A Framework for Evaluating and Improving University-Industry Collaboration

Abstract

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.