Identification of Educational Models That Encourage Business Participation in Higher Education Institutions

Angela Medina, Jesus C. Hernández, Emilio Muñoz-Cerón and Catalina Rus-Casas
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Angela Medina: Department of Electrical Engineering, The Jaén School of Engineering, University of Jaén, 23071 Jaen, Spain
Jesus C. Hernández: Department of Electrical Engineering, The Jaén School of Engineering, University of Jaén, 23071 Jaen, Spain
Emilio Muñoz-Cerón: Department of Graphic Engineering, Design and Projects, The Jaén School of Engineering, University of Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain
Catalina Rus-Casas: Department of Electronic Engineering and Automation, The Jaén School of Engineering, University of Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 20, 1-23

Abstract: In a scenario in which the labour market is increasingly competitive and there is a need to provide students with practical training, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) must promote the labour integration of students, by building their competences and shaping their skills in accordance with the strategic plans of companies. In the past, cooperation between companies and universities was based on informal agreements. Nowadays, companies are actively involved in the development of educational models. This is not only part of their corporate social responsibility, but also represents a business opportunity. In this context, the research performed to identify collaboration models between companies and HEIs that simplify the integration of training processes in companies is scarce. Therefore, the aim of this research is to identify existing joint educational models between companies and HEIs and to propose a methodology that allows them to select the models most in line with their business. The methodology applies a multi-criteria selection procedure and, in a simple way, enables the businesses to identify how to increase their involvement. Model identification is based on a proposal of common features that uses indicators for involvement quantification. This study selected ten HEI-company cooperation models and subsequently applied the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method to analyse the level of involvement that these models require of companies. Five models of different involvement levels were selected and detailed by their features.

Keywords: higher education institution; engineering studies; university-industry collaboration; applied educational models; companies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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