Key Wins from Global Institutions that Enhanced their External Engagement

Universities around the world are committed to achieving greater impact and becoming more engaged and connected to their local and regional ecosystems. But this remains quite challenging, with issues often being related to not having the time or space to turn their vision into action! Learn about some of the common challenges faced by global institutions, and how UIIN’s Institutional Programs have helped them tackle these challenges.  

UIIN runs three unique Institutional Accelerator Programs – Strategic Partnerships, Entrepreneurial Universities or Pathway to Impact – that take universities through a 16-18 week development process to better understand the current state at their institution, articulate their goals and vision, and begin to design a roadmap to reaching those goals.

One of the key features of this program is the cohort element, which provides participants with the ability to connect with peer universities around the world, and exchange insights. And the learning doesn’t just stop when the program ends! On June 13^th 2022, UIIN hosted the Institutional Programs Alumni Meeting, which was the first onsite event bringing  together representatives from 9 of the 18 universities who have participated in our three programs.

Coming from all over the world, and excited to connect in person, attendees included representatives from the University of Adelaide (Australia), Ca‘ Foscari University (Italy), Rowan University (US), Australian National University (Australia), University of Arizona (US), KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden), Atlantic Technological University (Ireland), Royal Veterinary College(UK), and the University of Oslo (Norway).

The alumni meeting started with the attendees sharing motivations for joining the institutional programs, delving into the progress they have made since participating and any barriers they have encountered when instituting changes.

Some key wins that can be attributed to the programs include:

• KTH Royal Institute of Technology has finalised an action plan that will broaden the current scope of partnerships at the University and adopting the tagline #KTHTogetherForImpact
• The University of Oslo has developed a better understanding of innovation and entrepreneurship at the University and built a solid foundation for their in-house innovation unit.
• The Australian National University (ANU) is working on breaking internal down silos and has developed a toolkit (which includes a manifesto and partnership framework) that has enabled the University to support researchers and build its capabilities.

During the course of the presentations three common challenges were identified namely, enhancing internal coordination, supporting engagement and raising awareness of its importance, and breaking (internal) silos.

Working in groups, the attendees focused on ideating solutions to these challenges, including:

• creating ambassadors for partnering outside innovation areas and including senior researchers in peer learning to improve outcomes,
• having a clear vision about where the University wants to go and being able to prioritise and evaluate current mechanisms, and
• developing supporting structures that enable flexibility, engagement, and entrepreneurship.

Attendees also had the opportunity to hear from two university leaders, Pascale Quester (Vice-Chancellor and President of Swinburne University of Technology) and Andrew Petter (Former Vice-Chancellor and President of Simon Fraser University)  on their experiences with creating a culture around engagement and innovation.

Are you Interested in becoming an engaged, entrepreneurial, and innovative institution while accelerating strategic partnerships? Then one of our cohort-based institutional programs is for you.

Applications are currently open. You can apply for the strategic partnerships, entrepreneurial universities or pathway to impact program, which will run from October 2022 – February 2023.

Learn more at uiin.org/consulting/programs/ or contact Dr. Sarah Jaber – UIIN Manager of Business Development, for more information.