CONTINUING ENGINEERING EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER:
A PROCESS ORIENTED APPROACH TOWARDS
UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY COOPERATION

Franz Reichl*, Dipl.-Ing. Dr.techn.
University Extension Centre, Vienna University of Technology
Gusshausstrasse 28, A-1040 Wien, Austria
phone: +43 1 58801-4029, fax: +43 1 5054961, electronic mail: Franz.Reichl@tuwien.ac.at


ABSTRACT

Continuing education and technology transfer require the active development of effective tools and communication channels between organisations in order to stimulate innovation and change in different social systems, such as science and economy. A spectrum of efficient processes and activities has been developed at the University Extension Centre of Vienna University of Technology. These processes are based on equal partnership between all parties involved and oriented towards long term goals. Experiences with this concept can be transferred to and applied also for processes of educational design and educational development in distance learning.


INTRODUCTION

The University Extension Centre of Vienna University of Technology has its historical roots in an alumni association founded in 1872 and in an association of professors for continuing education of engineers founded in 1926. The University Extension Centre was re-established at Vienna University of Technology in 1979, with the aim of forming an institutional basis for the enhanced development of continuing education and technology transfer.

Continuing education and technology transfer cover a wide spectrum of different communication processes between the university and the outside world. They have to be formulated as problems of moderating communication and stimulating activities and decisions in highly differentiated social (sub-)systems, i.e. science, economy and politics.

The problems of continuing education and know-how transfer require the active development of effective tools and communication channels between organisations in order to stimulate innovation and change in these different social sub-systems (Horvat, Wimmer 1988). Science and economy follow different patterns of orientation and action. In addition, both systems are within themselves not homogeneous but rather heterogeneous. Thus, stimulating cooperation needs careful moderation and appropriate forms of adjustment (Willke 1982). The mutual acceptance of the different rationalities, roles and functions of the social sub-systems science and economy have to be considered and reflected. On this basis, a wide spectrum of efficient processes and activities has been developed at the University Extension Centre.

Currently, the centre is responsible for research information, technology transfer, continuing education, and international affairs. An integrated approach for such activities enables to create synergies between these different tasks. Emphasis is laid on processes generating long-term effects instead of delivering products to satisfy short-term needs.

RESEARCH INFORMATION

Detailed information on the potential of the own institution is a key factor for an interfacial unit. Knowledge on the potential and the concrete projects of the different departments and scientists of the university provides the basis for managing a continuous communication process between the university and its environment. Informal knowledge and experience can play a role of similar importance as formalised information.

The University Extension Centre established the research information and documentation system FoDok-Austria which started its operation in 1984. It includes data from all Austrian universities. It basically consists of a database with detailed information on the different departments of the Austrian universities and its different research projects. The basic data of the database are published in a handbook (Komarek, Hatschek, Horvat 1989; Niedermayer 1995; Niedermayer 1994) and on CD-ROM. More specific reports and investigations can be ordered at the University Extension Centre. Thus, the University Extension Centre acts as a "clearing house" for the research potential of all Austrian universities. An excerpt about the research at Vienna University of Technology can be searched online from http://info.tuwien.ac.at/histu/fodoksuchen.html.

Such information is also one of the key factors for managing a continuous communication process between the university and its environment. FoDok-Austria is thus also intensively used internally by the University Extension Centre, e.g. during preparation of technology transfer activities and for the design of continuing education courses (Horvat 1988; Stierle, Eggbauer 1995; Eggbauer, Horvat 1992; Eggbauer, Steiner 1993).

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER

The University Extension Centre actively stimulates, generates and moderates co-operation between university departments and companies. In the year 1987, a long-term co-operation agreement between the University Extension Centre and the Economic Chamber Vienna was signed. General aims of this contract are to identify promising technological areas for further development, and to generate and organise co-operative actions, considering the international state-of-the-art and new trends in technological development, the specific strengths of Viennese enterprises, and the potential with respect to academic staff and infrastructure of the Vienna University of Technology.

In order to achieve these goals, one academic staff member at the University Extension Centre is funded by the Economic Chamber Vienna. The range of activities applied is the following:

An evaluation of the activities carried out during the first two years showed very positive results, except for the fact that basically only larger companies took advantage from the technology transfer activities offered. Thus, an additional project focusing especially on small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) was generated. This project aimed at identifying different factors which facilitate or impede co-operation between SMEs and the university, identifying opportunities for innovation and possible technological problem areas in the SMEs, developing appropriate processes for stimulating the co-operation between the university and SMEs, and strengthening the innovation potential of the SMEs through more intensive co-operation with the university (Eggbauer, Binder, Cortolezis, Horvat, Nagl 1991). During the first five years, more than 4000 persons participated in the various technology transfer activities. Since the completion of the SME-project, about 40% of them came from small and medium sized enterprises (Binder 1993).

