Smart University: A Premise for Regional Development. Evidence from South-East Region of Romania

INTRODUCTION: A Smart University is a creative environment with a high level of adaptive capacity building to current societies’ challenges. From regional development planning perspective, a Smart University proves an anticipatory rather than reactionary adaptation to the context conditions, providing more development alternatives into the future, assuring in this way the regional performance and competitiveness. OBJECTIVES: The paper tackles 3 important perspectives of the role of HEIs from South-East region of Romania to regional development: The University as an Education and Training Platform, The University as a Research Platform and The University as a Knowledge and Technology Transfer Platform. An interesting research question becomes whether and to what extent the academia can contribute to territorial development policies in South-East region of Romania? METHODS: This research-paper highlights the main characteristics of the academic environment of South-East region analysing at intra-regional level, the educational offer and the results of HEIs activities in the fields of research and knowledge transfer. RESULTS: A Smart University should first and foremost help the local community to develop their territorial capital, which is defined by OCDE as “an ensemble of geographical (accessibility, agglomeration economies, natural resources), economic (factor endowments, competences), cognitive (knowledge, human capital, cooperation networks), social (solidarity, trust, associations), and cultural assets (“understandings, customs and informal rules that enable economic agents to work together under conditions of uncertainty”). CONCLUSION: Rethinking higher education system is the first step in boosting regional development in the digital age.


Smart University -A Portal to the Future
Higher education institutions (HEIs) are the meeting and mediation point between business, public administration and civil society, creating favourable premises for the development of innovative methods, products and services designed to manage the territorial impact of globalization and digitization. Consequently, the Smart University generically presents itself as a training provider, research centre, technology platform in partnership with the regional community whose values and interests it represents. Nowadays, because of new trend of digital prioritizing migration flows. All these measures imply an integrated strategic thinking on long-term regional development and the active participation of all relevant actors in the region: public authorities, business, catalysts organizations, universities, etc. Coordinating the efforts of all relevant stakeholders at the level of the South-East region can be the attribute of the university environment.
The role of universities in the South East region in terms of regional development is bivalent. On the one hand, high quality education and training provided by higher education institutions active in the region contributes to promoting sustainable economic growth and sustainable development, fuelling R&D, innovation, productivity and competitiveness, and on the other hand, the university environment, as a space for the transfer of knowledge, innovation and technology, as well as the interaction of all relevant actors with potential in the regional development process, can develop integrated socio-economic development strategies to improve efficiency and the effectiveness of isolated measures implemented by different public and private entities.
In the following, we will analyse the state of development of higher education in South-East region and the extent of the added value that the university environment can bring to regional development.

