Understand HEInnovate & the 8 Dimensions
Get an overview of the HEInnovate framework and its eight dimensions. These resources help you grasp the core principles of HEInnovate and provide clear explanations of each dimension.
Each statement in the self-assessment has a corresponding guidance note. These notes explain what the statement is looking at and provide examples of how institutions can address it.
These reports analyse the higher education system of a specific country through the lens of the HEInnovate framework. They were conducted by the OECD in partnership with the European Commission between 2015 and 2021.
Get inspired by other HEIs
Learn from the experiences of higher education institutions across Europe. Explore case studies that showcase diverse practices and provide inspiration across the eight HEInnovate dimensions. Find testimonials that illustrate how institutions are using HEInnovate in practice. Discover real-life lessons and outcomes.
You can view and download case studies that showcase different institutional approaches and good practices along the eight dimensions of HEInnovate.
Read about the different uses and experiences of higher education institutions using the HEinnovate framework. The user stories also highlight lessons learnt and results achieved.
Implement HEInnovate in your institution
Support for you and your institution to work with the HEInnovate framework in a structured, collaborative way. Workshop Guides and Training Materials help you plan, deliver, and follow up on workshops of all sizes.
A comprehensive guide to HEInnovate. It explains the features of the website, how to set up groups, and describes three types of workshops you can run.
Short chapters from the Training Manual with focused advice on how to run different types of workshops, set the agenda, and decide whom to invite.
Turn insights into action
Transform your HEInnovate results into practical next steps. These tools help institutions prioritise actions, engage teams, and move from assessment to implementation, to ensure continuous, meaningful improvement.
Concise cards summarising practical actions aligned with each HEInnovate dimension. Use them to spark discussions and identify priorities.
Visual tools and worksheets to document goals, map short- to long-term actions, and organise activities into work packages. Includes the Action Planning Board, Work Package Planning Board, and Action Sheet.
All resources
- Guidance notes
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Internationalisation can, especially when incorporated into the HEI’s strategy, offer students, staff and the organisation several benefits. It can advance strategic thinking leading to innovation, offer advantages in modernising pedagogy, encourage collaboration between students and staff, stimulate new approaches to learning, and new research...
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European and international mobility of staff and students, including administrative staff and doctoral students, is an important practice for entrepreneurial HEIs. These opportunities are well understood to bring about positive outcomes to all stakeholders involved, and to maximise the benefits delivered entrepreneurial and innovative higher...
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Integrating research results in entrepreneurship training can be a crucial aspect of improving entrepreneurial teaching and learning in general. For example, an explicit demand by management to integrate research results into entrepreneurship education can increase the attractiveness of teaching activities for active researchers, as it provides...
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External stakeholders are an important source of expertise that can be used in the design and delivery of entrepreneurial teaching and learning. Regular engagement with external stakeholders is key in addressing future skills needs and addressing societal challenges. Guest lecturers, life case studies and interviews are some of the frequently used...
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An entrepreneurial learning experience provides opportunities to develop important skills and competences. These are essential for both graduate entrepreneurs as well as entrepreneurial graduates entering employment. An HEI that values entrepreneurial learning commits to regular review, validation, the updating of course content and learning...
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Extracurricular learning opportunities are an important complementary part of entrepreneurship teaching and learning provision. An entrepreneurial and innovative HEI should offer a range of informal learning opportunities to students to inspire individuals to act entrepreneurially. Supporting entrepreneurial behaviour can be challenging, as it...
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Innovation and diversity in the HEI's approach to teaching and learning (including flexible learning pathways) should accompany the development of the entrepreneurial mindset and competences across all departments and programmes. This can be achieved through: Offering tailored entrepreneurship courses across all subject areas and levels of study...
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Higher education, and higher education institutions more generally, play a pivotal role, in their local communities and the wider ecosystem in supporting and driving regional, social and community development as well as addressing societal challenges. While promoting entrepreneurship and innovation in higher education includes both entrepreneurial...
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A major development challenge is providing a strong rationale and academic argument for promoting innovation and entrepreneurship across the whole institution, across all subjects and for all levels of study. These are however the prerequisites for having an institution-wide entrepreneurial agenda. Institutions with fewer barriers and hierarchies...
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The ultimate aim of an entrepreneurial HEI is to embed innovation and entrepreneurship into the organisational DNA so that they become part of the organisation´s culture and its values, policies, structures and practices. Once entrepreneurship has become a part of the organisational DNA, reflected in everyday practices and the ‘way things are done’...
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For an institution to become more entrepreneurial and innovative There are barriers to overcome. These might be related to the intellectual or ideological beliefs of academic staff, resulting from misperceptions and myths about the meanings, values and purposes of entrepreneurship. The leadership challenge lies in engaging these viewpoints and...
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Being entrepreneurial and innovation driven applies both to the organisation as a whole and to its constituting individuals. Organisational culture and values can tie the organisation and the individual together. For a broad acceptance of entrepreneurship and innovation from top management, senior levels of the institution to all other stakeholders...
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Aalborg University has since its establishment invested heavily in creating strong linkages with local industry and with other institutions and actors in the innovation system. A particular innovative feature of entrepreneurship at Aalborg University is the emphasis on interdisciplinarity and creative problem solving in its teaching and learning...
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Resource paper prepared by Ben Jongbloed (CHEPS, University of Twente) Introduction The University of Twente (UT), based in the east of the Netherlands, was established in the year 1961. It is a medium-sized university with a strong engineering core, next to a social sciences base. The UT is very much known for its entrepreneurial character and a...
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Resource paper prepared by Ben Jongbloed (CHEPS, University of Twente) Introduction As part of our case study of the University of Twente (UT), this document focuses on the facilities and instruments in place to support the entrepreneurial potential of the university. The University of Twente is based in the region of Twente, in the east of the...