In an era of rapid growth and development, collaborative innovation is seen as a key to keeping up with the changing times. A piece in the Stanford Social Innovation Review mentioned the advantages of forming strategic partnerships between relatively young companies and established ones.
Collaborative innovation through strategic partnerships between companies or institutions with different levels of experiences can lead to valuable insights and diverse solutions.
Pros of higher education institution partnership
Through higher education partnerships, educational institutions can:
- Boost enrollment numbers and augment income.
- Develop niche areas of expertise or add diversity to courses.
- Create a lean process for student transfers and subject credits between institutions.
- Learn from best business practices with each other.
Ernst and Young’s education arm EY Parthenon released a report titled “Strength in Numbers” that showed how educational institutions in America succeeded in higher education partnership. The report identifies two main factors for pursuing a collaborative partnership between educational institutions:
- Opportunity – to develop a niche or lateral growth through interdisciplinary disciplines or to further an institution’s growth platform.
- Examples for opportunity development would be:
- When a small school with a niche offering partners with an established school with the same program
- When multiple schools with different programs collaborate to promote an interdisciplinary approach to their brand of education through STEAM or Science, Technology, Arts, and Mathematics
- When an established school likes to enhance its network by partnering with smaller schools.
- Examples for opportunity development would be:
- Survival – to financially support the institution, be competitive, and be not left behind by similar institutions.
- When a small private school needs to scale up operations, to earn more and expand its network and positioning.
- When an established school needs to improve operational efficiency and ensure steady or predictable enrollment from smaller partner schools.
- When a public school diversifies budget sources in anticipation or to cope with budget cuts.
Motivations for partnerships between higher education institutions
The two main factors for pursuing an educational partnerships, opportunity and survival can be further explored through seven themes (Eddy, 2010, #):
- Educational reform – partnerships between higher education institutions will lead to curriculum and process changes that will be beneficial to both students and staff.
- Economic development – an increase in enrollment in a school campus can revitalize the income of the school and neighboring businesses.
- Dual enrollment or student transfer – Strategic alliances formed between higher education institutions can optimize credit transfers and procedures for cross-enrollments. The ease in transition between 2 educational institutions can lead to student retention.
- Student learning – educational institutions with a particular niche can create a network that will further the reach of their specialized education (example, a flight attendant training school partners with a tourism and hospitality college), furthermore, interdisciplinary education between different disciplines will encourage lateral thinking (STEAM).
- Resource savings – public higher educational institutions that suffer from budget cuts can augment funds through partnerships. Smaller private schools can also benefit from partnering with established but underfunded public schools by tapping to their student network.
- Shared goals and visions – higher educational institutions that share the same ideals band together to form a network or consortium of schools and collectively achieve their goals.
- International joint ventures – Articulation agreements for transnational education lets a receiving country tap the educational market in a sending country.
A win-win for both higher education institutions and students
Partnerships between higher education institutions should improve their existing processes and not complicate it.
Good college management can help higher education institutions with this change. If two or more schools would like to collaborate, it must be clear to all parties what the result should be.
Is it just economic gain or higher student enrollment or learning best practices and sharing experiences? An agreed-upon objective can be defined through articulation agreements and will help steer the actions of all parties involved.
Higher education partnerships are advantageous on different levels. At a school administration level, it can optimize processes with regard to student transfers. It can also improve their existing curriculum and further enhance their brand of education.
Furthermore, creating pathways by offering students a chance at transnational education is a great help to enhance student’s global education and competitiveness. Encouraging transnational education is an innovative way to increase diversity and cultural exchange for students and even staff.
On an economic level, an increase in the student population in a certain area will also generate income in surrounding businesses. A thriving student population can boost demand for entertainment, leisure activities, and hospitality services in a city or province. Furthermore, students will increase the competitive workforce supply in or outside a certain locality or even country upon their graduation.
Building or joining a higher education consortium will benefit both schools and students in terms of improved program curricula and pathway options available.
In a highly globalized world where information exchange and collaboration are critical for innovation and solutions creation, partnership agreements are valuable to both higher education institutions and students alike.
Read more:
Bibliography
Eddy, P. L. (2010). Partnerships and collaborations in higher education. School of Education Book Chapters. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/educationbookchapters/38?utm_source=scholarworks.wm.edu%2Feducationbookchapters%2F38&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages
Esposito, M., & Tse, T. (2015, June 26). New Business Growth in the Era of Collaboration. Stanford Social Innovation Review. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/new_business_growth_in_the_era_of_collaboration
A Few Lessons About Public-Private Partnerships. (2019, January 28). Insidehighered. https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2019/01/28/advice-institutions-embarking-public-private-partnerships-opinion
Lundy, K., & Ladd, H. (2020, December 18). Why collaboration is key to the future of higher education. EY (Ernst and Young). https://www.ey.com/en_ph/strategy/strategies-for-collaborating-in-a-new-era-for-higher-education