Industries link up with the academe
When enterprises work in tandem with universities to push the frontiers of knowledge, they become a powerful engine for economic growth and innovation.
Exemplifying the value of business-academe partnerships is the Industry Advisory Board (IAB) established by Adamson University (AdU) in Manila. AdU’s IAB consists of leaders from professional organizations, corporate partners, and alumni associations who serve as representatives of the academic program’s constituencies.
Industry partners, in particular, act as advisers to the concerned college or department regarding the direction and growth of their accredited academic programs. They assist in curriculum development and help in implementing program improvements.
Using the Outcomes-based Education and Continuous Quality Improvement (OBE-CQI) framework, the IAB of AdU defines the career and professional accomplishments that the program is preparing its graduates to achieve. Significantly, the OBE-CQI framework is a paradigm shift from the traditional educational system into one that puts greater focus on program and course outcomes in an environment where everyone strives to create constantly improving quality.
As a link between the academic department and its professional counterparts, the industry partners provide an opportunity for communicating current and future career needs. They identify actions that the college or university should take to meet the special needs of students prior to entering the job market. At the same time, they come up with recommendations on initiatives that the academic program should undertake to continuously improve and meet industry standards.
Early on, the administrators of AdU realized that the benefits to both the university and the business community was essential in maintaining a long-term relationship between the two sectors. This resulted in the availability of well-prepared Adamsonian graduates who understand the product realization process.
Another value of the industry-academe partnership is the opportunity given to corporate employers in evaluating potential employees through internships, collaborative projects, and classroom interaction. For industrial engineering students, this may come in the form of direct assistance to address product design problems through the sponsorship of graduating year design projects.
Such partnerships redound to the professional development of industry personnel through teaching, learning, and curriculum development as well as technology transfer, by way of faculty immersion and workforce exchange programs.
On the other hand, effective industryacademia linkages translate into financial scholarships for deserving students and grants to tertiary departments for the maintenance of existing laboratories and new equipment.
Through curriculum reform, the value of industry-academe partnerships may be manifested in the improvement of graduates’ industry skills. Universities in the 21st century should therefore not only be viewed as generators of ideas – but as sources of knowledge and competence that can benefit society as a whole.
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