1. Innovation and Creativity
in Higher Education:
the Role of the Humanities
in the Knowledge Triangle
Prof. Dr. Dirk Van Damme
Head of the Innovation and Measuring
Progress Division – OECD/EDU

2. Changing role of universities
• Against context of globalisation and
massification, universities are changing...
• ...from providers of human resources to skilled
professions...
• ...to dynamic actors in the knowledge society
with an increasingly important role in innovation
– New skills demands
– More flexible ways of knowledge production,
knowledge distribution, and knowledge utilisation
– Multiple level connections to global knowledge
flows, but also to regional and local communities
2

3. Changing role of universities
• Consequences for research:
– Mode 1 research complemented by Mode 2
– Applied, technology-oriented research
• Consequences for teaching:
– More practical teaching with real-life topics
– Professional internships
• Expanding innovation function:
– Universities as partners in knowledge infrastructure
with industry and governments (“triple helix”)
– Spin-offs, technology-transfer
3

4. Questions
What is the role of HE in
the creation of new
knowledge
Research
Does HE fosters the skills
for innovation and What is HE’s
creativity? contribution to
innovation?
Humanities
Education Innovation
4

5. 1.
CHANGING SKILLS DEMAND
FOR INNOVATION
5

6. New skills demand
• Changing external skills demand is the main
driver for innovation
• Research questions:
– Do innovation-driven economies require more
and better educated populations?
– What qualifications do innovative businesses
need?
– What individual skills should education systems
foster?
6

7. New skills demand
Economy-wide measures of routine and non-routine task input (US)
Mean task input as percentiles of the 1960 task distribution
Routine manual
65
60 Nonroutine manual
55
Routine cognitive
50
45 Nonroutine analytic
40
Nonroutine interactive
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Source: Levy and Murnane, 2005
7

8. New skills demand
Increase in creativity-oriented jobs (Canada, 1901-2006)
8

9. Skills supply hampering innovation
(odds ratios: innovative vs. non-innovative (ref))
Lack of finance from sources outside your enterprise 1.39
Lack of qualified personnel 1.37
Lack of funds within your enterprise or enterprise group 1.29
Innovation costs too high 1.18
Lack of information on markets 1.14
Difficulty in finding cooperation partners for innovation 1.05
Lack of information on technology 1.00
Markets dominated by established enterprises 0.98
Uncertain demand for innovative goods or services 0.97
No need to innovate due to prior innovations 0.44
No need to innovate because no demand for innovations 0.35
0.3 0.6 1.2
9
Source: OECD, based on CIS data

10. Critical skills for the most innovative jobs
(tertiary-educated workers)
Likelihood (odds ratios) of reporting the following job requirements: people
in the most innovative jobs vs. least innovative jobs
come with news ideas/solutions 2.97
acquire new knowledge 2.44
willingness to question ideas 2.34
alertness to opportunities 2.24
present ideas in audience 2.18
analytical thinking 2.15
master of your own field 2.11
coordinate activities 2.05
write and speak a foreign language 2.02
use computers and internet 2.00
make your meaning clear 1.99
use time efficiently 1.98
mobilize capacities of others 1.97
work productively with others 1.95
write reports or documents 1.94
perform under pressure 1.81
knowledge of other fields 1.76
negociate 1.76
assert your authority 1.56
0.90 1.80 3.60
10
Source: OECD, based on REFLEX and HEGESCO data

11. Skills utilisation and workplace learning
Distribution of employees across organisation classes (2005)
Learning Lean Taylorist Traditional
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Norway
Slovenia
Austria
Belgium
Romania
Sweden
Malta
France
Latvia
Slovakia
Spain
Finland
Estonia
Hungary
Poland
Italy
Portugal
Bulgaria
Germany
Luxembourg
Ireland
Greece
Netherlands
UK
Lithuania
Cyprus
Denmark
Czech Republic
Source: OECD, Innovative Workplaces

12. Learning organisations are associated with innovation
Discretionary learning Lean organisation
30 30
FI FI
SE
25 DE SE 25 DE
LU LU
% Lead innovators
% Lead innovators
NL NL
20 FR AT 20 AT BE FR
BE DK DK
PT IT IT PT
15 15
GR GR
UK UK
10 10
ES ES
R² = 0.44
R² = 0.44
5 5
18 28 38 48 58 68 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
% Discretionary learning % Lean organisation