University -as Education and Training Platform
University education in the South-East region of Romania is carried out in higher education institutions, public and private, the main university centres being the counties of Constanta and Galati.
Constanta County is the largest university centre in the South-East region. Here, the didactic and research activities take place in the public sector within the "Ovidius" University of Constanta (16 faculties), the Constanţa Maritime University (2 faculties) and the "Mircea cel Bătrân" Naval Academy in Constanţa (2 faculties), and in the private sector under the aegis of "Andrei Şaguna" University of Constanţa (4 faculties) and "Gaudeamus" Foundation -"Tomis" University of Constanţa.
In Galați County, higher education is represented in the public sector by the "Dunărea de Jos University of Galati", which has 14 faculties, but at the Trans-frontier Faculty the didactic activities take place in Moldova, at Cahul and Chișinău, and at the Faculty of Engineering and Agronomy in Brăila, didactic activities take place in Brăila County. Also, at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy there are two specializations, provisionally authorized (General Nursing and Medicine), where the didactic activity takes place in Italy, at Enna. Higher education in Galati County is represented in the private sector by "Danubius University of Galati", which has 3 faculties.
There are also faculties functioning as branches without legal personality of the universities that have students enrolled in the South-East' counties, but without having hired teaching staff from that county, this coming from universities in the region or outside the region. The offer of national higher education system in South-East region is structured into 58 bachelor domains, where they gather 182 bachelor's degree programs. In the academic year 2018-2019, the maximum number of students who can be enrolled in the first year in the public higher education system is 12325.
The offer of private higher education institutions in the South-East region covers 12 bachelor domains where 39 bachelor's degree programs are available. In the academic year 2018-2019, the maximum number of students that can be enrolled in the first year in the private higher education system is 3220.
The size of the tuition capacity at the level of each degree program is determined by the regular external evaluation processes (once every 5 years) usually performed by ARACIS (The Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education), and is often higher than the demand.
In the current academic year, at the level South-East region, 13150 seats are available in frequency education (IF), of which 10705 in the public system and 2445 in the private system. 1520 seats are available in low-frequency education (IFR), of which 1170 seats in the public system and 350 in the private sector. The maximum number of students enrolled in distance learning (ID) is 875 of which 450 in the public system and 425 in the private system. At the intra-regional level, the distribution by county of the tuition number for the academic year 2018-2019 is as follows: • 860 seats are available in Braila County, out of which 350 in the public system and 510 in the private system; Smart University: A Premise for Regional Development. Evidence from South-East Region of Romania 3 660 seats are allocated to the frequency form of education and 200 seats for low-frequency education; distance learning is not represented at the county level; • 200 seats are available in Buzau County, equally distributed between public and private system; 150 seats are allocated to the form of education with frequency and 50 seats for distance learning; lowfrequency education is not represented at county level; • 8420 seats are available in Constanta County, out of which 7060 in the public system and 1390 in the private system; 7085 seats are allocated to the form of education with a frequency, 1110 seats for lowfrequency education and 225 for distance learning; • 5855 seats are available in Galati County, out of which 4695 in the public system and 1160 in the private system; 5145 seats are allocated to the form of education with a frequency, 210 seats for lowfrequency education and 500 for distance learning; • in Tulcea County there are only 100 seats available in the public system for distance learning; private education is not represented at the level of the county; • 110 seats are available in Vrancea County, out of which 50 in the public system and 60 in the private system; all 110 places are allocated to the form of education with frequency.
The hierarchy of public HEIs in the South-East region, after the tuition number for the academic year 2018-2019, is as follows: "Ovidius University of Constanta" -5070 seats; "Dunarea de Jos University of Galati" -5045 seats; "Maritime University of Constanta" -1245 seats; "Mircea Cel Bătrân" Naval Academy from Constanta -715 seats; "Academy of Economic Studies of Bucharest" -150 seats and "University of Bucharest" -100 seats.
Summarizing, the educational offer in the South-East region is concentrated in 7 higher education institutions, of which 5 are located in Constanta County and 2 in Galati County. The educational offer is supplemented by the presence in the region of faculties belonging to higher education institutions outside the South-East region. Thus, cumulatively, at the level of the South-East region, there are about 50 faculties.

