Aled Williams

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Introduction

• Aled Williams
• Centre for Education in the Built Environment
• Nick Nunnington
• Sheffield Hallam University
• Mel Lees
• University of Salford

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• Industry-University Engagement
• At least 3 different viewpoints recognised
• Academic education providers
• Industry professional practitioners
• Academic education providers and Industry

Conversations within these groups and between
them.
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Partnerships with Employers In a conversation
neither side loses and both are changed, because
they know what reality looks like from different
perspectives. That is not to say that either
gives up its previous convictions
Sachs, J. (2003) The Dignity of Difference How
to avoid the clash of civilisations. Continuum,
London. p83.
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Aim

• ACBEE aims to encourage industry, higher
  education institutions (HEIs) and professional
  bodies to work together to improve dialogue and
  provide more relevant training and education.

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Achieved by

• Promoting successful case studies that
  demonstrate engagement between industry and HEIs,
  aligning to key industry themes1.
• Developing methods of measuring the success of
  these
• Encouraging the development of courses that
  demonstrate improved industry performance
• 1 Over 50 case studies are now complete and
  available on-line at www.acbee.org

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• CASE STUDIES www.acbee.org
• To seek out, evaluate, and identify Case
  Studies of Excellence that demonstrate good
  dialogue and real improvement and promote these
  verified case studies through industry and
  education networks
• Context of engagement
• Individual Modules, Whole Courses, CPD
• Undergraduate, Postgraduate, Corporate

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Building Bridges! Its what we do
GoalAligning education and training with the
needs of industry and society

Enhancing the Student Learning Experience
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Student orientation, teaching method level of
engagement (J. Biggs, 1999)
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A measured approach!
ACBEE (Accelerating Change in Built Environment
Education)
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The Framework
High
Grade 5 Strategic Alliance
Grade 4 Partnership
Grade 3 Formal Engagement
Alignment to strategy
Grade 2 Ad hoc Engagement
Grade 1 Awareness
Low
Measurement
High
Low
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The Framework

• Grade 1 - Awareness Activity is concerned with
  providing information (push / pull) with no
  agreement and no form of evaluation beyond the
  recording of the activity taking place.
• Grade 2 - Ad-hoc Engagement will focus on a
  specific operational need. There may be an
  informal agreement and any evaluation would also
  be informal.
• Grade 3 - Formal Engagement is driven by
  operational requirements and explicit objectives
  are agreed and set down in a formal agreement.
  There will be an explicit evaluation process.
• Grade 4 - Partnership is driven by business
  needs. Shared objectives are agreed and set down
  in a partnership agreement. There will be a
  formal evaluation procedure detailing how, when
  and by whom the evaluation will be conducted.
• Grade 5 - Strategic Alliance is driven by
  business strategy and is designed to satisfy the
  specific strategic business needs of the
  partners. The strategic objectives will be agreed
  and set down in an over-arching alliance
  agreement (memorandum of understanding). There
  will be a clear and documented measurement
  process that includes targets, success criteria,
  measurement, feedback and forward planning.

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Framework - Scorecard
The European Challenge
The European Challenge is a highly collaborative
international project anchored on a contemporary
and strategic real estate problem relocation of
a 350 person financial services organisation to a
new Headquarters building in Europe.
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5
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The European Challenge

• What is it ?
• What attracted Industry engagement ?
• The journey to Grade 5
• Outcomes and Positive Benefits
• There is no Free Lunch expectations of
  industry.

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What is the European Challenge ? A brief
overview
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What attracted IndustryEngagement?

• Contemporary/ growth area subject focus.
• Development of Employability Skills especially
  consultancy skills.
• Opportunity for graduate selection especially
  in Europe
• Opportunity for research and consulting outputs.

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The journey to Grade 5

• Year 1 ad-hoc sponsorship by firms e.g. CBRE
  in The Netherlands / Colliers in Poland.
• Year 2 Formal Engagement King Sturge
  supporting and attending using the presentations
  as an opportunity to select staff
• Year 4 - ? Strategic Alliance

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Outcomes and Positive Benefits

• Learning Enhancement
• A Students View
• Research and Consulting
• Recruitment
• Building better understanding between
  stakeholders

Final Report
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There is no Free Lunch

• The new strategic alliance brings benefits
• of sustainability and partnership.
• BUT
• coupled with demands . . .

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Evaluating the Framework

• Consultation
• Broad support for the principles
• Helpful in indicating how to improve
• Issues raised
• What about quality?
• Is there evidence that better engagement leads to
  improved performance?
• Can incentives be developed for engagement?

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PURPOSE OF ENGAGEMENT
ACBEE - KPIs

• Improving image and recruitment
• Qualifying the workforce
• Graduates
• The existing workforce
• (The future workforce)
• Improving business performance
• (these relate directly to the 3 major challenges
  identified in ConstructionSkills 5 year business
  plan)

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ACBEE - KPIs
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Recruitment
Table 2 Performance targets for Industry /
Practice Recruitment
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Recruitment
Table 3 Performance targets for University
Recruitment
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ACBEE New Case Studies

• Grade 4
• BSc Construction Engineering Management
  (Loughborough University/15 large construction
  organisations)
• BSc Honours Construction Management (University
  of Salford/12 large construction organisations)
• Construction Cost Management - (The University of
  Reading / Gardiner Theobald / Davis Langdon /
  EC Harris Partners / RICS)
• The HNC in Contracting Management (The
  Electrical Contractors Association (ECA)
  various FE partners)
• MSc in the Environmental Design of Buildings
  (Atkins/The British University in Dubai)
• MSc Interdisciplinary Management of Projects
  (IDMP) (The Bartlett, Faculty of the Built
  Environment and Industrial Consortium)

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ACBEE New Case Studies

• Grade 5
• 'APEX' Reflective Practice for Housing
  Practitioners (UCE Birmingham/Chartered Institute
  of Housing)
• Constructionarium - (Imperial College
  London/Expedition-Engineering/John Doyle
  Construction Ltd.)
• Engineering Doctorate Programme (EngD)
  (Loughborough University / Industrial Consortia /
  EPSRC Centre for Innovative and Collaborative
  Engineering)
• Foundation Degree in Building Services
  Engineering (Northumbria University/NG Bailey)
• The Educational Supply Chain - Building Awareness
  (Costain Ltd)
• The European Challenge (THE HANZEHOGESCHOOL,
  Groningen, The Netherlands, Partnership with 8
  European Real Estate Schools)
• The Styles Wood Academy (Manchester Business
  School/Styles Wood)

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Next Steps

• ACBEE now in phase 4 main objectives
• Test the Key Performance Indicators
• Evaluate the performance of
• 5 partnerships (grade 4)
• 5 strategic alliances (grade 5)
• Look at representation issues
• Promote activity

An opportunity
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SOLUTIONS

• Get the parties to talk to each other
• Make language common
• Use institutions as brokers
• Make it relevant
• Make it measurable