Industry-university partnerships: A model for engineering education in the 21st century

An approach to Industry-University Quality Partnerships for engineering education is presented. A formal educational cycle of Preparation, Identification, and Action (PIA) has been initiated as the framework for the partnership effort. This cycle establishes multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional teams of students and faculty to work with industrial partners on quality/process improvement projects. Preparation is a three-semester hour course that covers the methods and tools of Total Quality Management (TQM), safety, teamwork, communications, and time management. Identification is a team effort by students, faculty, and industrial partners working on-site at the industrial partnerʹs facilities, identifying quality improvement opportunities. Action is the team effort by students, faculty, and partners working both on-campus and on-site, providing detailed plans to implement and evaluate quality/process improvement opportunities. The PIA cycle was initiated in the Spring of 1993 by three Universities of the Southern University and College Coalition for Engineering Education (SUCCEED) and Milliken and Company as the industrial partner. The PIA cycle is an ongoing research effort. In this paper, we provide a review of the PIA approach to Industry-University Partnership Teams and share some of our experiences with this novel approach to engineering education.