University -as Research Platform
The development of advanced, fundamental and applied research in higher education institutions in the South-East region is carried out on several levels: within the master's programs, within doctoral schools, research centres and aims, inter alia, the development of scientific cooperation internationally, including by stimulating participation in programs of research, development and innovation at international level.
At the level of the South-East region, master programs are present in all counties except in Tulcea County. Most of the master's degree programs are found in the counties of Constanta and Galati with 88 specializations each, which have a capacity of tuition for the academic year 2018-2019, of 5455 students and 3480 students respectively. In Braila County there are 5 master degree programs available for this academic year, with a total of 250 seats. In the counties of Buzau and Vrancea, there is only the "University of Bucharest", which has in the current educational offer only the master's domain "Education Sciences", where up to 50 students can be enrolled in each county.
Of the total of 183 master university programs, active in the South-East region, 83.6% belong to the public education system and only 16.4% to the private sector.
At the intraregional level, the distribution by county of the tuition number for the master's programs in the academic year 2018-2019 is as follows: • 250 seats are available in Braila County, out of which 100 in the public system and 150 in the private system; • 50 seats are available in Buzau County in the public system, the private system being not represented; • 5455 seats are available in Constanta County, out of which 4950 in the public system and 505 private system; • 3480 seats are available in the Galati County, out of which 2780 in the public system and 700 in the private system; • 50 seats are available in Vrancea County in the public system, and the private system is not represented. The Master's domain "International Relations and European Studies" appears only in the educational offer of the private system, at "Danubius University of Galati". We mention that all master programs in the South-East region are carried out in the form of frequency education (IF), with the exception of the Master's program "Law and European Public Administration" offered by "Danubius University of Galati", where there is also the form of education with lowfrequency education (IFR).
The hierarchy of the public HEIs in the South-East region, after the educational offer for the master level is as follows: "Ovidius University of Constanta" -4075 seats; "Dunarea de Jos University of Galati" -2880 seats; "Maritime University of Constanta" -725 seats; "Mircea cel Bătrân" Naval Academy in Constanţa" -150 seats; and the "University of Bucharest" -100 places.
The hierarchy of private HEIs in the South-East region, after the educational offer for the master level is as follows: "Danubius University of Galati" -700 places; "Andrei Şaguna University of Constanţa" -250 places; "Constantin Brâncoveanu University of Pitesti" -150 places; "Spiru Haret University of Bucharest" -255 places. (Please note that at the time of writing this research paper, the two private HEIs, active in Constanta County, did not publish this information on their own sites. For this reason, we will synthetically present the research activity in Constanta County, limiting only to the available information.)

Ovidius University in Constanţa
The scientific research, technological development and innovation activity of "Ovidius University in Constanţa" is recognized internationally. This institution ranks 18 th in the QS University Rankings hierarchy at Romania level and 250 th in the QS University Rankings hierarchy for the Emerging Europe and Central Asia (EECA) countries: (https://www.topuniversities.com/universityrankings/eeca -rankings/2018).
In another hierarchy that analyzes Romanian universities, University Ranking by Academic Performance, "Ovidius University in Constanta", is included in category B, ranking 17 th nationwide and 2447 th position worldwide (http://www.urapcenter.org/2017/country.php?ccode=RO &rank=all).
The results of the research activity were materialized through the publication of 213 scientific papers, indexed in the Web of Science database (Clarivate Analytics, formerly ISI) of which: 157 articles; 52 proceedings papers; 4 reviews; 6 meeting abstracts; 3 book chapters.
Another scientometric indicator relevant to the impact of research is the number of citations in Web of Science indexed journals, of articles published by affiliated teaching and research staff, reaching the value of 1216 in 2017.
Regarding the number and value of grants earned by researchers of "Ovidius University in Constanta", in the year 2017, an international project was won, the equivalent value in lei being 407724 and 14 national projects totaling 811278 lei.
"Ovidius University in Constanta", through various research teams, is a member of cluster associations, as follows: the MEDGreen Cluster to promote ecotechnology and alternative energy business (http://www.medgreen.eu); the Danubius-Black Sea Cluster (3D-BS) for the sustainable development of the coastal area and the neighboring regions by exploiting the results of research conducted in the future Danubius-RI Advanced International Center for Advanced Studies; INOMAR Cluster to stimulate innovation in tourism (http://www.inomar.ro/); the DRIFMAT Cluster a distributed research infrastructure for materials, applications and technologies of the future; moreover, it is the initiator in creating an artistic cluster, inspired by INOMAR, a process that is underway.

