This case study examines a sustained, client-funded partnership between Albion College’s Albion College Community Collaborative (AC3) and Black & Rossi LLC in the development of the Commercial Resource Optimization System (CROS), a web-based logistics tool designed for use in disrupted or high-risk environments. The case study explores how a liberal arts institution engaged interdisciplinary student teams in the iterative design, development, and testing of a deployable system aligned with real operational needs. Over a five-year period, students worked within a consulting-style framework characterized by continuous client feedback, defined deliverables, and year-round engagement. Findings highlight how long-duration collaboration enables deeper experiential learning, leadership development, and cumulative innovation. Students contributed to a functional tool now slated for field evaluation, while industry benefited from reduced research and development risk and access to emerging talent. The partnership also enhanced institutional credibility and supported scalable experiential learning. The case demonstrates that effective academia–industry cooperation depends on structure, continuity, and shared accountability, offering a replicable model for aligning experiential learning, workforce preparation, and applied innovation.
International mobility (IM) of university students is increasing. However, scholars have yet to pay much attention to studying the career outcomes associated with participation in IM programs and the mechanisms underlying this relationship. This study examines the association between international mobility participation and early self-employment among university graduates, testing the mediating role of entrepreneurial skills and the moderating role of gender. The study sample consisted of 149 recent university graduates. The results showed that participation in IM programs was positively related to self-employment and skills for entrepreneurship. However, contrary to our hypothesis, the latter variable did not mediate the relationship between involvement in IM programs and self-employment. Moreover, gender did not play a moderator role, so the examined relationship did not differ between women and men. We discussed the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.
This study examined how Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) content in supply chain courses related to two student outcomes: Sustainable Development Knowledge (SDK) and Sustainable Development Proactivity (SDP). Survey data were collected from 264 third- and fourth-year undergraduate students at an international university in Vietnam and were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling, followed by a multiple group analysis comparing students who completed a GSCM session with students in traditional supply chain courses. The results were selective rather than uniform. Green procurement was positively associated with SDK, whereas green manufacturing and environmental performance were positively associated with SDP. Green distribution showed a negative and marginally significant association with SDK. The multiple group analysis indicated that the paths from environmental performance to SDK and SDP, from green manufacturing to SDP, and from green procurement to SDP differed significantly between the two groups. These findings suggest that GSCM education operated unevenly across knowledge-related and action-oriented outcomes. The study offers a framework for embedding GSCM into curricula and identifies the content domains that required stronger pedagogical support.
Given the rapidly changing business, industry, technology, and higher education environments, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the organizational structures of higher education institutions in the context of standards for learner success and an employer-educational skills perception gap that needs to be remedied. While prior work has focused on aligning curricula with employer skills, an overlooked area is aligning higher education organizational structures with industry structures and developing the required employer skill sets to support career readiness and learner success. An enhanced organizational framework is developed to improve integrative learning, enhance the adaptability of institutions and graduates, and close the skills gap. As emerging technologies and operating environments progress, such as through advancements brought by AI, a review of the structure, processes, and policies is required for continued industry and higher education success. This paper presents a learner success-based operating model and offers a discussion opportunity for higher education learning leadership to enhance industry alignment, accompanied by additional contributions that provide philosophical, social, and practical perspectives on higher education innovation and change.
Green entrepreneurship is widely acknowledged as a proactive approach to advancing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Grounded in Social Cognitive Theory, this study investigates the role of green education, green entrepreneurial alertness, green entrepreneurial motivation, and green entrepreneurial intentions among undergraduate students in Malaysian universities. A cross-sectional survey (n = 331) was conducted using stratified and simple random sampling across ten Malaysian public and private universities through self-administered questionnaires. Hypotheses were analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The results reveal that green education and green entrepreneurial alertness have significant positive effects on green entrepreneurial motivation. Furthermore, green entrepreneurial motivation positively influences green entrepreneurial intentions. This study also confirmed the mediating role of green entrepreneurial motivation in the relationship between green education, green entrepreneurial alertness, and green entrepreneurial intentions. This study enriches the sustainable entrepreneurship literature by shedding light on the antecedents of green entrepreneurship intentions among university students, particularly in a developing country such as Malaysia. By addressing the critical gap in understanding these factors, this study offers practical implications for policymakers and higher-education institutions in fostering sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems, thereby contributing to the broader discourse on sustainability and innovation in the region.
