When businesses assist universities with course content, it is undeniably beneficial for the students. It aids them to gain greater insight into the up-to-date requirements of business and the real-life experience of the industry. The businesses also benefit from this partnership, gaining more than simply the satisfaction of helping to train the next generation of experts.
Graduates have the skills they need
The more skills that a graduate lacks when they start work in the industry, the more a company will have to invest in further training. By partnering with universities, they can make sure the course covers the skills and knowledge new workers require, making the graduates high-caliber employees, ready to start work.
All industries benefit from having a workforce ready-trained in the skills they need. In the automotive industry, Generals Motors have partnered with Kettering University on their online Master of Science in Lean Manufacturing. The course ensures students have the lean manufacturing skills that are so vital for today’s automotive industry, as well as an array of other manufacturing systems engineering skills that will allow them to take their career to new heights.
Good PR
A university course is more impressive if it can boast a partnership with a leading company in the industry. In addition, when students graduate, they will be more likely to impress future employers if they have gained from this industry-based input. But this partnership is also good PR for the business as it demonstrates its commitment to training the next cohort of their industry. It will appear more attractive to investors and customers alike and will also gain an advantage in attracting the highest achieving graduates to work for them rather than one of their competitors.
Encourage relevant research
Universities are hotbeds of new developments and ideas that can help companies grow their business. Close association with a university can allow a company to learn of new developments and discoveries as they happen. They can also give a business influence in the direction a university’s research takes. Companies can even fund or part-fund Ph.D. or post-doctoral research at their partner-university into new technologies and other areas of interest to them.
Access to facilities
As well as a wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm, universities often have cutting-edge facilities in terms of laboratories and technology. Partnering with a university can give a company access to this to aid their own research and development. The help universities can give to research and development projects is likely to far outstrip anything the companies can produce on their own, while the university benefits from the sharing of knowledge and the insights into where business is headed.
Long-term bonds
In the past, there has often been a gulf between the ‘real’ work of businesses and the ‘academic’ life of universities. Forging partnerships helps bridge the gaps, bringing each a greater understanding of how the other works. These long-term associations can help build trust, allowing problems such as disputes over patents and non-disclosure agreements to be more easily surmounted.
When businesses help universities create course content, they are forming a partnership of the most genuine kind when students, universities and businesses all reap the rewards.
