Spreading Leader Knowledge: Investigating a Participatory Mode of Knowledge Dissemination among Management Undergraduates

In this paper we discuss the need for a practitioner–academic partnership in disseminating leader knowledge among undergraduate management students, and find that in order to cultivate actionable skill development, business and academic communities should collaborate to offer a participatory approach to leadership education. The core objective is to discover sources of actionable knowledge and to decipher its optimum dissemination among management students, encompassing technical, conceptual and human kill development, through interaction with both theory and practice, in order to prepare students for active participation, and potential leadership, in the business environment. Based on a comprehensive literature review, we propose a participatory leader knowledge dissemination model, where business leaders can stimulate the academic environment, and leadership skill development can be promoted through practitioners’ active involvement in the education process. The article concludes with a perspective on the evolution of knowledge transfer among management students and the current trend towards dynamic collaboration between academics and corporate leaders

Improving performance through HEI–industry engagements in the built environment

The poor performance and inefficiencies of the construction industry are well recognized and documented. Through a variety of combined industry and government initiatives there has been a continual expression in the UK over the last decade of the urgent need to address the fragmented nature of the industry to improve its performance. A major challenge is for education and industry stakeholders to create closer and more effective relationships with each other to facilitate greater mutual understanding. ‘Accelerating Change in Built Environment Education’ (ACBEE) is a sponsored initiative designed to encourage the closer working together of industry, education and professional bodies to provide more relevant training and education. This paper introduces ACBEE, along with an evaluation framework for measuring the performance of engagements at various levels. This is followed by an analysis of the application of this performance measurement framework through case studies of industry–education engagement. A number of case studies were identified as operating at the grades of ‘strategic alliance’ and ‘partnership’ (as classified in the ACBEE evaluation framework). The analysis of these cases focuses on the drivers behind and the purpose of the engagement, and how these are aligned with the business strategy of the collaborating organizations and measurement of the activity. Evidence of meeting the explicit business needs and strategic objectives and the contribution to good practice knowledge are also discussed

An investigation into international business collaboration in higher education organisations: a case study of international partnerships in four UK leading universities

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to develop a comparative analysis of the main objectives of international institutional partnerships in four UK leading universities. Based on the presented case studies, the paper outlines a model for objectives and implementation of international partnership. Design/methodology/approach - Using a multiple case study approach, the paper employs three sources of data: templates of international partnerships, actual agreements of international partnerships and interviews with senior and very senior managers concerned with internationalisation at the four universities. The analysis includes inter-university comparative analysis and templates-agreements-interviews comparative analysis for each of the four universities separately. Findings - It is found that, for the four universities, the objectives of international partnerships are related to both students and staff with relative importance given to the student dimension. While the student dimension refers to any overseas partnerships where the core topic of the partnership is the student whether it is related to student exchange, collaborative programs, student recruitment, etc.; the staff dimension refers to any overseas partnerships that are more related to the staff topic, such as joint research, collaborative teaching, staff exchange, etc

Building a Model of Collaboration Between Historically Black and Historically White Universities

Despite increases over the last two decades in the number of degrees awarded to students from underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, enhancing diversity in these disciplines remains a challenge. This article describes a strategic approach to this challenge—the development of a collaborative partnership between two universities: the historically Black Elizabeth City State University and the historically White University of New Hampshire. The partnership, a type of learning organization built on three mutually agreed upon principles, strives to enhance opportunities for underrepresented students to pursue careers in the STEM disciplines. This article further describes six promising practices that framed the partnership, which resulted in the submission of nine proposals to federal agencies and the funding of four grants that led to the implementation, research, learning, and evaluation that followed

The Workforce Needs of New Jersey's Pharmaceutical and Medical Technology Industry

This report is based on an online survey conducted in spring 2006 of pharmaceutical and medical technology companies in New Jersey. It identifies the current and future workforce needs of the pharmaceutical and medical technology industry in New Jersey

Understanding quality in Transnational Education in Vietnam: Stakeholder perspectives in a Vietnam-UK undergraduate partnership context.

The research focuses on stakeholder perceptions of the quality of undergraduate transnational higher education (TNHE) provision based on the context of a Vietnam-UK partnership offering two joint undergraduate programmes named BA in Business Management and BA in Banking and Finance. This is a research context that has previously received little attention. The thesis is underpinned by three research questions designed to explore issues related to the determinants of the quality, the effectiveness of the programme delivery and the factors that enable or conversely hinder the quality of the provision, with an emphasis on comparing the perceptions of students, university policy-makers and staff providers. These insights provide the basis of an understanding of the factors contributing to quality from a comparative and intercultural perspective. The methodology is based on a conceptual framework that combines the approach of defining quality in higher education as a stakeholder-specific meaning, the stakeholder theory to approach quality management, and the input-process-output model of quality management in higher education. The research applies a multiple-method approach, including interviews and questionnaires within a predominantly qualitative interpretive paradigm. The key findings fall within four categories. First is the importance of curricular equivalence and adaptation to tailor student learning needs. Second is the awareness of cultural differences to the approaches of transnational teaching and learning which focuses on a glocalised approach in a learning-centred environment. Third is the effective learning environment which focuses on providing value-added activities to enhance student learning opportunities and develop student employability. Fourth is building working relations by a means of effective communications and sharing practices in working with the partner institution. Overall, the findings are not generalizable in quantitative terms, but provide rich evidence (through an in-depth qualitative enquiry) of processes that promote, or conversely hinder, quality undergraduate provision in a TNHE partnership