This paper examines teaching-oriented university–industry collaboration (UIC) in Bangladeshi media studies and its implications for graduate employability. While UIC research has focused mainly on science, technology and research commercialisation, curriculum-level collaboration in creative disciplines and developing-country contexts remains underexamined. Drawing on 17 interviews with senior university and media-sector participants, the study shows that media studies offer a promising context for teaching-focused UIC. Internships, co-productions and industry-led initiatives can improve employability and align curricula with market needs. Although industry co-delivery beyond formal curricula remains nascent in Bangladesh, it has considerable potential. By conceptualising media education as a site of co-production, this research reframes UIC not merely as a conduit for knowledge transfer, but as a dynamic process of mutual knowledge creation. The study advances UIC literature in the Global South and calls for targeted policy to institutionalise collaboration, aligning higher education with national development and labour market needs.
Higher education institutions are increasingly judged by their ability to translate research into societal and economic value, and university spin-offs represent a high-visibility route for university-industry knowledge transfer and commercialisation. This systematic review synthesises 34 peer-reviewed studies (2020-2025) on academic entrepreneurship at the interface of spin-offs and formal commercialisation. Across the evidence, early commercialisation depends less on single best practices than on alignment across levels. Individual conditions translate into disclosure, opportunity evaluation, and partnering more reliably when Technology Transfer Office (TTO) brokerage is discipline-sensitive, timely, and networked to investors and industry, and when ownership and revenue-sharing rules and policy portfolios are transparent and stable. Heterogeneous outcomes and units of analysis, however, limit aggregation and causal inference. We propose a multi-level framework of conditional complementarities and derive implications for designing effective university–industry cooperation and for future stage-spanning, multi-level research.
This study examines how applied education institutions operate as innovation intermediaries within coordinated national systems, extending intermediation theory beyond its university-centric foundations. Drawing on documentary evidence, ten semi-structured interviews, and archival data across Singapore’s six TVET institutions, the paper identifies four reinforcing mechanisms—dual-anchor orchestration, boundary-spanning knowledge flows, education-embedded R&D, and mission-oriented governance—that accelerate technology translation and strengthen SME absorptive capacity. We conceptualize these mechanisms as a Translational Education Ecosystem (TEE), a meso-level architecture bridging mid-TRL development with workforce and organisational readiness. The TEE model advances innovation-systems scholarship by specifying, at the mechanism level, how applied R&D, capability formation, and mission execution co-evolve through education-integrated intermediaries—a level of specification not offered by adjacent triple/quadruple-helix, absorptive-capacity, or mission-oriented innovation frameworks. The findings offer a transferable, though context-bound, framework for countries seeking to enhance technology diffusion, address last-mile adoption failures, and mobilize non-university actors in mission-oriented innovation; limitations relating to sample scope and the single-country context are discussed.
This study examined how university-related resources and industry-related demands jointly shape student engagement, burnout, and perceived outcomes in short-term vocational internships. Using the Study Demands–Resources (SD-R) framework, data were collected from 304 engineering students and analysed using PLS-SEM and the Cross-Validated Predictive Ability Test (CVPAT). Mentorship quality and organisational climate significantly enhanced engagement, whereas unclear learning objectives and time pressure increased burnout; task–skill misfit showed a small, marginally significant effect. Engagement strongly improved perceived internship outcomes, whereas burnout reduced them. A model comparison showed that an integrated university–industry model offered superior predictive accuracy for burnout and internship outcomes compared with single-domain models, although its advantage for engagement was not statistically significant. These findings extend the SDR framework to practice-based learning environments and highlight engagement and burnout as dual mechanisms linking contextual factors to competence development, employability skills, and career readiness. This study underscores the need for coordinated university–industry collaboration to optimise internship quality and support student development.
China’s rapid artificial intelligence (AI) expansion has intensified demand for graduates who combine applied technical skills with professional competencies. This study examines the alignment between vocational AI curricula and employer skill demand using 498,331 job advertisements from 2020 to 2024 and 46 institutional training plans. We develop a bilingual taxonomy of 198 hard- and soft-skill keywords and calculate a demand-weighted coverage index, supported by bootstrap, permutation and robustness checks. Results indicate a selective technology lag: programming and AI practicum courses align relatively well, while cloud computing and big-data competencies remain less visible in curricula. Soft-skill coverage is also uneven, with many professional attributes implicit rather than systematically embedded. Work-integrated learning shows the strongest overall alignment, suggesting that practicums, internships and capstone projects are key mechanisms for curriculum renewal.
