The Educational Innovator

The purpose of the hereby paper is to describe who bears or should bear the role of an educational innovator within the environment of higher education, as well as to emphasize the primary factors of motivation necessary to assume this role, by trying to compare and contrast the motivational scheme of the business innovator with that of the academic innovator. The research focuses on a combination of the individual dimension (individual motivators to be an innovator) and organizational dimension (creation of conditions to perform this role). The paper is an essay that approaches both a theoretical and empirical view, thus trying to define the major groups or organizations currently involved in education restructuring as well as their impact. Moreover, it addresses new groups that should take part of this process and the potential outcomes of their involvement. The main findings of the paper are a clear definition of the educational innovator, which can be used for any of the primary, secondary or post-secondary systems, as well as the current status of the higher education system in Romania and its barriers for innovation. It is true that the process of innovation in the educational environment has become increasingly important within the last two decades. However, the innovative university is still a new field of research, especially taking into account that traditional universities have had no real competition until the burst of technology. Therefore, this paper comes to supplement this field of innovation within the educational environment.