Block 2: University Business Cooperation: promoting

change and impact

Keith HerrmannHigher Ed Research

Workshop 2.1 Delivering results: assessing the outcomes of educational cooperation

• Ongoing project contracted by the European Commission is exploring the outcomes of educational areas of cooperation.

• Types of cooperation: – curriculum design; – curriculum delivery; – exchange/mobility; – entrepreneurship education; – bespoke education; – continuous professional development.

Approaches to assessing outcomes of educational cooperation

• Measure outcomes with a user-centred approach to cooperation vs peer recognition.

• Use eco-system metaphor = pool assets of universities, SMEs and large companies (leverage diversity of roles) for common success.

• Evaluation frameworks for measuring UBC: – innovation – brand – talents – business – education

Benefits of cooperation• Fuse funding + coaching + go to

market to accelerate knowledge, ideas and next generation business.

• Beyond co-created knowledge, business can help universities develop global brands.

• If universities open, then can harvest the creativity and energy of SMEs - move faster.

• BUT universities can be very slow to market!

Recommendations• Synchronise the dots - connect/

share EU initiatives. • If take an eco-system approach,

how many of these jobs will be created in Europe?

• Can we duplicate the model in other industries?

• Speed is essential - quick decision making.

• Systematic evaluation leads to more transparency and comparability.

• Dialogue and exchange leads to best practice sharing.

Workshop 2.2 Partnering for change

• Leveraging synergies despite differences between universities and business; use differences (in roles) for advantage.

• Pressures to restructure driven by the nexus of the research-education value chains.

• Partnering can stimulate internal change in faculties/departments.

• Blend modalities of activity = curiosity, operational context, application orientation, and research by design.

Partnering across roles• Collaborative decision making in context of the

knowledge triangle = national government, industry cluster, research institutes and local authorities.

• Adopt innovation eco-system as model for collaboration (EIT).

• Must take account of the rigidities of old structures - difficult to overcome.

• Open innovation models are forcing change to the patterns of cooperation between universities and business.

Types of cooperation• Support Masters and PhD students

via stipends. • Research projects with universities

around the world. • Internships and placements from 1

month to 1 year. • Shared research facilities. • Endowed Science Chairs. • Graduate recruitment - access to the

best talent. • Co-publications. • Teaching activities. • Donations. • Free software for students.

Summary

• Can universities break out of their subject discipline silos to cooperate with business?

• Recognise that global business adopts a portfolio approaches to university-business cooperation - driven by complexity of issues.