Kamil Michlewski

I’ve noted a comment from the Design Academy director reflecting on to the role of the industry partners in their design education system:

“We work with commercial and not-for-profit organisations on the assumption that we are not delivering any specific products or results. The companies join a network of ‘friends’ and work with us and the students on challenging issues. They associate with use because they feel they can learn a lot from the process. Very often managers come in as tutors and ask difficult questions. This gives the students a very good grounding in the real world problems and encourages them to think more critically about their ideas. The managers, on the other hand, are exposed to a great variety of original thinking that directly relates to their businesses.”

My observation here is that if universities want to create viable partnerships with the industry they must recognise that they are as attractive to the commercial world as the commercial world is to them.