Around 130 delegates from the UK, Vietnam and ASEAN countries discussed innovative ways to make university / industry partnership more fruitful in creating more employable graduates and driving innovation.

The global dialogue was co-organised by the British Council, the Ministry of Education and Training and the UK Higher Education International Unit on June 16 and 17.

Case studies presented by higher education leaders highlighted the diversity of university / industry partnership models.

Professor Bui Van Ga, Vice Minister, Ministry of Education and Training said: ‘The event is one of the activities in the implementation of the Joint Statement on Higher Education Cooperation between the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam, British Council in Vietnam and the UK Higher Education International Unit signed in London in September 2015."

“With the aim of promoting cooperation between universities and industry, our forum facilitates dialogue between government organisations, universities and industry on the role, responsibility and expectations of higher education institutions in creating innovative industry solutions and an employable workforce.”

One case study in the dialogue identified seven central pillars from which the university built a local innovation eco-system. These included culture, people, government, market demand, innovations, funding and infrastructure. Uniquely, the institution (Keele University) put a special focus on knowledge-creation in partnership.

The mechanism that drove innovation within the university was also shared. It involved four sets of activities engaging both staff and students.

These were public space and people-based activities (external visits, attending conferences, curriculum development), community-based activities (public lectures, community sports, exhibitions), commercial activities (licensed research, patenting, spin-off companies), problem-solving activities (the creation of physical facilities, join publications, prototyping and testing).

In addition, amongst the university’s priorities, the most important was a single point for business to be able to access innovation support - underlining the inseparable role of innovation in any university / industry partnership.

VOV