The Theory and practice of university-industry collaboration in Taiwan: lessons from the experience of National Cheng Kung University

Abstract

There are three major issues to be resolved by the main universities in Taiwan due to the incomplete transformation process, from a fully government aided university to a partially aided one. These issues are: 1) Reorganizing the executive office of university-industry collaboration affairs in the university, 2) Strengthening the professional knowledge and skill of staff in the office, and 3) moderating the financial rules and regulations to become more suitable for the university-industry collaboration affairs. For the university-industry collaborative organization, one of the best models is to set up an independent profit oriented company to handle all the related affairs for university. In theory, this model can resolve problems related to the suitability of personnel and financial regulations. However, it may not work successfully in the public universities under the existing bureaucratic system. With regard to strengthening the professional knowledge of the collaborative office staff, the university should firstly clarify its collaborative strategy and policy so as to identify the segment of society that the university would like to collaborate with. Subsequently, the staff in the office would be aware of the kind of professional skills that they should possess. Otherwise, the larger the university is, the weaker the capability of the staff in providing professional services to both professors and the industry.