Importance of Cooperation Between Universities and Industry as a Factor of Economic and Social Development of the Republic of Serbia

In a very dynamic social environment, which includes a whole range of political, economic, cultural, and social changes, one can notice that, “today”, education is facing new requirements, which primarily result from the needs of the economy and production. The role of university is not only to create and transfer knowledge, but to integrate with the economy for future economic progress and social development. The subject of this paper is to analyze past and current cooperation between university and industry in the Republic of Serbia, based on official national and international statistics. Given that education in a society is assumption of dynamic economic and social development, the aim of this paper is to make a comprehensive analysis of the importance of cooperation between university and industry, and point to the need for continuous and institutionalized cooperation between university and industry, as a key factor for the future strategy of economic and social development of the Republic of Serbia