The role of universities in the regional development strategies

Universities represent important institutions in the process of regional development. Especially in recent years, in addition to education and research, studies are increasingly talking about the third role of universities - the promotion of regional development. This role is understood in many forms and ways. In this article we will analyze how regional strategies in Czech and Slovak republic reflect this changing role of higher education institutions, especially universities. We analyzed involvement of universities in the process of strategies creation as well as their roles assign to them in these strategies. We found a lack of involvement of universities in regional development process, especially in the area of community development compare to their activities in entrepreneurial university role.