Abstract:
The authors analyze the recent undertaking in El Salvador to establish an innovative model of industry–higher education clusters that would facilitate collaboration between academia and the private sector – sectors that traditionally had not worked together because of historical distrust – to develop the skilled workforce needed for the country’s future economic growth. Under the USAID Higher Education for Economic Growth project implemented by RTI International, clusters were put forth as the platform for building sustainable partnerships between industry and higher education – facilitating dialogue, stepping into each other’s world and collaboration on curriculum planning, student internships and applied research. The clusters have pushed Salvadoran universities to become more agile organizations, able to pivot to meet industry skills demands, and industries to recognize universities’ contributions to the creation of value for increased productivity. The El Salvador case is a collaborative multi-stakeholder model to meet workplace requirements for high-growth industries in low- to middle-income economies.
Description:
Around the world, higher education is challenged to not just produce more graduates, but to ensure graduates are relevant to the needs of the private sector, particularly in STEM fields. How do universities determine the changes needed to close the skills gap? Why don't industries see the contributions that universities make to their value chain? Together, my colleagues and I discovered that dialog and opportunities to step into each other's world are necessary to bring academia and industry together to collaborate. The innovative model of bringing universities and industries together in clusters provided the platform for this dialog to occur, not only between industry and higher education sectors, but within them as well.
