Educational policy of universities and the needs of local production systems

Traditional mission of a university includes two elements: research and teaching by making reference to the state-of-the-art cognitive content. A third, new element of the mission is their direct public service. In recent years we have been stressing the role of higher education institutions in the shaping of social and economic reality, where active involvement in development processes of regions and countries are a challenge. The paper discusses educational policy of universities in the context of needs and expectations of the economy, especially of local production systems. Theoretical considerations are the point of departure for the presentation of the results of studies conducted under the Project “Policy and tools of creating human capital in the region” in higher education institutions in the Lodz Region. The market of educational services evolves dynamically and, as a result of overlapping external and internal conditions, the latest 20 years provoked revolutionary changes also in the universities in the Lodz Region. On the one hand, universities seek their own, individual development paths, diversify their educational offer to be competitive and, on the other hand, they start cooperating with one another and with the external world both in the area of education and research. That initiates or enhances economic cooperation and the development of network relations through, inter alia, developing and supporting territorial forms of cooperation, e.g., LPS, various types of economic collaboration, improved communication and integration between economic circles and educational institutions.