Dual education models as elements of corporate embeddedness in Hungary

Abstract

Reindustrialisation and the European Industrial Renaissance are strategic priorities of the current EU programming period (2014-2020). In parallel with the declining significance of national economies, the meso (local) level is becoming more and more powerful. Key actors of reindustrialisation are transnational companies (TNCs) and their locations, the specific settlements. Transnational companies are influential allies of local and regional communities from several aspects, such as society, economy, governance, environment, and most importantly from the perspective of the current study, science and education. Their contribution to secondary and higher level engineering education, starting from the international kindergarten level, continuing in dual education models and ending up in corporate PhD and MBA programs have become significant elements of the endogenous development potential of the host locations. The author considers the active participation of TNCs in these educational activities and life career model development as part of their local embedding process. Corporate embeddedness is a relatively new field of research and a phenomenon that raises several questions generating an ongoing debate between both practitioners and researchers. The current research focuses on the embeddedness of TNCs in the science and education sphere in the Central and Eastern European region, by analysing several case studies and process models from Hungary. The methodology is novel, process-based and empirical, building on the quintuple helix innovation model and the findings of recent desk-based and primary research. The contribution to the state of the art is twofold, firstly, the presentation of contemporary corporate embeddedness process models from the perspective of engineering education; and secondly, the analysis of how these processes could contribute to advanced economic growth and development path designation of an area.