Strategic Partnerships

New cohort starting February 2024
Duration: 20 weeks
Registration deadline: 1st February
Price: 15,000 EUR (member discounts apply)

The Strategic Partnerships program provides organisations with the evidence, data and clarity needed to enhance their external partnerships. Whether you are looking to develop a coordinated, whole-of-institution approach, or to elevate your partnerships from transactional to strategic, this program equips institutions to design evidence-based approaches that leverage strengths, leading to mutually beneficial partnerships and sustainable growth.

More about this program

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Enhance your partnership approach and fast-track your partnership strategy

Who should participate?

Universities, faculties, departments and institutes who are seeking to develop a more coordinated approach to their partnerships and develop more strategic relationships with external stakeholders.

Recommendations for the core team include a mixture of professional staff responsible for partnerships and business development across education and research; academic staff involved in partnerships; and leaders responsible for engagement or partnerships.

What is involved?

Focus groups to reflect on existing approaches, challenges and successes, and shape the desired vision and goals for partnerships.
Tailored survey to map current state partnership activities, support structures, and stakeholder perspectives.
Roadmap workshops to develop and prioritise solutions to your key challenges, and map out a pathway to enhancing your strategic approach to partnerships.
Knowledge exchange events to expose you to different frameworks and approaches to partnerships from universities and industry.

Why join the program?

Understand your current state as expert facilitators guide you through a structured process that captures diverse stakeholder perspectives.
Undertake informed decision-making by uncovering data-driven insights and recommendations tailored to your institution’s context.
Navigate the partnership landscape with clarity and purpose using actionable roadmaps that guide your partnership approach.
Inspire and guide your partnership approach with insights from global good practice cases.

Program activities and timeline

Kick-off

Introduction to the topic

Week 1 | Introduction to the program and participants, and an interactive session on collaboration, strategic partnership approaches and common challenges.

Focus group

Desired future state

Week 2-3 | Bring together senior management and the core team to discuss partnership goals and desired partner profiles

Survey

Current state analysis

Week 4-8 | Participants receive a tailored survey to disseminate across university leadership, external partners, academic and professional staff to assess partnership activities, attitudes and support structures.

Check-in

Touch point

Week 9-10 | Half-way event to re-connect, hear from external guest speakers and begin developing your strategic partnership model.

Analysis

Survey analysis and reporting

Week 10-12 | Survey responses and information gathered from the focus group will be aggregated and analysed by UIIN.

Workshop

Develop your roadmap

Week 13-14 | Build on key findings to further develop the strategic partnership model, including an implementation plan and roadmap for achieving vision.

Report

Final report and recommendations

Week 15-18 | UIIN will collate the findings and insights collected through the survey and workshops into a report with recommendations.

Wrap-up

Closing session

Week 19-20 | Participant presentations to share program learnings and insights and discuss how to continue to implement the recommendations beyond the program.

Program team

Arno Meerman

A/Prof. Dr. Todd Davey

Dr. Sarah Jaber

Déspina Kortesidou

Empowering institutions to lead transformative change

"The program provided a highly appreciated structure and valuable survey that provided rich data to further utilise in our development. Through UIIN's facilitation, we have learned a lot from other universities and about our internal processes. As a result, we have strengthened our own capabilities in taking steps towards developing strategic partnerships."

Johan Blaus

Director Strategic Partnerships, KTH Royal Institute of Technology

“The Strategic Partnerships Program provided an excellent springboard for bringing together a wide group of internal stakeholders to assess our current approaches and develop a road map for tackling challenges. The program helped us to develop a common and agreed narrative that we can use to tackle the next steps in our development.”

Ian Chambers

Account Manager, Coventry University

"Two parts of the program that stood out for me were the opportunity to hear from and engage with organisations that are already in successful high-level strategic partnerships, and we also developed a roadmap specific to our organisation that can be used going forward. Both invaluable.”

Janette Gillian

Manager of IT Sligo's Innovation Centre, Atlantic Technological University