Building world class universities through innovative teaching governance

Abstract

There is a growing interest in educational innovation in universities at a global level, as a tool designed to create strategic changes in order to improve quality. This study evaluates the global improvement in universities as a result of educational innovation governance, as a pillar of the so-called world-class research universities and as a tool for continuous improvement in higher education. The methodology has been designed by different educational innovation groups from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Universidad de Cádiz, and the International Project Management Association Spanish Board, and includes an analysis of 67 universities from 20 countries. The study is based on 32 universities in Spain, as well as 35 other international universities that carry out educational innovation activity. The results show that universities that have a more mature educational innovation governance in place, both in Spain as well as in other countries, are higher in the ranking of universities (Webometrics). These universities demonstrate a tendency to work on educational innovation projects, which are contributing to strategic changes that will permanently revitalise teaching, whilst also improving research and its links to society.