Mircea Cel Bătrân Naval Academy from Constanţa
The activity of the scientific research community within "Mircea Cel Bătrân Naval Academy from Constanţa" materialized in 2017 in the following results: The advanced, fundamental and applied research is carried out at the level of Galaţi County in the two university centres: "Dunărea de Jos University", belonging to the public sector and "Danubius University", representing the private higher education sector. Arts, out of which 18 plays in national theater performances, as well as 1 role in a feature film with international distribution, whose premiere took place in Paris. The award for "Best Comedy Performance" and "Best Dramaturgy" for the Theater Settlement "Privacy Settings" by Radu Horghidan, directed by Radu Horghidan, Social Act Theater Association, that was presented at the Independent Theater Marathon Festival, in Bucharest in 2017.

Dunărea de Jos University of Galaţi
The faculties of "Dunărea de Jos University of Galaţi" organized in 2017 a total of 162 scientific events, out of which 26 events with international participation.
The Student Scientific Session, a student-centered event, held annually during May in the "Dunărea de Jos University of Galaţi", was finalized in 2017 by awarding 192 prizes with a total value of 22400 lei, following the evaluation of 1866 works scientific papers presented in 66 sections of all faculties.
The Conference of Doctoral Schools reached the 5 th edition in 2017 and was held on 7 sections (http://www.cssd-udjg.ugal.ro), the research-paper being published in various specialized journals.

Danubius University of Galati
The visibility and active role of the "Danubius University of Galati" in the field of research-development-innovation, at the level of 2017, materialized in the following results:

Conclusions and recommendations
The socio-economic development at regional level is determined by the existence and development of Smart University, as institutions of knowledge, which plays a key role in generating human capital (through education system), technological progress (through research), but also in the formulation and implementation of government policies for local and regional development.
The intense competition, triggered by the globalization process, transcends regional space, which implies increasing adaptability and flexibility in order to cope with the pressures generated by market dynamics and rapid and continuous transformations in the information technology segment. Education and research exert a major contribution to this process. Knowledge, learning mechanisms and channels for the dissemination of knowledge flows and good practices contribute significantly to the development of human capital, capacity building and performance of local firms, diversification of services, improve of technical infrastructure and, overall EAI Endorsed Transactions on e-Learning 02 2021 -04 2021 | Volume 7 | Issue 21 | e3 create favourable conditions for economic expansion at regional level.
The position of universities in the process of regional development has changed significantly over time, transcending the stage of higher education institutions specialized in the creation and transfer of knowledge to Smart University, whose strategic plan is to catalyse all stakeholders in the development process of the community. In other words, in this changing world a Smart University is the University of the Future, which prepares future students for future jobs.
The offer of HEIs in the South-East region is quite varied, covering a wide range of specializations that can provide the professional training of students. But in order to address the challenges of the 21 st century, we must ensure that adequate resources (human, technical and financial) exist in the university environment, in line with developmental ambitions. For these reasons, in order to be able to effectively address societal challenges, a Smart University, as a science and innovation center of the region, needs adequate funding. The positive effect of investments in the university environment will be felt in the long-run and will be propagated at the level of the entire regional community.
The segment of R&D and innovation is also well represented at the level of the two major university centers -Constanta and Galati, the responsiveness of HEIs to regional development needs, having a relatively high potential. But, also in this direction, funding is a precondition for exploiting untapped opportunities, the material basis being essential for the university environment to be able to carry out its planned actions. On the other hand, the extent of surplus value that can make EU funding for research and innovation must be exploited, but considering both, the regional development needs and peculiarities, as well as the pressing challenges of the community, results that matter in people's lives.
Integrated territorial development requires effective strategies to respond to societal challenges with a regional dimension, and, consequently investment in HEIs cannot operate in isolation from the broader socio-economic context at regional level. Therefore, funding for the Smart University as a promoter of innovation must be carried out at central level, but also through the involvement of relevant stakeholders at regional level.
We also consider opportune to develop inter-university collaboration at the intra-regional level in order to identify optimal solutions for community problems, the exchange of ideas and good practices being viable mechanisms for promoting regional development. The active participation of HEIs in the life of the local community is a prerequisite for regional development, but also a habit to cultivate, in order for the socio-economic impact to be real and tangible.