, including: what is the role of non-university tertiary education such as vocational training? How important is the private sector? Are European universities internationalized? Are they efficient from the point of view of costs and educational output? Are there pure research universities in Europe? How do universities contribute to economic growth?

By furthering the current debate on the future and competiveness of the European university model compared to that of the US and Asia, this book will prove an invaluable reference tool for academics and researchers in the fields of sociology of higher education and economics, particularly the economics of innovation, science and education. University decision-makers and administrators as well as policy-makers at local and European levels will also find this book to be a useful and enlightening read.

Contributors: R. Biscaia, A. Bonaccorsi, T. Brandt, M.F. Cardoso, M. Colombo, Z. Daghbashyan, C. Daraio, D. De Filippo, E. Deiaco, M. Guerini, M. Horváth, B. Lepori, M. McKelvey, A. Niederl, V. Rocha, C. Rossi Lamastra, U. Schmoch, T. Schubert, M. Seeber, L. Simar, S. Slipersaeter, P. Teixeira, A. Varga