Learning Through University-Business Collaboration: Case Studies from the University of Oxford

In the UK, like other advanced economies, university-business collaborations in research and development (R&D) activities have an increasingly important role to play in driving innovation and providing wider benefits to the economy and society. The future development of university approaches and the policy framework to support further expansion of these activities needs to be informed by a greater understanding of the processes involved. However, given that previous research into the internal dynamics of university-business collaborations is limited, this study adopts a learning perspective to investigate how interactions within such collaborations influence their outcomes, drawing on a diverse sample of case studies from the University of Oxford. The findings demonstrate how the dynamic and highly interactive nature of collaborative learning requires positive and agile relationships to be maintained throughout, particularly when faced with challenges or with opportunities to exploit unforeseen learning. At their core, effective collaborative relationships are shown to rest on the building of partner motivation and trust and through the appropriate use of social power bases. In practice these are mediated by collaborative structures and communication that in turn are shaped by approaches to leadership and management. The resulting learning outcomes are shown to be far wider than are commonly captured, despite systemic constraints on some aspects of academic engagement. Following this analysis, recommendations are made for the development of university approaches with renewed emphasis on collaborative learning