In addition to practical activities in science transfer, it is also necessary to continuously reflect the framework conditions, possibilities for further activities as well as problem areas. Therefore, the University Extension Centre is organising events for university staff, focusing on specific aspects of technology transfer and technology policy relevant for the co-operation with industry. This internal awareness programme supplements the other activities of the University Extension Centre to stimulate a more intensive co-operation between university and industry. It is carried out as a series of "Innovation Brunches", allowing university personnel to attend during lunch break without investing too much additional time and to exchange experiences also in a relatively informal way. Examples for topics covered are patents and licensing, possibilities for funding, marketing of R&D products, and contracting.

Strategic technology assessment

The area of science transfer is not only seen in a short-term perspective focusing on transmitting knowledge existing at the university which might simply be identified, transferred and used for a specific application. In a long-term perspective, design and moderation of appropriate communication processes are of central importance. Complex communication processes have to be generated between the social systems involved in technological development, i.e. science, economy, politics, administration, funding institutions and the social partners, in order to support decision making processes, to stimulate tuning processes, to identify priorities, to generate co-operative activities and to identify qualification needs. Based on this background, a specific approach for moderated strategic technology assessment was developed by Manfred Horvat, director on leave of the University Extensin Centre. This approach aims at the following aspects for a specific technology area:

This approach provides a methodology for an interactive method of technology assessment and decision support. In addition, it stimulates practical co-operative actions.

The different elements of this procedure can be presented in the following steps:

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

The University Extension Centre also acts as the International Liaison Office of Vienna University of Technology, being responsible for university partnerships, joint study programmes, administration of funding for specific international co-operation activities, stimulating participation in European training and education programmes and research and development programmes, and co-operation with universities in Central-Eastern European Countries (e.g. participation in and co-ordination of TEMPUS Projects - Gabko, Horvat, Stierle 1993; Horvat, Reichl, Stierle 1993).

The University Extension Centre is also actively involved in international networks related to its other main activities, e.g. SEFI's Working Group on Continuing Engineering Education. Telecommunication plays an increasing role in such networks. The University Extension Centre has initiated and provided the first implementation of EuCEENet (EUropean Continuing Engineering Education NETwork - Horvat, Reichl 1993). EuCEENet supports the co-operation between European centres of continuing engineering education. In this context, we have to be aware that communication between institutions is always based on contacts between persons involved. Electronic communication thus cannot replace personal communication, but it provides an efficient means to complement personal contacts.

CONTINUING ENGINEERlNG EDUCATION

At universities all over the world, activities in continuing education are expanding. University based continuing education is characterised by its vicinity to research - the birthplace of new knowledge. Taking into account the large amount of existing offers in continuing education as well as existing shortages at universities, it seems obvious that continuing education provided by universities must have a very specific characteristic and has to be related to the overall tasks of the university. Continuing education and knowledge transfer will play a more important role in connection to innovation processes inside the universities. These activities provide sensor functions to the university's environment, giving suggestions and stimulation for research and education to the university (Horvat 1988). Thus, continuing education can be a first step towards long term co-operation, and continuing education therefore forms an important part of a comprehensive transfer strategy.

University continuing education courses

Continuing education has been one of the priority areas of the University Extension Centre from the very beginning of its existence. The courses offered should give the participants the possibility to update their knowledge or to provide access to the relevant state-of-the-art in a certain scientific field. The target group for the continuing education courses is basically graduates of the university and employees who fulfil the conditions for participation due to experiences gained in their professional career. Discussions between these different groups have turned out to be very fruitful.

At the moment, the University Extension Centre offers about 50 short courses and about 20 continuing education programmes. The duration of the short courses varies from one day to two weeks. Many of the longer programmes last for several weeks up to two years. To reach a certain amount of effectiveness in such training, several requirements have to be met:

Throughout the years, the University Extension Centre has implemented and applied several methods and instruments to develop Continuing Engineering Education-courses and to estimate the demand of the market. Most important is a knowledge and understanding of the regional Continuing Engineering Education market. That involves close and long-term contacts to scientists and university teachers at the university's different departments as well as to companies and representatives of institutions such as chambers.

Synergies within the University Extension Centre can be created by disseminating knowledge gained from different activities. The response to information events and their evaluation by questionnaires can provide further information on necessary follow-up activities, e.g. whether it might be appropriate to offer a short course to support the application of such new technologies in companies.

The University Extension Centre generally tries to involve a certain percentage of lecturers from industry into the courses. Our experience shows that courses including theory, practical training and case studies are highly appreciated by audiences from industry.

