Exploring the growing phenomenon of university‐corporate education partnerships

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore why corporations are forming corporate education partnerships with universities and the role of corporate education programmes. Design/methodology/approach -The paper presents the findings from quantitative research involving 79 senior managers from North America, the UK, and Australia responsible for the management of their university-corporate education partnerships. Findings -The research finds that the primary reason for establishing university-corporate education partnerships is to provide a recognised university award programme to complement an organisation's in-house education programmes. Also, by aligning with a university an organisation is able to add strength and credibility to its in-house corporate education programmes. Originality/value -The research provides an insight into the growing role of university-corporate education partnerships and helps to quantify some emerging aspects of these partnerships.

What makes industry–university collaboration succeed? A systematic review of the literature

“…There is also some evidence that willingness to change is another salient success factor. That means, for instance, adapting to different circumstances and cultures (Logar et al 2001), being open to listening (Ryan 2007(Ryan , 2009) and managing corporate changes (Barnes et al 2002). The ability of partners to learn about and understand one another is essential for a successful collaboration (Hadjimanolis 2006).…”

“…However, partners need to have time for this learning process in order to find the best way to collaborate (Canhoto et al 2016). Both companies and universities will benefit when they work together closely and use each other's experience and feedback for further improvements (Ryan 2009).…”

“…The next two factors we identified within our literature review refer to the legal aspects of IUC collaborations and are about contracts and intellectual property rights (IPRs). Contracts detailing the arrangement, roles and responsibilities reduce the possibility of later disputes (Ankrah and AL-Tabbaa 2015; Barnes et al 2002;Lee 2011;Ryan 2009), can help to establish trust (Hemmert et al 2014) and are necessary to verify whether objectives have been met by the partners (Xu et al 2014). Formal agreements are especially advisable in complex collaboration projects (Starbuck 2001) or to ensure mutual access to expensive infrastructure (Bychkova 2016).…”

“…Articles we reviewed also recommend being clear about expectations (Barnes et al 2002) regarding IPR policies (Starbuck 2001), ownership and patent earnings (Barnes et al 2002;Bruneel et al 2010) or about the exploitation of project results (Newberg and Dunn 2002). In this context it is essential to take enough time to understand the partner's interests, to ask questions if necessary, to discuss purposes and visions and eventually to negotiate these (Borgia et al 2011;Ryan 2009). Concrete agreements and contractual safeguards might help in this regard (Hemmert et al 2014).…”

Introduction: The Challenges of Defining and Studying Contemporary Entrepreneurship

“…We end this special feature with another article concerning entrepreneurial universities. As noted earlier, these institutions can be important engines in the knowledge economy, acting as drivers of both regional and national economic growth and competitiveness (Ryan, ). Thus, Nelles and Vorley (this issue) addressed efforts to make universities more entrepreneurial from a public policy perspective.…”