1. More than social responsibility and feel-good moments
At one time, business-university partnerships typically entailed a corporate representative sitting on a university advisory board or the company simply writing a check to the higher ed institution. Such collaborations were done more to enhance the corporation’s brand or out of a sense of social responsibility, says Jason Tyszko, senior director of policy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Center for Education and Workforce.
Today, corporations want more than just a feel-good moment when they work with a university. They want a demonstrated return on investment for their outlay to the university. That means they are more engaged in the shaping of curriculum and identifying the required skills sets for a particular industry.
Having industry represented at the instructional level means the curriculum can adapt more quickly to changing marketplace needs. “So students don’t come out saying, I have a skill set that was competitive five years ago but has no place in today’s economy,” Tyszko says. “Faculty and deans need to know how to constructively engage employers to get that feedback in real time.”
2. A syndicate model
Elaine C. Rideout co-authored a recent book, InnovationU 2.0: Reinventing University Roles in a Knowledge Economy with Louis Tornatzky, which profiles 12 universities fostering innovation and economic growth in partnership with industry. She says to win grants from the National Science Foundation or federal agencies, universities are being pressed to cobble together syndicates of partners that include other universities, nonprofits and businesses.
“The funding environments have really helped force the issue,” Rideout explains. “It used to be universities would go solo applying for research funds. Then the feds started encouraging more participatory proposals.”
One of the universities featured in InnovationU 2.0, Clemson University, is a good example of ways in which a state college can meld together public and private funding to build research campuses and support other university programs.
For example, Clemson University, using a mix of state, university and private funds, built a $250 million International Center for Automotive Research in Greenville, S.C. One of the primary backers, along with other automotive-related companies, was BMW.
John Ballato, Clemson’s vice president for economic development, says, “Where we’re building a campus, investing staggering amounts of money, you can’t do that by yourself, nor can the company,” Ballato explains. “BMW has only so much resources. Clemson is a mid-sized university. So the other piece of these public-private partnerships is a governmental source.”
3. Making it meaningful
The Clemson and BMW partnership began almost two decades ago when the auto company located new operations in South Carolina. Ballato admits some stumbling at first when Clemson suggested they partner to build a wind tunnel to test cars. BMW told the university it already had a wind tunnel, and what it really needed was a specialized talent funnel — students with graduate-level training in automotive engineering with an emphasis on integrating the smart systems emerging in the industry.
Two endowed chairs, 23 doctoral degrees and 160 masters degrees later, Ballato says the lesson is that universities can’t assume it knows what a corporation wants: “You put your brain on hold and you sit down and listen. Then you have to make a decision as to whether or not it’s something you can and should do.”
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