Presentation at IFORS2008 (International Federation of OR Societies Conference) in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2008. The content focuses on the design and development of systems to progress collaborative educational partnerships.

1. 1
Building Bridges Through Partnership
Dr. Jo Smedley
j.k.smedley@aston.ac.uk
(jo.smedley@newport.ac.uk)
Combined Honours, Aston University, Birmingham, UK
(Newport Business School, University of Wales, Newport, Wales)
Conference participation supported by a UK Operational Research Society award

2. 2
Overview
• Building and strengthening partnerships
• Consider:-
– Approaches
– Challenges
– Opportunities
– Reflections
• Outcomes
– Emerging “trust”
– Enhanced information sharing
– Deeper cross-organisation perspectives
– Informing future initiatives
Keywords:
Modelling Systems&Languages, International Collaboration, Knowledge Engineering&Management

3. 3
Case Studies
• Swedish Double Degree Programme
– Halmstad University, Sweden
– Worcester University, UK
• Student work-placement programme
– Halmstad University, Sweden
– Aston University, UK
– Hogeschool Gent, Belgium
• Academy/JISC Collaboration Initiative
– Higher Education Academy, UK
– JISC, UK

4. 4
Kolb’s experiential learning model
Gap analysis
Reflect on outcomes and
collaborative practices
Monitor
collaborative
systems
Gather
Information
Develop
mechanisms and
build capacity

5. 5
Partnership balancing
• Strengths (S)
– Reflection of individual strengths
– Contributions from each partner
• Weaknesses (W)
– Individual weaknesses do not distract overall
progress
• Opportunities (O)
– Mutual benefits from involvement
• Threats (T)
– Reflection/action on existing and emerging
threats
• Outcome
– Short-term  +ve , break-even, -ve values
– Long-term sustainability  +ve value
veTOWS 

6. 6
Stage 1 Information
• Expectations
– Approaches
– Culture
– Pace
• Information flows
– Communication
– Applications
• “Champions”
• External influences

7. 7
Case Study 1:
Swedish Double Degree Programme
• Stage 1: Gathering information
– Comparable institutions
• Stage 2: Gap analysis
– Worcester: Student numbers
– Halmstad: European links
• Stage 3: Developing practices
– Curriculum: Business, IT, Psychology
– Associated administrative practices
• Stage 4: Reflect on progress
– Student support

8. 8
Case Study 2:
Student work-placement programme
• Stage 1: Gathering information
– Existing networks
– Similar sized institution bases
• Stage 2: Gap analysis
– Aston: Additional staff
– Ghent: Student placements (IT)
– Halmstad: Student placements (Business)
• Stage 3: Developing practices
– Links
– Associated administrative practices
• Stage 4: Reflect on progress
– Quantity of students
– Support available

9. 9
Case Study 3:
Academy/JISC Collaboration
• Stage 1: Gathering information
– Existing “communities of practice”
– Managing expectations
• Stage 2: Gap analysis
– Information sharing
– Relationship balancing
• Stage 3: Developing practices
– Collaborative events/developments
• Stage 4: Reflections on progress
– Pace
– Organisational experience

10. 10
Lessons learned
• Mutual benefits
• Managing expectations
• Information sharing
– Appropriate “language”
• Balancing