In the global competition for talent, some countries are more vulnerable to brain drain than others. This study investigates the job conditions that talent-producing countries can adopt to mitigate this challenge. Drawing on a discrete choice experiment (DCE), the analysis is based on the stated preferences of PhD students in Italy, a country chronically affected by brain drain such as many others facing the same phenomenon in Europe and around the world. The findings indicate that PhD students, including high research performers, despite facing a context of growing job uncertainty, internationally uncompetitive salaries, scarcity of vacancies, and a constrained national labour market (common push factors for brain drain, which are prevalent in many countries), still prefer to remain in the country rather than migrate. PhDs are reluctant to migrate, even when faced with non-research job offers lacking autonomy and long-term stability. Salary alone is not the primary determinant of migration decisions. Instead, staying is often viewed as accepting a salary or career penalty. PhD students’ preference is to stay in their current country/city to continue their research, even at a lower salary. The study concludes with policy recommendations to reduce brain drain, including guidance for employers on designing job offers that better align with the priorities of PhD holders.
The aim of this study is to present a comprehensive model for advancing entrepreneurial agricultural universities in Iran. Through purposeful sampling, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 108 experts in entrepreneurial university endeavors. Drawing on their knowledge and experience, the participants identified components and characteristics of entrepreneurial agricultural universities, delineated main and causal conditions, contextual factors, supporting elements, barriers, and strategies for establishing such universities, as well as potential consequences and outcomes. Consequently, a paradigm model was developed based on six dimensions encompassing 29 categories. The central phenomenon, namely the development of entrepreneurial agricultural universities, along with causal conditions comprising eight categories, intervening conditions consisting of two categories, contextual conditions encompassing seven categories, strategies involving nine categories, and consequences comprising three categories, were compiled and illustrated within the paradigm model. This study enriches the literature by presenting a comprehensive model for developing entrepreneurial agricultural universities in Iran.
University–industry research partnerships play a vital role in strengthening innovation systems and supporting knowledge-based economic development. This study aims to identify the underlying dimensions of university–industry research partnerships in Saudi Arabia and examine their influence on partnership effectiveness. Data were collected through a survey of employees working in scientific research deanships across six Saudi universities, yielding 192 valid responses. Exploratory factor analysis identified four partnership dimensions: economic, academic, technological, and strategic alignment. Multiple regression analysis revealed that these dimensions, together with university type, explained 39.2% of the variance in perceived partnership effectiveness. The academic and economic dimensions emerged as the strongest predictors, while strategic alignment exhibited the weakest effect. Established universities reported higher levels of partnership effectiveness than emerging institutions. The findings contribute to the university–industry collaboration literature and provide practical insights for policymakers and university leaders seeking to strengthen research partnerships in support of Saudi Vision (2030).
Purpose: This paper explores how Artificial Intelligence (AI) reshapes the job market and redefines the skill requirements for the contemporary workforce. It highlights the widening gap between traditional academic training and the competencies demanded by an AI-driven economy, especially in relation to Generation Z learners. Design/Approach/Methods: The study reviewed current literature, examined successful case studies of university-industry collaborations, and analyzed trends in workforce readiness. It proposed an educational framework that aligned with the learning preferences of Generation Z—emphasizing active, experiential, and interdisciplinary approaches integrated with AI tools and ethics. Findings: The research identified a pressing need for curriculum innovation that fostered both technical and soft skills, such as creativity, adaptability, and ethical decision-making. It supported the integration of AI-centric internships, industry-led workshops, and collaborative laboratories to provide students with practical exposure. Evidence suggested that these strategies enhanced employability and readiness for dynamic work environments. Originality/Value: This paper contributed a forward-looking perspective on curriculum development for the AI era, with a particular focus on the role of management education in driving this transition. It offered practical recommendations to bridge academia and industry, ensuring that Generation Z graduates are equipped to thrive in a rapidly evolving professional landscape.
The global biomanufacturing sector is expanding rapidly, fueled by next-generation technologies such as continuous processing and single-use systems and by rising demand for monoclonal antibodies and recombinant proteins. At the same time, reshoring of critical biologics and pharmaceuticals is reshaping the landscape, positioning biomanufacturing as a pillar of national security, economic resilience, and healthcare innovation. Yet despite this momentum, workforce shortages remain the sector's most pressing constraint-threatening operational capacity by 2035 and underscoring the urgent need for coordinated education and training initiatives to build a diverse, innovation-ready talent pipeline. This paper explores workforce strategies derived from Biomanufacturing NEXT, a structured 2-day expert roundtable convened with leaders across education, research, industry, investment, and government. Key insights emphasize aligning job requirements with skill development, strengthening industry-academia collaboration, and expanding non-degree pathways, certifications, and mentorship models. Actionable recommendations highlight how higher education can drive new forms of partnership, outreach, and community engagement to ensure a robust workforce for biomanufacturing and other advanced industries.
