Addressing workforce needs by disrupting traditional industry–higher education relations: The case of El Salvador

Abstract

<jats:p> The authors analyze the recent undertaking in El Salvador to establish an innovative model of industry–higher education clusters that would facilitate collaboration between academia and the private sector – sectors that traditionally had not worked together because of historical distrust – to develop the skilled workforce needed for the country’s future economic growth. Under the USAID Higher Education for Economic Growth project implemented by RTI International, clusters were put forth as the platform for building sustainable partnerships between industry and higher education – facilitating dialogue, stepping into each other’s world and collaboration on curriculum planning, student internships, and applied research. The clusters have pushed Salvadoran universities to become more agile organizations, able to pivot to meet industry skills demands, and industries to recognize universities’ contributions to the creation of value for increased productivity. The El Salvador case is a collaborative multi-stakeholder model to meet workplace requirements for high-growth industries in low- to middle-income economies. </jats:p>

University–industry collaboration in curriculum design and delivery: A model and its application in manufacturing engineering courses

“…Researchers have worked extensively on the analysis of these collaborations, considering the benefits for the stakeholders but also the challenges and barriers that hinder cooperation in their own countries. For instance, the importance of university-industry collaboration in economic growth has been studied in the USA (Lee, 1996) and in El Salvador (Navarro et al, 2019). Specific barriers to collaboration were found in Thailand (Brimble and Doner, 2007) and Malaysia (Salleh and Omar, 2013).…”

Effectiveness of Work-Integrated Learning Partnerships: Case Study of Cooperative Education in Agricultural Tertiary Education

“…In recent years, the significant increase in partnerships between HEIs and firms has been promoted through the emergence of globalization, competition, and HEI budget restrictions [13]. Such cooperation involves the effective and efficient sharing of resources to achieve the mutual goals of technological innovation, promoting the exchange of knowledge, acting as an engine for economic growth, and enhancing global competitiveness [14,15]. Many examples of bilateral agreements between individual companies and HEIs are given in the literature, many of which have been underway for several decades.…”

“…WIL programs extensively rely on the development of sustainable collaboration between HEIs, industry, and often the community [18]. This collaboration was an integral part of university education for many years to meet the growing need in firms in terms of a highly qualified workforce and for HEIs to adapt to the requirements of firms [13,15,19].…”