Industry academia collaboration model: The design challenges

The Information Technology industry is growing at a healthy rate with businesses heavily dependent on IT applications for their operations. India has become a global hub for IT services export and has witnessed exponential growth of employment opportunities. While the IT industry has felt a pressing need for acquiring and retaining competent talent, academia on the other side has also felt a strong need in terms of producing the necessary quality talent. Hence, a need for industry-academia partnership has been strongly felt to enhance the employability of engineering graduate workforce and make them industry ready. This article discusses the critical design challenges significant for any industry-academia collaboration model in the higher education space. Here, we discuss the design options for such a model, its evaluation strategy and performance parameters, and how it addresses the primary challenges faced by both the stakeholders i.e. industry and academia, in a measurable, scalable and sustainable manner.