Lessons from the UK Know How Funds Initiative

Abstract

The relationship that has existed historically between industry and higher education in Western economies is currently being mirrored in the transforming economies of the former Soviet Union. These emerging market economies have been encouraged by their association with a now obsolete British Council awards scheme to study historical and current relationships between businesses and education providers in established market economies. This paper analyses the professional and academic collaboration between a British and Russian university and their respective business networks. The case is set in the context of a UK government ‘Know How Funds’ project. The paper summarizes and analyses discursive sections of the periodic financial reports of the award holder, submitted throughout the project, to the British Council. The findings from the case study support the use of peer education and the resultant cascade of knowledge as mechanisms to drive through the transition to a market economy.