Stakeholder engagement : a case study of a long-term partnership between a university and a non-profit organization

Abstract

The world has progressed at unprecedented rates in recent years, but a majority of teaching styles and the delivery of instruction has barely changed since the inception of education. How can higher education institutions prepare students for a new age, when they continue to use outdated techniques? The intended exchange for college tuition is the receipt of useful knowledge that contributes to securing financially and self-fulfilling employment upon graduation. However, substantial changes in the workforce due to a declined economy, unsteady hiring trends, and the increase in globalization have left many debt-burdened students unemployed or underemployed. There is a theoretical and practical misalignment in cultivating workplace readiness and global citizenship in students because partnerships are not being optimized between stakeholders. It is well known that cooperative education and internship increases employment prospects, and community service nurtures civic engagement, but what else can be done to support these initiatives while students are on campus and in class? The opportunity for strategic partnerships to collaboratively manage project-based learning (PBL) offers an innovative curricular solution that integrates the needs and resources of multiple stakeholder groups.The purpose of this descriptive case study was to understand the long-term partnership between a university and a non-profit organization by describing the interactions and influences of stakeholder engagement. While partnerships are becoming the norm in higher education, this case study described how stakeholders engaged in an inter-organizational arrangement which contributed to over a decade's worth of PBL to revitalize a Rhode Island cultural center. This study has implications for higher education institutions, industry, community groups, and government agencies, as well as current students, recent graduates and alumni. The key findings of this research concluded that: (A) stakeholder alignment deepens engagement by increasing the longevity of partnership and maximizing the reach of impact; (B) the effectiveness of partnership is enhanced when resources are shared within the university and across the non-profit organization; and (C) faculty are the driving force of pedagogical change and are central to the sustainability of partnership.

Comparing university education in open and focused majors: A look to the future

“…This avoids the loss of productivity and adjustment costs that could ensue if employers could only hire graduates from expanded variants of jobs within the occupational fields of narrow education programs. (Wakefield, 2017).…”

A shared multicultural leadership team's performance in an international school in Thailand

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