The Lehendakari, Iñigo Urkullu, chaired a meeting of the Basque Council of Universities on May 4 at the President's Office, accompanied by the Minister of Education, Jokin Bildarratz. The meeting was also attended by Adolfo Morais, Deputy Minister of Universities and Research; Iñaki Heras, Director of the Unibasq - Basque University System Quality Agency; rectors of Basque universities: Eva Ferreira (UPV / EHU) Jose Maria Guibert (University of Deusto) and Vicente Atxa (Mondragon University); Maite Alonso, President of the Basque School Council; Eduardo Arechaga, General Manager of Confebask; as well as representatives of the three provincial councils and EUDEL, among others.

At the meeting, the Lehendakari presented the 2022-2026 University + Business II, promoted by the Department of Education. The Lehendakari presented the objectives and main lines of action of the Basque Strategy and explained the most outstanding results of the first strategy implemented in 2017-2022.

The starting point of the new strategy, like the previous one, is that the collaboration between the university and the company is a key factor in the 21st century. to build the 19th century Basque Country. Universities and companies, as well as the agents that make up the university ecosystem, share their responsibility in this strategy with a common goal: to contribute to the development of Basque society.

Outstanding results of the University + Business Strategy I 2017-2022

The University + Business Strategy I was presented by Lehendakari Urkullu in July 2017, also at the Basque Council of Universities. Since then, the fifteen actions that make up the strategy, all and sundry, have been carried out in part or in full, and the results have been very good.

Among the results obtained, the following stand out.

• 47 dual degrees: Unibasq - The Basque University System Quality Agency created a protocol for the recognition of dual university training. Since 2017, 47 degrees have obtained dual recognition (30 degrees and 17 master's degrees) in various fields: Engineering, Business Administration and Management, Digital Manufacturing, Marketing, Audiovisual Communication or Sociology. 600 companies and 4,800 students have participated in this dual training so far.
• Creating clusters. Two clusters have been organized for university training: the 4Gune Cluster, Engineering, Science and Technology; and the KSIgune Cluster, Culture and Creative Industries.
•  Business + University rooms: In the period 2017-2022, two rooms between the company and the university have been set up: 0 AIC room for Industry and KSI room for Culture and Creative Industries. These classrooms allow students of the Basque University System to respond to the challenges posed by Basque companies.
•  Career and Entrepreneurship Programs: 650 students have received scholarships to participate in the Career Career Program; in addition, more than 300 scholarships have been awarded for entrepreneurship.

The University + Business axis is one of the two priority axes of the 2019-2022 University System Plan, during which (2019-2022) 22 million euros have been allocated through contract programs. This has led to the promotion of University + Business rooms with the support of companies and clusters, the development of advanced services and entrepreneurial ecosystems for companies and organizations, and the creation and development of startups.

These outstanding results of the University + Business I Strategy 2017-2022 have received numerous recognitions in Europe and have had international expansion in several European cities, including Lisbon, Hanover, London, Bulgaria and Budapest.

2022-2026 University + Business II. Strategy

The results of the first Unibertsitatea + Enpresa strategy show that in recent years the Basque University System has become a dynamic and innovative agent of Basque society, using it as a lever for the development of talent, research and innovation in the Basque Country and its international position. Therefore, following on from the previous work, the University + Business II. The Basque Strategy has set the following objectives for 2022-2026:

•  Knowledge creation and transfer: knowledge creation and transfer related to scientific excellence and the application of this excellence in the business field.
• Preparation of highly qualified talent: preparation of highly capable human capital with a component applied and adapted to the needs of the business field.
• Monitoring, evaluation, proposal and dissemination of new lines of action in the University + Business Basque model.

In order to meet these objectives, in addition to the actions already being developed, the University + Business II. As part of this strategy, the following actions will be implemented:

• Promote the provision of dual university training to improve the employability of students up to 80 dual degrees; 1,000 companies and 10,000 students will take part in these.
•  Launch of 10 i-dual (international dual) university degrees.
•  Creation of two more University + Business rooms (in addition to the two existing rooms).
• 000 students will take part in the Work to the World program, and more than 350 student entrepreneurship scholarships will be offered.
•  Promote collaboration in Vocational Training + University to encourage innovation.
• Promotion of the IKUR 2030 Program in the field of research excellence in universities.