13. Skills for Innovation
• Lack of skills hinders innovation
– Lack of qualified personnel quoted as one of the
top impediments to innovation by innovative
businesses
– Diversity of skills / qualifications is needed due to
sectoral diversity of innovation
• Not only science and engineering, but also
general tertiary education and vocational
education and training

14. Individual Skills for Innovation
• Foundation skills (literacy, numeracy…) are
key to access lifelong learning
• Which individual skills for innovation are key?
– Subject-based skills (know-what and know-
how)
– Skills in thinking and creativity (critical
thinking, imagination, curiosity...)
– Behavioural and social skills (self-
confidence, energy, passion, leadership, collabora
tion, communication...)
14

15. Foundation skills matter for innovation
540
Finland
530
520
PISA 2009 Reading score
510
Netherlands
Belgium
Norway
500 Switzerland
Ireland Germany Sweden
Hungary UK Denmark
490 Portugal
Italy
480 Spain
Slovak Rep Czech Rep
470 Austria
460
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
Innovation Index 2007-2011
15

16. Individual Skills for Innovation
What individual competences should people acquire to
contribute to innovation as producers and users?
Subject-based
skills
(know-what and know-
how)
Behavioural and Skills in thinking
social skills and creativity
(Self-
(Critical thinking, ability
confidence, energy, persev
to make
erance, passion, leadership
connections, imagination,
, collaboration, communic
curiosity,...)
ation)
16

17. 21st Century Skills
•Creativity and innovation
Ways of thinking •Critical thinking, problem solving
•Learning to learn, meta-cognition
•Communication
Ways of working
•Collaboration (teamwork)
•Information literacy
Tools of working
•ICT literacy
•Citizenship – local and global
Living in the world •Life and career
•Personal, social responsibility
Source: Microsoft-Intel-Cisco ATC21S project
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18. 2.
THE ROLE OF THE
HUMANITIES
18

19. Distribution of new entrants into tertiary programmes, by
field of education (2009)
Only those fields in which more than 20% of students entered a tertiary programme in 2009 are shown in the graph.
Humanities, arts and education Health and welfare
Social sciences, business and law Engineering, manufacturing and construction
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
1. Excludes advanced research programmes.
2. Excludes tertiary-type B programmes.
3. Year of reference 2008.
Countries are ranked in descending order of new entrants in Social sciences, business and law programmes in 2009.
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20. Gender issues in skills
Percentage of tertiary degrees awarded to women, by field of education (2009)
Only those fields in which fewer than 30% or more than 70% of women graduated in 2009 are shown in the graph below.
Education Health and welfare Humanities and arts
Social sciences, business and law Science Engineering, manufacturing and construction
All fields
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1. Year of reference 2008.
Countries are ranked in descending order of the percentage of tertiary degrees awarded to women in 2009.
Source: OECD. Argentina: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (World Education Indicators Programme). Table
A4.3.a See Annex 3 for notes (www.oecd.org/edu/eag2011).
20

21. Humanities hampering innovation?
% students entering humanities and social
Iceland
Turkey Austria
Poland
Netherlands
Switzerland
sciences
Italy Belgium
Estonia Denmark
Hungary Norway
Sweden
Czech Rep
Portugal
UK
Spain
Slovak Rep Germany
Slovenia
Ireland
Finland
Innovation Index 2007-2011
21

22. Which tertiary education studies lead to active
participation in innovation?
Innovator work in innov. comp. Not in innovative organisation
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
22
Source: OECD, based on REFLEX and HEGESCO data

23. 3.
PEDAGOGIES FOR
INNOVATION SKILLS
23

24. Which pedagogies foster innovation skills?
• The relative importance of theory versus
practice-based instruction matters for becoming
an innovator (higher education data)
24

25. Relative emphasis on practice- and theory-based
instruction
Odds ratios between innovators and non-innovators, by type of innovation
practice score theory score
1.2
1.15
1.1
1.05
1
0.95
any innovation technology, tools product, service knowledge, methods
Source: OECD, based on REFLEX and HEGESCO data

26. Relative emphasis on practice- and theory-based
instruction
Odds ratios between innovators and non-innovators, by field of study
practice score theory score
1.2
1.15
1.1
1.05
1
0.95
engineering business health education science others
Source: OECD, based on REFLEX and HEGESCO data

27. Link between theory- and practice-based instruction and
critical skills for innovation
Effect size on (self-reported) skills level
Theory score Practice score
analytical thinking
acquire new knowledge
use computer and internet
question own and others' ideas
coordinate activities
present ideas in an audience
come up with news ideas and solutions
alertness to new opportunities
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
Source: OECD, based on REFLEX and HEGESCO data

