Prof Hisham Elkadi, Dean of School of the Built Environment at the University of Salford, shared his knowledge on the Assessment of University-Industry Partnerships on 20 January 2020 at the University of Santo Tomas (UST).
Elkadi talked about innovation trends in higher education highlighting the significance of the university-industry partnership model in the 21st century, as well as the University of Salford’s engagement in Vietnam and Greater Manchester. Currently, he leads a project to devise programmes to measure maturity of government-academe-industry collaboration which, he highlighted, is a key to success.
Participants from different universities and education organisations in Metro Manila were eager to replicate Elkadi’s university-industry model as he gave insights on how to start multi-stakeholder collaboration. He conveyed perspectives on the UK and East Asia contexts, developments and status in university-industry engagement areas, as well as collaborative models and options that have the potential to support partnership development. He recommended the adaptation of the UK Knowledge Transfer Partnerships — a scheme that helps businesses in the UK to innovate by linking them with the academe — to address industry problems for a more knowledge-intensive enterprise culture.
Elkadi also shared how bringing in employers to enhance the curriculum and address graduate employability will result in effective engagement.