Universities and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly engaging in collaborations that translate academic knowledge into practical business applications, thereby contributing to innovation, competitiveness, and development. For SMEs, which often face resource and capability constraints, partnerships with universities can provide important support for business model innovation (BMI), either as a process or an outcome central to value creation, delivery, and capture in dynamic environments. However, the role of universities in enabling the BMI of SMEs remains underexplored, with insights dispersed across fragmented studies and limited reviews addressing this intersection. This study addresses this gap through a review of 73 articles published between 2001 and 2024. Employing both descriptive and content analyses, the review examines the evolution of university-SME collaborations and identifies five categories that capture the principal mechanisms through which universities contribute to the BMI of SMEs. The findings highlight areas of development, including misalignments that may hinder collaborative effectiveness. By consolidating fragmented knowledge, this study provides a more comprehensive understanding of university-SME interactions and their role in supporting BMI. It further offers implications for academics and practitioners, while outlining promising directions for future research to enhance university contributions to SME business model innovation.
Introducing students to research-based technologies can positively impact their learning and future entrepreneurial efforts in technology commercialisation. This paper investigates how students in entrepreneurship education learn when evaluating the commercial potential of research-based technologies. We perform an in-depth qualitative study of five student teams in a venture creation programme during a week-long educational activity where the objective was to evaluate the commercial potential of research-based technologies developed at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN). The present paper expands upon previous conceptions of an authentic, self-guided, and experiential learning process. It contributes to an understanding of students’ learning through imitation as an example of how students in entrepreneurship education can become sufficiently positioned to progressively learn, develop, and contribute in the process of commercialising research-based technologies.
Although 21st-century skills are widely recognized as essential, Tanzanian universities struggle to equip graduates with them. Drawing on open systems theory, this qualitative study explored university leaders’ perceptions of barriers to skill development. Semi-structured interviews with eight leaders from two public universities were analyzed using a hybrid interpretative phenomenological and thematic approach. Participants identified four main perceived barriers: (1) side effects of unregulated Artificial Intelligence use, (2) misaligned and changing stakeholder expectations, (3) political pressures prioritizing quantity over quality, and (4) chronic budget constraints. These external pressures were seen as disrupting internal transformation processes and limiting the development of critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving. The study recommends that universities develop AI governance policies, strengthen stakeholder coordination, advocate for capacity-based enrollment policies, and pursue diversified funding. Findings underscore the need to manage environmental inputs more effectively and contribute contextual insights from sub-Saharan Africa to global higher education reform debates.
This study aims to develop and empirically test a model of Future Readiness Career among prospective healthcare professionals by integrating formal curricular factors and personal/social drivers within the context of digital transformation in the healthcare sector. The formal factors examined include digital health competence and digital health literacy as outcomes of curriculum-based interventions in health study programs, while career efficacy and family support are proposed as individual and social drivers of Future Readiness Career. Data were collected from 161 final-year undergraduate students enrolled in health-related study programs and analyzed using SmartPLS. The results of this research hypothesis testing found that Career Efficacy has a significant positive effect on Digital Health Competencies, and Digital Health Literacy also significantly strengthens Digital Health Competencies. Furthermore, Digital Health Competencies have a strong positive effect on Future Readiness Career. On the other hand, Family Support did not show a significant direct effect on Future Readiness Career. Overall, digital health competence emerges as a key predictor of Future Readiness Career among prospective healthcare professionals. These findings highlight the importance of aligning higher education curricula with digital health demands and implementing institutional policies that strengthen students’ career efficacy and digital competence to prepare a future-ready healthcare workforce.
This study explores factors influencing Mexican Gen Z high school students' intention to pursue tourism degrees, using the Theory of Planned Behavior. A validated questionnaire was applied to 310 students (ages 16-20). Results from factor analyses and structural equation modeling showed that attitudes toward tourism and subjective norms positively influenced intentions, while perceived behavioral control had a negative effect. Pre-pandemic interest predicted current intention, but COVID-19 perceptions did not. The tourism sector is recovering but faces a talent shortage; thus, understanding these influences is key. The study offers insights for vocational guidance and educational marketing in tourism.
