Title: Regional Collaboration between Companies and the University
1Regional Collaboration between Companies and
the University
- Catania 20 April 2007
- Toril Eikaas Eide, Centre for Continuing
Education (SEVU)
2- Experience from Norwegian pilot projects aiming
at - mutual development, - - quality enhancement, and
- - innovation
-
- through integration of research and
- professional development / continuing education
3- Co-operated by two Norwegian universities
- The Norwegian University for Life Sciences
(UMB) - The University of Bergen (UiB)
- Managed by our centres for continuing
education,(SEVU)
4The city of Bergen
- gateway to the fjords
- Norways continental city
- 250 000
5The city of Bergen brief history
- Founded in 1070
- Norways capital until 1299
- thriving international port
- research traditions
- Bergen International Festival
- 2000 European City of Culture
6The city of Bergen historical figures
- Ibsen
- Grieg
- Bull
- Nansen
- Bjerknes
- Rokkan
7The city of Bergen culture and commerce
- the sea
- international
- education
- infrastructure
8The city of Bergen education and research
- 3 university level institutions
- 20 research centres
- 25 000 students
- 5 000 employees
9The University of Bergen
- Young university (1946)
- In the city of Bergen.
- 16.000 students
- 3.000 faculty and staff
- Faculties
- Variety and breadth.
- Seven faculties
- 90 different specialised departments, centres and
institutes - Centres Increasing number of multi-disciplinary
research centres, projects and units
10Centre for Continuing Education (SEVU)
- Since 1990 UiBs
- main operating unit in the field of continuing
education (CE) - responsible unit as to building up and
systemizing - the UiB CE/LLL activity
- in principle Channel in Channel out
- with regard to external actors / target groups
- Still much direct contact between external actors
and internal contents deliverers.
11Centre for Continuing Education
- SEVU shall
- take initiatives
- be active in developing new courses based on
recent developments in ICT - focus on other target groups than ordinary
students, - in particular prioritize courses relevant to the
work place. - Relevant to all courses with a student fee /
- not free of charge.
12Project background, motivation challenges
- Limited scale of LLL and University Continuing
Education (UCE) activity in companies - Limited knowledge in university about real life
and important challenges in companies - . and about their need for competence
development - Little direct feedback from companies about their
problems and demands for knowledge
13Background, motivation challenges (cont.)
- Little experience in company and university
from applying recent research
results
directly/quickly in professional
development in companies - And/or
- University not sufficiently following up /
implementing results of research when
collaborating with companies (criticism in
customers survey) - Collaboration fragmented between university and
companies not integrated or functioning as a
whole
14How have you tried to meet such challenges?
- Approaches?
- Models?
- Projects?
- Networks?
- Partners?
- Collaboration?
- Marketing?
- Communication?
15Overall project quality aim
- To stimulate increased innovation
- through a more wholistic and long-term
collaboration in research and professional
development -
- between university and companies
-
16Project aim (cont.)
- Stimulate learning and competence development
- through
- collaboration
- exchange of experience
- mutual knowledge construction
-
- innovation quality improvement
in - Company
- Network of companies,
- University,
- Region
17Innovation / quality enhancement seen as
- New products
- New / changed processes, working methods
- Models/methods of organising work and working
place in company / university - Pedagogical development
18Core project feature / model
- Running continuing education activities /
professional development - in networks of regional companies
- combined with and/or integrated in research or
RD projects - Supported by The Research Council of Norway
-
19Four pilot projects two each
- Roses and cucumber (UMB)
- Cod health in fry and brood fish production (UiB)
- Operational meteorology (UiB)
- wawe theory and wave forecasting
- extreme events (forecasting of wind/precipitation)
- Competence development in social and cultural
entrepreneurship in Aurland (UMB)
20Practical approach Integrating professional
development activity in RD collaboration
- At the beginning of the project
- strengthen the users competence basis to
participate actively in the project - In the course of the project
- establish meeting places for systematic and
mutual learning and exchange of experience - Towards the end of the project
- tailor learning activities for groups of
employees to support practical implementation of
new knowledge
21SEVUs role
- Project leader
- Process leader and facilitator
- Pedagogical coach and adviser
- Evaluator
22Our model for mutual and double loop learning
Theory new research problems
COMMON LEARNING PLACE
Research results
Theory-based
Research institute
Company
Increased competence
Increased competence
KNOWLEDGE
Experience-based
innovation
Practice new problems
23Four pilot projects - two each
- Roses and Cucumber
- Cod health in production of
- Extreme weather (Oceanography
24-
- What did we do and how?
- Our model for our practical approach
25Pilot project aims
- Establish arenas for wholistic and long-range RD
collaboration between companies and university - Mutual competence development between companies
and university through - Dialogue
- Mutual exchange of practical and theoretical
knowledge and experience - Joint planning, development, running and
evaluation of - Concrete learning activities/courses
- Research projects
26Pedagogical approach
- Learner based
- Problem based work place / company
- Experience based
- Theory based
27Results and outcome - quality enhancement
- More traditional outcome
- Courses
- Learning materials
- Meetings
- Company representatives report
- Increased knowledge
- More focus on and real change of working
practices - Improved and more frequent contact and dialogue
with university - Easier to contact university
- Increased interest in research initiatives and
results
28Results and outcome - quality enhancement (cont.)
- University representatives / faculty report
(cont.) - Easier to contact companies
- Increased knowledge about working practices and
challenges in companies - Improved and more frequent contact and dialogue
with companies - New experience with applying problem based
learning (PBL) in work place / companies - Feasible with immediate integration of research
results - in courses
- - and also quickly let practical experience in
companies influence research
29Results and outcome - quality enhancement (cont.)
- University representatives / faculty report
(cont.) - Permanent areas for dialogue with companies
- Better access to more and interesting research
materials - Input from companies about possible / necessary
research fields - Establishing (and funding) more research projects
30Results and outcome - quality enhancement (cont.)
- Centre for continuing education (SEVU)
- Improved and more frequent contact between SEVU
and research groups - - which has stimulated and facilitated more
courses and professional development initiatives
- New experience with applying problem based
learning (PBL) in work place / companies - Experience with and learning from trying out
- new roles and tasks
31Results and outcome - quality enhancement (cont.)
- Centre for continuing education (SEVU)
- Improved competency in managing and facilitating
learning processes - and coaching faculty - Promotion of SEVUs competency, functions and
tasks to new users - Companies (external)
- Faculty and departments at the university
(internal) - Particularly positive feedback about the
usefulness - of our function/role as process leaders!
32(No Transcript)
33- Thank you
- for your attention!
- ?
34Questions?Comments?Other input?Similar
projects?Your experience?
35MODEL FOR COLLABORATIVE CONSTRUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE
IN RD PROJECTS
- EXPERIMENTS
- In production halls
- In laboratories
Dialogue between researchers and collaborators
(ie company managers and supervisors)
representing Theory-based and Experience-based
knowledge
PLANNING New experiments? New research
problems? New action in the company?
PRELIMINARY RESULTS
INTERPRETATION ANALYSIS
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS