The scope of our research is the university as the key actor of economic change. Historically, it is possible to allocate four types of the university by analogy to four industrial revolutions. In the conditions of the fourth industrial revolution, there is a radical shift in the university model. From research and development and technology transfer, the university moves to the creation of the intellectual capital. The university does not simply conduct R&D for business but creates essentially new industries. The university becomes the center around which the new hi-tech enterprises grow. This phenomenon has been entitled entrepreneurial university that is the main actor of the entrepreneurial (startup) economy. In this study, we examined the different approaches to the evaluation of universities, first of all, global university rankings. Each ranking methodology assesses the different functional areas; a unified methodology of the evaluation of university as a complex system is currently lacking. At the same time, we tried to define the mechanism of the impact of the universities on regional economic growth grounding on a case of Russian universities. A comparative study of Novosibirsk and Tomsk universities has revealed key problem areas and barriers in the process of university engagement in regional economic systems. The findings will be used in further theoretical and applied research, as well as decision-making in the area of educational policy.

The aim of this paper is to examine the development of a financial framework for assessing the effectiveness of interventions. The research is based on the evidence from Serbia. In terms of methods applied, we used econometric and scenario analysis. We presented — as individual separate items — the issues such as “who” — Government budget (Ministry, specific program, loan, donor, etc.), “how much” — the amount spent, “where” (NUTS 2 region), and on “what” (type of initiative). In our model, each of the interventions applied to one of the regional development priorities is linked and evaluated by its effectiveness observing the performance of the group of indicators associated with each of the priorities. All data obtained from 8 sectors were categorized under 4 priorities, i.e. “People, Place, Productive Capacity, and Institutional Capacity”. Accordingly, we evaluate the effectiveness by observing the performance of a group of indicators related to each of the priorities. Our recommendations for optimizing the distribution structure of regional policies and regions are determined by the analysis of the performance of the group of indicators and their relative rankings per NUTS 2 region. The results are significant for further theoretical and applied research, as well as decision-making in the field of government financial policy. Our results confirmed that calculations of funds for regional development in strategic areas appear to be slightly problematic because, in the past, there was no strategic distribution based on established facts, which could be measured in terms of performance.