A Framework for Evaluating and Improving University-Industry Collaboration

University-Industry Collaboration (UIC) has been a topic of interest for decades and has gained additional attention in recent times as the educational, research, industry, economic, and social benefits of such collaboration are increasingly recognized. While there are continuing efforts both globally and locally within Australia to encourage such collaboration, establishing successful UIC remains a challenge. The poor ranking of Australia against Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) comparators in most business-to-research collaboration indicators confirms that collaboration is an ongoing concern and that there is a lot more work to be done to improve collaborations, particularly in Australia. The research presented in this thesis addresses this problem by developing a framework for evaluation and improvement of UIC. This was achieved using a Design Science Research (DSR) approach. The proposed UIC Framework comprises a set of newly developed tools based on a literature review and initial qualitative research. These tools can be used in conjunction with the Cynefin sense-making framework to understand, evaluate and improve UIC of various types and complexity. The first tool is a UIC Systems Model, which will help users to analyse and gain a better understanding of a UIC. The second tool is a comprehensive UIC Practices Framework that can be used to improve the effectiveness of a UIC. The final tool is a UIC Maturity Model (UICMM), which can be used to assess the UIC maturity of an organisation, and guide improvements. By using this Systems Model, Practices Framework, and Maturity Model in conjunction with the Cynefin sense-making framework, stakeholders will be able to better understand their UIC activities, make improvements through informed decision-making, and evaluate the impact of such improvements. The developed UIC Framework has been evaluated using descriptive and expert evaluations. These evaluations demonstrate the utility and applicability of the framework. A strategy for continuous real-world evaluation and improvement of the framework has also been developed and documented in this thesis. This strategy is being piloted with two industry partners and will be used for future improvement of the UIC Framework

Do Non-work Practices in MNCs Operating in India Impact Organizational Commitment?

The present paper establishes the concept of Non-work Practices and explores its impact on organizational commitment. Drawing upon research conducted in four multinational corporations operating in India, the paper examines the degree to which non-work practices are accepted by Indian employees and their relationship with organizational commitment.  Concurrent mixed methodology was adopted in which both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. Template analysis was carried out to interpret employees’ feelings and experiences, and to identify the emerging trends. Factor analysis was carried out to find factors of non-work practices, and regression analysis was carried out to study relationship between organizational commitment and non-work practices. The article discusses the findings related to non-work practices: how these practices are experienced and perceived by Indian employees and what is their impact on the commitment of employees, which would in turn affect the effectiveness of the organization. It was found that since most of the non-work practices were transplanted from the parent company, they were perceived as alien (except in the Anglo-American MNC).  Host country employees showed little enthusiasm in carrying out those practices and hence these had no positive impact on their organizational commitment

IMR – 7th INDAM CONFERENCE PAPER Lokasamgraha: An indigenous construct for social entrepreneurship

ABSTRACT: This study aims to investigate the role of the indigenous construct lokasamgraha in the context of social entrepreneurship. We identified lokasamgraha through content analysis of the Bhagavad Gita, employing the methodological approaches proposed by Bhawuk (2010). Using the lens of paradox theory, we investigated commonly accepted tensions in social enterprises. We developed a framework to explain how lokasamgraha can assist social enterprises in managing tensions and achieving the triple bottom-line. Furthermore, we validated this framework by citing a lokasamgraha-based social enterprise in India. Finally, before concluding, we discussed the implications and future research directions

Lifting the constraints - Closing the skills gap with authentic student projects

Preparing Software Engineering graduates with skills to satisfy the demands of industry has always been a challenge for universities. One way to overcome this challenge is to provide students with an authentic team project experience. Authentic student projects are those that are as close as possible to real projects in terms of uncertainty, complexity and diversity. In order to achieve this, collaboration with business and other external stakeholders is essential. However, such collaboration is often hindered by constraints around team structure, team and individual student assessment, the use of specific processes and technology, providing technical and other support, and fixed project durations. In this paper, we present a simple course structure and assessment process that has allowed us to remove the majority of such constraints, while maintaining integrity around student learning and assessment. By removing these constraints, we are providing students with authentic team project experiences that prepare them well for future employment. Preliminary evaluations of our approach indicate that despite several challenges, the experience has led to high levels of satisfaction among students and our external partners including employers.This research is supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarshi

Multi-dimensional approach to bridging the gap between Software Engineering Research and Industry Practice

The success of software engineering research can be measured in terms of the industrial adoption of methods and tools developed by researchers. Current adoption rates are low [6] and this contributes to a widening gap between software engineering research and practice. This indicates that there are some factors which act as a barrier to university industry collaboration. My research aims to explore ways to bridge the gap between university and industry using a multi-dimensional approach