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This special issue of "Industry and Higher Education" is devoted to a selection of papers, revised for publication, from the Sixth International Conference on "New Horizons in Industry, Business and Education" held on the island of Santorini, Greece, in August 2009. In this introductory paper the author provides an overview of the conference, summarizes the most important presentations, and offers some reflections on the conference outcomes. The key objective of the NHIBE 2009 was to identify the impact of new technologies on education, business and industry. Special attention was drawn to the innovative approaches and experiences developed in education in an effort to adapt teaching methods to the new technological era. Furthermore, business strategies and worldwide educational strategies were emphasized. The major topics were: educational strategies; career counseling; new educational methods; industry and education; entrepreneurship; corporate finance and governance; and business strategies.

The Special Focus in this issue of "Industry and Higher Education" comprises three papers that address practical approaches to the critical challenge of preparing students adequately for employment and career development in the 21st century workplace. The papers, refereed, extended and revised for publication in the journal originate from presentations at the Ninth International Conference on New Horizons in Industry, Business and Education held on Skiathos Island, Greece, in August 2015. In this introductory article, the author provides a brief overview of the conference and summarizes the three papers that follow.

This paper examines empowerment as a strategy, from the resource-based perspective, for the development of Greek tertiary education. As the literature suggests, empowerment enables individuals to make decisions and simultaneously take responsibility for their actions. Moreover, it increases the quality of research and teaching procedures as well as amplifying educators' and students' satisfaction and performance. In this respect, the paper uses the well-known Whetten and Cameron questionnaire for empowerment in a survey conducted among students studying in the B, D, F and H semesters at a Greek university operating in Thessaloniki. The principal component factor analysis of a sample 395 students revealed the existence of four dimensions of student empowerment: meaning/self-efficacy, self-determination, trust and personal control. After discussion of the findings, a number of recommended tactics and policies concerning the enhancement of student empowerment conclude the paper. (Contains 1 table.)

It is remarkable how often academic staff discover students' weaknesses in expressing their thoughts in written and oral contexts, and in team working. To examine these weaknesses, a study was conducted in 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 of students taking an engineering course. Students self-reported an initial high level of weakness in both communication skills (writing and speaking), while expressing higher levels of confidence in their team working skills. This suggested that there was significant potential for improvement in both forms of communication skills and a lower potential for the improvement of team-working skills. On that basis the Technical University of Crete organized short training workshops based on experiential learning methods, during the academic year 2012-13. Other factors taken into account were the lack of awareness of such skills in traditionally-organized Greek universities; the inability to redesign all courses, currently dependent on a content-based curriculum, on a competency basis; and findings in the international literature, which highlight specific generic skills of engineering students as essential to their studies and future career prospects. The aim was to enhance the three skills of writing, speaking and team working. Participation was voluntary and open to students from all schools in the university. This paper assesses this initiative and analyses the contribution of the workshops to skills development.

This paper explores the process of the emergence in Greece of the "Triple Helix", and the nature of the "Helix" in the context of the concurrent changes occurring in Greek socio-political affairs. The influence of politics and innovation policies on the relationships between academia and government and industry is considered. Emphasis is given to national and regional innovation policies and their impact on the commercialization of academic research in the National Technical University of Athens, the University of Thessaly and the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH) in Crete. (Contains 27 notes.)

Using a generalized production function approach and insights from empirical research on the determinants of growth, this paper assesses the relative importance of specific factors in explaining differences in the levels of per capita GDP. Emphasis is placed on education, physical capital accumulation, the share of the public sector in economic activity and the outward orientation of economies. Education, among other things, is connected with the ability of countries to take advantage of technology transfer channels. Panel data estimation techniques are used to obtain empirical results for the EU-15 countries, and economic policy recommendations are evaluated accordingly. (Contains 4 tables and 1 note.)

Work-based learning is generated, controlled and used within a community of practice and brings new understanding to pedagogical principles as the role of worker becomes also that of learner. This paper presents a series of opportunities of this type of learning, which even enables students to work at a distance, using open-learning techniques, as self-managed learners in their work-related context. The author analyses the legitimacy of work-based knowledge in a higher education setting: this is crucial in understanding the differences and similarities both within the field of work-based learning itself and between work-based learning and more conventional educational programmes. Finally, a method of facilitating and managing such work-based learning in universities is presented.

This paper discusses an e-learning pilot study focusing on local tourist producers and businesses involved in the production of artefacts, mainly textiles. The project included research into the possibilities of incorporating the strengths of local cultural heritage as a vital starting point for design creativity, innovation, production and education. A special educational module was developed, employing new technology, and was applied experimentally to selected participating tourist producers, offering them fundamental design education, computer training and basic management and marketing education. The programme was made available via distance learning, thus providing tourist producers and workshops in remote and rural areas with access to training and an opportunity to develop the skills necessary for them to be competitive. Examples are offered from the research work and the adapted teaching programme. (Contains 3 figures.)

The authors present and discuss significant aspects of youth entrepreneurship in the European Union (EU) and, especially, in higher education institutions in Greece. The structure of this paper is as follows. First, the study introduces a conceptual basis for entrepreneurship as defined in the EU and looks at entrepreneurship in the context of actions taken by the European Council and especially by the European Commission. The significance of entrepreneurship, embedded in substantial economic factors such as growth, development, employment, education and training, etc, and its objectives are then discussed, particularly in relation to students in higher education. Second, the study refers briefly to current policies of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that could influence the EU's entrepreneurship strategies. Third, the authors assess the status of youth entrepreneurship and its influence on students in the Greek higher education system, applying an empirical methodology. To explore the behaviour and attitudes of HE students towards entrepreneurship, the authors analyse data collected by means of a specially designed questionnaire. The sample selected comprised male and female undergraduate students studying in various disciplines at the Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Serres. The results are evaluated and their implications for educational programmes at universities, TEIs, business schools, etc, are considered. (Contains 5 figures, 5 tables and 2 notes.)