Building Connections: Universities,

Governments, Commerce

Gregory B. FairchildE. Thayer Bigelow ProfessorUniversity of Virginia, Darden

Collaborationson behalf of students

Learning and Working

• Collaborative curriculum development

• Integrated learning exercises

• Internships and cooperative Ed

• Research centers

• Incubated businesses

The Wake-Up Call for the US

1994 School to Work Opportunities Act

Four collaborative models

Cooperative Education

Integrated Exercises

ApprenticeshipInternship

Certificate Programs

Research Centers

Collaborative Research Projects

Learn and Stay

SchoolBased

Learn and Go

Employer

Based

Evolutionary Human Capital

Investment in the whole person

The firm perspective: Why Invest?

•Gary Becker: General versus Specific Human Capital

Philanthropy/Altruism

Firm Self-Interest

Collective Self-Interest

The Academy perspective: Why Invest?

•Natural tension between relevance and critique

Relevance to employers

Relevance to Academy

•Utility for employment

•Recognized partner

•Can enhance Capacity

•Who owns content?

•Generalizability of Theory

•New models/conceptions

•Role as Critics

•Is Education for Career?

The student perspective: Why Invest?

•Portable versus local investments

•Distinctions between learning and career

•School-based enterprises can seem temporal

•Investment-to-Utility mindset

•Pay me now or pay me later

Four Exemplars

Learn and Stay

SchoolBased

Learn and Go

Employer

Based

Barriers

•Clarity of Objectives

•Difference in Language

•Student demand, Program Supply

•Parental, familial, cultural support

Recommendations

• Convert existing low-skill jobs into Learn and Go Work-Based Learning

• Create more firm-based Learn and Stay Work Based Learning in industries that demand high skills

• Expand in school Work Based Learning through School-based enterprises

Questions?

Fairchild@Virginia.edu