The changing status of vocational higher education in contemporary Japan and South Korea

노트 : Vocational Content in Mass Higher Education? Responses to the Challenges of the Labour Market and the Work-Place. Bonn, 8 -10 September 200

Flux and flexibility : a comparative institutional analysis of evolving university-industry relationships in MIT, Cambridge and Tokyo

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2002.Includes bibliographical references (p. 279-293).University-industry relationships are in a state of flux. They represent important strategic issues for universities, for industry, and for governments alike. This confluence of interests has led to experimentation in which universities and industry seek to work together, often with strong government support. And yet partnerships are not easy. Academics and industrialists live in two different worlds, and universities are not known for their organizational flexibility. Some universities appear to change flexibly, while others change more slowly and with difficulty. The purpose of this dissertation is three-fold: to identify the nature of change taking place in university-industry relationships; to understand the underlying factors that influence that change; and to explore the underlying process of change. Three cases of MIT, Cambridge University, and Tokyo University are examined to compare their experiences in developing new types of university-industry relationships. I argue that internal and external organizational boundaries have influenced the evolution of the new types of relationships, and that the three universities have defined these boundaries differently. MIT's regulated external boundaries permitted close but bounded relationships with industry, but, on the other hand, its one-way permeable internal boundaries enabled its administration to amplify and institutionalize initiatives. This is contrasted with Cambridge's fuzzy boundaries, which appeared to elicit deeper and more informal and personal relationships in specific local settings. Tokyo's apparently impermeable boundaries, in contrast, led both to formal arm's length relationships as well as to informal but closer and invisible relationships(cont.) The emergence of these relationships has not been a mechanical and deterministic process. Individuals have played an active and important role through "storytelling" to persuade different players to participate in the new relationships. Individuals also developed individual sub-stories that explained the rationale for their own participation. I argue that there are three different types of compatibility between role-stories as told by the players: individual role compatibility, partnership compatibility and organizational compatibility. I then argue that it is these three types of compatibility that have determined the overall strengths of the new behavioral patterns, their ultimate sustainability over time and their replicability across space:by Sachi Hatakenaka.Ph.D

Learning from Organizational Experience

Learning-in-action, the cyclical interplay of thinking and doing, is increasingly important for organizations as environments and required capabilities become more complex and interdependent. Organizational learning involves both a desire to learn and supportive structures and mechanisms. We draw upon three case studies from the nuclear power and chemical industries to illustrate a four-stage model of organizational learning: (1) local stage of decentralized learning by individuals and work groups, (2) control stage of fixing problems and complying with rules, (3) open stage of acknowledgement of doubt and motivation to learn, and (4) deep learning stage of skillful inquiry and systemic mental models. These four stages differ on whether learning is primarily single-loop or doubleloop, i.e., whether the organization can surface and challenge the assumptions and mental models underlying behavior, and whether learning is relatively improvised or structured. The case studies illustrate how organizations learn differently from experience, the details of learning practices, and the nature of stage transitions among learning practices

Developing strategies for university, industry, and government partnership in Indonesia

The Government of Indonesia has launched an ambitious Master Plan for Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesia Economic Development or MP3EI, with a view to promoting geographically dispersed growth through establishing seven economic corridors across the nation. The objective of this study is to review the current status of universities in Indonesia in terms of their capacity to work in partnership with industry and government. The review will assess whether they can contribute to the realization of such a vision, and it will make recommendations about future strategies and actions. The study was commissioned by the Ministry of National Planning (BAPPENAS) and the Ministry of Education and Culture through the Analytical and Capacity Development Partnership (ACDP) program, which is funded by the European Union and the Australian-AID and administered by the Asian Development Bank (ADB)

Innovation and Economic Development

Universities are going through significant organizational changes to play appropriate roles in innovation and economic development. Many universities are setting up appropriate institutional policies, processes, and incentives, and having technology-transfer offices for research-related functions. Changing people's attitudes as well as interaction with science parks are other issues. Many universities are undertaking interdisciplinary research. Large-scale partnerships with industry are increasingly established through institutional leaderships

New Developments in International Research Collaboration

International research collaboration has entered an era in which networking has a direct economic significance. Some governments are already beginning to pay a premium to become hubs in global excellence networks. The approaches include strengthening its bilateral ties, investing in world-class research center of excellence. The question is whether these developments will produce significant changes in the world's research capacity

Organizational Learning from Experience in High-Hazard Industries: Problem Investigation as Off-Line Reflective Practice

Learning from experience, the cyclical interplay of thinking and doing, is increasingly important as organizations struggle to cope with rapidly changing environments and more complex and interdependent sets of knowledge. This paper confronts two central issues for organizational learning: (1) how is local learning (by individuals or small groups) integrated into collective learning by organizations? and (2) what are the differences between learning practices that focus on control, elimination of surprises, and single-loop incremental ?fixing? of problems with those that focus on deep or radical learning, double-loop challenging of assumptions, and discovery of new opportunities? We articulate these relationships through an analysis of particular learning practices in highhazard organizations, specifically, problem investigation teams that examine the most serious and troubling events and trends in nuclear power plants and chemical plants. We first distinguish a controlling orientation from a rethinking orientation, and illustrate learning practices with three case studies from the nuclear power and chemical industries and a questionnaire study of three nuclear power plants. We then extend our framework to create a four-stage model of organizational learning: (1) local learning by decentralized individuals and work groups, (2) constrained learning in a context of compliance with rules, (3) open learning prompted by acknowledgement of doubt and desire to learn, and (4) deep learning based on skillful inquiry and systemic mental models. These four stages contrast whether learning is primarily single-loop or double-loop, i.e., whether the organization can surface and challenge the assumptions and mental models underlying behavior, and whether learning is relatively improvised or structured. We conclude with a discussion of the stages, levels of learning (team, organizational, and individual), and the role of action, thinking, and emotion in organizational learning