Carol B. Aslanian

Higher Education in Partnership with Industry Carol B. Aslanian

In 1988 when Higher Education in Partnership with Industry was published by Jossey-Bass (now part of Wiley), university-business partnerships were moving well beyond land grant campuses to varied college and university settings. This was among the first book-length works on the subject. Currently, academe is being redefined against its will by world-wide recession and efforts in the political sphere to balance budgets rather than invest in education and research. Disruptive technologies and a shift to an information management-based economy have emerged at a time of deep cuts in state funding of higher education and reduced federal investment in university-based research. As a result, ever-closer ties with business and industry may be needed for some institutions to thrive. Balancing needs for institutional support, research funding, and curricula that prepare students to be employed in a tough economy with the traditional goals and values of academe is no easy task. With government, business and industry, and students demanding that curricula focus on the so-called STEM subjects?science, technology, engineering, and math--academe is under enormous pressure to soften its core commitment to general education and the liberal arts. In the book, Powers and Powers address the benefits of cooperation between higher education and industry; cooperative approaches to education and research; examples of innovative alliances; creation of successful partnerships; reconciliation of differing needs of academe and industry; establishment of sound contracts and oversight procedures; and future challenges for educational alliances. The book also includes valuable chapters on Partnerships for Training by Carol B. Aslanian, then of the College Board, and Organizing and Operating a Cooperative Research Center by Frederick Betz, then of the National Science Foundation.