Abstract
The University-Enterprise-Cooperation (UEC) has been adopted by many universities globally to effectively utilize the high-quality resources of the construction industry, to improve the general competence, problem-solving skills and innovation capability of graduates of an engineering discipline. There are a limited amount of papers published in international journals on UEC, compared to a significant volume of Chinese published literature. However, based on the best knowledge of the authors, no existing literature has conducted a quantitative statistical analysis on UEC research in Chinese and international journals. In order to fill this knowledge gap, 300 high-quality papers on UEC were derived through the Chinese CNKI database from 2010-2019. The general development trend of UEC research in the past 30 years was also mapped and analyzed. The most popular topics under the UEC theme and the most frequently adopted research methods within the UEC field were also identified. It was found that since the first UEC publication in 1990, the number of UEC publications experienced a steady increase during the last decade, aiding by strong promotion from the government and active practice within universities and from educators in China. Course development (52.94%) and practice resource development (24.89%) were two of the most popular research topics in the UEC field. The elaboration research method was adopted by more than half (55.94%) of UEC papers, followed by case study (21.25%). The findings of this study are valuable for researchers and practitioners globally, to better understand the development status of UEC research in China and embark on future research in this field.
Highlights
The University-Enterprise-Cooperation (UEC), interpreted as Industry-University Partnerships (Tener, 1996; Smith, et al 2018) and Academia-Industry Cooperation (Shapira and Rosenfeld, 2011), refers to a pedagogical form of education approach and thinking, which focuses on the cultivation of graduates with a high-level of innovation capability and practical skills, through the full utilization of resources from both the university and company/ industry (Liu and Zhong, 2011)
It was recommended that engineering faculties should try to develop their own practical skills, which might be achieved through working in the construction industry and networking with practicing engineers (Koehn, 2004)
Research by Shapira and Rosenfeld (2011) indicated that cooperation between academia and the construction industry was critical in achieving success of an innovative research and development (R&D) project, and without this cooperation the R&D effort could not be achieved
Summary
The University-Enterprise-Cooperation (UEC), interpreted as Industry-University Partnerships (Tener, 1996; Smith, et al 2018) and Academia-Industry Cooperation (Shapira and Rosenfeld, 2011), refers to a pedagogical form of education approach and thinking, which focuses on the cultivation of graduates with a high-level of innovation capability and practical skills, through the full utilization of resources from both the university and company/ industry (Liu and Zhong, 2011). Most of the lecturers in engineering universities and colleges lack experience in engineering practice, and they have limited capability to solve real-world engineering problems, which makes it difficult for them to effectively adopt these new learning approaches. Through collaboration between universities and industry, highquality resources within companies, such as real-world construction problems and lessons learned in successful or failed projects, can be directly used in the lecture delivery process This will facilitate the new learning approaches being effectively adopted in the university course delivery process. This study is helpful for universities or colleges offering construction management program to find a suitable cooperation approach between the universities and companies, with reference to the general UEC models in Chinese and international institutions.
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