THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
A: Tri-lateral networks and
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1. A more prominent role for the university in innovation on par with the industry and government;
2. A trilateral collaborative relationship between institutional spheres, whereby the outcome of a given policy is the product of the three institutions rather than coming from one of the institutions; and
3. An assumption of each other’s role in conjunction to fulfilling their designated roles.
Figure 3: Triple Helix Model of University–Industry–Government Relations (Etzkowitz & Leydesdorff, 2000)
Etzkowitz (2003) posits that for the purpose of stimulating a sustainable innovation, four stages are prominent in the Triple Helix of university, industry and government relations, namely:
1. Internal transformation within each of the institutional organisations;
2. Influence of one organisation upon another;
3. Hybrid organisation resulting from the trilateral networks and interactions of the three organisations; and
4. A recursive influence of Triple Helix links both on the helices from which they developed and on broader society.
The configuration of the Triple Helix of university-industry-government is such that the university is recognised as a central character in the analysis of the contributions
Key:
A: Tri-lateral
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of higher institutions in a society where knowledge is considered the panacea to
economic development (Etzkowitz & Leydesdorff, 2000). In one way or the other, most countries and regions of the world seem to mirror the Triple Helix III structure. The reason is to realise an innovative environment consisting of university spin-off firms, tri-lateral initiatives for knowledge-based economic development, strategic alliances among firms and other players, government laboratories, and research collaborations.
Rather than controlling what happens in this configuration whether directly or indirectly, the government encourages innovative environment by making available facilities that stimulate innovation (ibid).
2.1.4 Triple Helix III and its applicability to this study
The Triple Helix III (TH III) model of university, industry and government relations is considered the most suitable for this study; the reason is because the framework
comprises the three institutions which the study foregrounds namely, academia, industry and government. The principal focus of the TH III model is an enhanced role for the university in a knowledge-based society in relation with the industry and government.
At this stage the study will be considering an academic institution at a lower level than the university – the Technical College. In other words, the issue of R&D will not be part of the study which is at the heart of the THM, but may consider other areas of
collaboration. More so, the model will be used to x-ray the type of collaboration that exists between Technical Colleges, industries and government in preparing employable Technical College Students.
Considering the extent of technological revolutions and the demand for skilled workforce all over the world, the need for a collective collaboration among academia, industry and government should be strengthened. According to Lee (2014), one of the major reasons why the European Union reorganised their higher education sector was to stimulate and improve cooperation between higher education and industry. This was done to produce a more skilled and knowledgeable workforce.
There is need to focus on the cooperation between academia, industry and government in terms of human capital development, impact and outcome, and the role of academia in bringing about the desired change in the society (Lee, 2014).
In the past, the principal focus of academia-industry relations has been on research related projects without any direct impact on teaching and learning, for instance the
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invitation of an industrial collaborator to a university to deliver lecture, or host field trips, among others (Healy, Perkmann, Goddard, & Kempton, 2014).
Conversely, Healy et al. (2014), argued that growing industries and universities have seen the need to equip the next generation with the skills needed to meet the challenges of global technological change in other to close the gap of skills mismatch and global competition. They further stressed that apart from research related projects, the other areas in which universities/academia can share corporate responsibilities include:
1. Designing, development and delivery of the curriculum: industry and university coming together to deliberate, design and work out the modalities of a given program based on the areas of interest of both parties;
2. Bespoke course development: designing the school program to meet the prospective need of the employer;
3. Exchange and mobility programmes: encourage the movement of university staff and students between the school or university environment and industry;
4. Continuing education and lifelong learning: in keeping with the dynamics of labour market skills demand and response to technological changes, employers and employees devise means of being current with global trends. This can be achieved through continuing education and lifelong learning which tends to focus on vocational or professional training; and
5. Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial education: training or providing students with business experience through placement in small medium enterprises,
abilities that will guarantee them self-dependence, grants in addition to monetary assistance, professional industry advice, among other things.
Healy et al. (2014) further add that there are three major participants in academia- industry relations namely, university, student and industry; others may include
university and industry staff, and organisations that may support and stimulate such collaborations through the provision of funding and facilities as needed.
However, the main aim of academia-industry collaboration for these three key participants, according to Healy et al., (2014) revolves around common purposes. For students it is their prospective welfare and employability; for university and academic staff it is to increase students‟ likelihood for prospective employment, raising the university profile, up skilling of staff, among others; for industry it is directed towards
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securing a more appropriately qualified supply of labour, either by way of technical knowledge or by the development of „softer‟ skills, and to gain access to potential employees, among others. In this study, we shall be looking at the role of these three stakeholders, academia, industry and government in preparing qualified and employable graduates from Technical College.
The Triple Helix III model employed for this study offers a better approach to understand the type of relationship that exists between academia, industry and government. For the purpose of this study, the THM of University-Industry-
Government will be represented as follows: the university will be replaced by Technical College, industry by employer, while the government remains what it is. This will therefore be interpreted as Technical College-Employer-Government relations. The focus of the study is to understand if an interface exists between skills acquired by Technical College graduates and the skills required by employers with respect to their employability. Data collected from the three key participants namely, Technical College staff and graduates, and employers as highlighted above will be analysed to understand the type of collaboration that exists among them.
2.2 CONCLUSION
This chapter offered an insight to the theoretical framework underpinning of this study – the Triple Helix axis of university-industry-government relations. This framework contends that innovation in a knowledge-based society can only be achieved when the university is ascribed a prominent role in relation with industry and government.
Discussed in this chapter was an overview of the historical antecedents that preceded Triple Helix III model. Firstly the Triple Helix III was traced to its first emergence as the Etatistic model otherwise known as Triple Helix I where academia and industry operates under the state. Secondly, too much control of the state over academia and industry led to the emergence of the Laissez-faire model which was introduced to curtail the control the state had over academia and industry. Also discussed in this chapter is the applicability of the Triple Helix III framework to this research study.
The next chapter presents a review of related literature on debates and issues raised by scholars on graduates‟ employability locally and internationally.
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