Industry-Based learning as a strategy for sustainability: emerging models of University-Company cooperation

Abstract

It is necessary to enhance innovation and technological development in higher education, strengthening the need for interaction between universities and companies. This interaction is well developed in several countries but has administrative barriers in Brazil, such as private money input by public universities. Thus, the opportunity to foster scholarships and project aids is lost, as well as the lack of innovation and entrepreneurship skills in students who fail opportunities to practice what they learn in companies. Search emerging forms and cooperation and to develop a model that allows the transfer of public or private companies resources in Brazil for universities, particularly public, based on international models capture, can be an excellent alternative to improve the quality of education in the country. This model can support the project and improve the structure of universities, which have the financial year deficits and operational difficulties due to lack of resources. This work has as main objective to propose practices for the development and operationalization of the principles of university and company interaction, to make them more efficient. It is intended to create a manual with models of collaboration between universities and companies, to enhance the creativity of people involved in the university, as teams of students and researchers of various engineering. This manual can allow the development of technological innovation proposals for companies, more aligned with the professional needs of both parties. From emerging models that will be studied, actions and tools will be proposed management of identification, analysis, and proposition of solutions for university and enterprise interaction. As a research method, we chose a methodology of a research study of multiple cases that promote interaction between these agents, to find models that fit together and complement each other. Based on the scientific literature, refined from emerging practices, least ten models of cooperation of the University of Twente will be studied by analyzing the cooperation between universities and companies, to identify the critical success factors to: models used for university-company interaction; evaluation methods of this interaction and technological innovation obtained for companies; methods of evaluating the skills development of students; factors that motivate to develop these agreements; forms of funding and technology transfer, identifying the criteria used by companies for project selection; presentation of the mutual benefits derived from the interactions, such as cost-benefit analysis and learning before and after these cooperation agreements. It is intended to obtain actions and university interaction practices and the differentiated company that goes beyond the usual university knowledge transfer to the company, but which to establish forms of effective and lasting cooperation. These actions should be based on global processes and assessment tools of interaction, skills development of students and sustainability of universities. Expected to: the proposition practices for the development and operation of the university interaction and company; scientific publications in journals and conferences; event achievement for the scientific and professional community about the results of research; providing instructional material about the practices to contribute to the development of universities and business relations (manual interaction and survival of cooperation); guiding sustainability actions, and to increase research funding, infrastructure, and education in Brazil. (AU)