Role of graduate theses on regional development

Abstract

Universities are developing strategies to increase the contribution of their activities to their regional and national economy, so the importance of universities in regional development-oriented studies is increasing. In this study, the relationship between universities and the most competitive industries in their regions is analysed with the graduate theses of universities focusing on those industries. Twenty-six universities in Turkey, which are regularly included in seven Entrepreneurial-Innovative University Index (EIUI) rankings, and their regions were selected. The strongest and the most competitive sectors in the manufacturing industry of the selected regions were determined by the Balassa RCA Index and Foreign Trade Balance Index. The number of graduate theses related to those sectors is divided by the number of academicians, and a score is obtained. Universities are ranked according to this score. As a result, this ranking was compared with the EIUI rankings of the universities, and the similarities were interpreted.