28. Skills impact of theory- versus practice-based instruction
Table 1. Theory-based programmes have distinct str ong points from practice -based university programmes
Likelihood of reporting skills as strong points of the universit y programme, by mode of teaching and learning
Emphasis on Practice
(-) (n.s.) (+)
¤ analytical thinking ¤ Mastery of your own field or
¤ ability to rapidly acquire new discipline
(+)
knowledge
¤ ability to write reports, memos ¤ ability to question your own and ¤ alertness to new opportunities
Emphasis on Theory
or documents others' ideas ¤ ability to come up with new
¤ knowledge of other fields or ideas and solutions
disciplines ¤ ability to present products,
(n.s.)
¤ ability to use computers and ideas or reports to an audience
the internet ¤ ability to mobilise the capacities
¤ ability to speak and write in a of others
foreign language ¤ ability to negociate effectively
¤ ability to assert your authority
¤ ability to perform well under ¤ ability to make your meaning ¤ ability to coordinate activities
pressure clear to others ¤ ability to work productively with
(-)
¤ ability to use time efficiently others
Legend: (+) indicates a significant positive association; ( -) a significant negative association; and (n.s.) a
non-significant association.
Source: based on Reflex and Hegesco.
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29. 4.
SOFT SKILLS, SOCIAL
CAPITAL AND INNOVATION
29

30. Levels of interpersonal trust (2008)
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
-0.2
-0.4
-0.6
-0.8
-1
30

31. Interpersonal trust and innovation
0.9
0.8 Switzerland
Sweden
0.7
Innovation index 2007-2011
Germany Finland Denmark
Belgium Ireland
0.6 Austria UK
Netherlands
0.5
Italy Norway
0.4 Czech Rep Spain
Portugal
Hungary
0.3
Slovak Rep
0.2
0.1
0
-0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Interpersonal trust 2008
31

32. Proportion of adults expressing interpersonal trust, by level of
educational attainment (2008)
Percentage Below upper secondary education Upper secondary education Tertiary education
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Hungary
Denmark
Israel
Turkey
Estonia
Netherlands
Greece
Finland
Ireland1
Spain
Poland
Portugal
Norway
Austria1
Slovak Republic
Italy2
France
Slovenia
Sweden
Belgium
OECD average
Czech Republic
United Kingdom
Switzerland
1. Year of reference 2006.
2. Year of reference 2004.
Countries are ranked in descending order of the proportion of adults expressing interpersonal trust among those who have attained upper secondary
education.
Source: www.oecd.org/edu/eag2010
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33. Incremental differences in interpersonal trust associated with an increase in the
level of educational attainment (2008)
From below upper secondary to upper From upper secondary to
secondary tertiary
Group 1
Slovenia
Sweden
Estonia
Poland
France
Spain
Norway
Belgium
Ireland1
1. Year of reference 2006. Switzerland
2. Year of reference 2004.
Countries are grouped by those in Netherlands
which the incremental differences Hungary
in interpersonal trust are higher at
a higher level of education (Group Portugal
1) and others (Group 2). Countries Turkey
are ranked in descending order of
the incremental differences in
interpersonal trust associated with
a shift from upper secondary to
tertiary education attainment.
Group 2
Denmark
United Kingdom
Israel
Finland
Italy2
Austria1
Czech Republic
Greece
Slovak Republic
%
30 25 20 15 10 5 0 -5 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
% 33

34. 65
Turkey Austria
% students entering humanities and social
Poland
60
Netherlands
Belgium
Denmark
55 Switzerland
Italy
Hungary Norway Sweden
sciences
Czech Rep
Portugal
50
UK Spain
Slovak Rep
45
40
Ireland
Finland
35
-0.05 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25
Added value of HE in interpersonal trust
34

35. Conclusions
• Innovation strategies should have a more
comprehensive look at the skills base and should
make better use of the available talents and
skills, including of women
• Rapidly changing skills demand has an impact
on all higher education programmes, including
humanities and social science
• Also graduates with a humanities or social
sciences qualification end up becoming
innovators
35

36. Conclusions
• Humanities and social sciences have probably a
particularly significant contribution to the
development of specific skills for innovation
• Some pedagogies have a differentiated impact on
innovation skills
• Also social capital matters for innovation and
both probably share some (soft) skills
• But there is little evidence that more humanities
students also increases the added value of higher
education in the production of social capital
36

37. Thank you !
dirk.vandamme@oecd.org
www.oecd.org/edu/ceri
37