The University Extension Centre started to disseminate course information via the World Wide Web (http://info.tuwien.ac.at/ai). Although not yet many of our clients are active users of WWW, it already provides additional contacts especially to those companies which are open-minded towards technical innovation - and these are exactly the most appropriate target groups for all of our activities. Nevertheless, we consider successful courses satisfying the participants as the most effective way of marketing for further Continuing Engineering Education activities (Reichl, Steiner 1996).

Training needs analysis

It is no longer adequate to design continuing education and training offers by trial and error. The increasing demand for continuing education at a university level requires a profound analysis of needs and demands. As individuals and representatives of companies usually are not totally aware of their actual training needs, it is a complicated task to identify such needs. This task is even more complex when it comes to long term needs going beyond immediate task related qualification deficits. It is not less complicated to distinguish such needs from demands that can be matched with supply meeting the "unique selling proposition" of university based continuing education and training as described above. Thus, it is not surprising that there are not yet any standard tools for training needs analysis (Commission of the European Communities 1992, p.11 f).

Our experience shows that a simple survey by means of questionnaires would not lead to practically applicable results. Thus, a process oriented approach involving representatives from university and industry is required. Such an approach to training needs surveys may provide results more properly oriented towards foreseeable innovations in technology. The University Extension Centre currently performs an initiative to survey training needs of graduates from Vienna University of Technology. University graduates do form a very important target group for continuing education provided by "their" university. Since they know both worlds, they can play the role of mediators between university and industry. It can be assumed that such graduates will need additional knowledge in order to be able to keep up with the state-of-the-art in their respective subject areas. Because many graduates are employed in professions requiring a qualification profile quite different from the qualifications they received in their initial education, it is expected that there will also be a need for continuing education offerings with interdisciplinary contents.

The rather sophisticated procedure developed for this needs analysis is based on the process for strategic technology assessment as described above. It concentrates on initiating long-term communication processes between all parties involved: the graduates themselves, their employers, university teachers and researchers, social partners, and governmental bodies.

During its starting phase, an evaluation of reports and surveys in related areas was carried out, aiming to make data comparable and to find out which results of recent and future surveys could be relevant for the specific situation of Vienna University of Technology's graduates. In parallel, information on changes in the curricula for initial education as well as on new areas of research and technological developement was gained by evaluating existing sources of information - e.g. the Austrian research information and documentation system FoDok-Austria - as well as by personal contacts with university staff. These personal contacts included a series of oral interviews with university teachers from different departments of Vienna University of Technology. The interviews did not only allow for hypotheses to be made on the possible qualification deficits of the university's graduates; as emphasis was laid on contacts to the university's most important and most innovative staff members, a process of targeted communication about continuing education was already started during this early stage of the project.

All the information collected formed the base for developing a structured set of statements and hypotheses to be tested by questionnaires and interviews. Based on these hypotheses, questionnaires have been sent to 8,000 graduates from the last 12 years, asking for information on contents, level, duration and adequate forms requested for continuing education courses. Questions on statistical data and on the graduates' profession and their careers enable a critical analysis of initial education curricula and their underlying assumptions on qualification profiles. 1400 questionnaires had been sent back. In addition to this written survey, a sample selection of graduates has been interviewed orally.

During the next stage of the project, employers of such graduates and university teachers have been faced with the information collected. The employers have been asked for their opinion on the graduates' qualification deficits and on their suggestions for the best way to overcome them. The inquiry of the university staff draws the university teachers' attention to the importance of continuing education and provides the University Extension Centre with information on possible lecturers for continuing education courses. It also intends to create an awareness of the necessity for continuous curricular changes taking into account the students' preparation for lifelong learning. During the next phase (which is still under way), moderated expert circles with representatives of the graduates, their employers and the university teachers will discuss the intermediate results of the surveys and draw conclusions on how to design university courses to meet specific regional needs. During the final stage of the project, a limited number of such courses will be designed and implemented.

This approach of Vienna University of Technology is a rather sophisticated one which requires lots of resources. Other institutions' training needs analyses are mainly based on questionnaires and interviews (Peters, Farago 1991) or by meetings with human resource managers in companies. A literature research showed only one other approach concentrating on communication processes (Casparij 1994). On the other hand, the benefits that can be expected seem to justify the higher expenditures of this methodology, as its main goal is to initiate long term processes which are aiming at:

The author therefore assumes that this training needs analysis will not only provide results enabling more effective reaction on technological changes. Continuing education courses developed by following this approach should be able to qualify for coping with technological development and for taking part in mutual social processes with equal partners influencing the developments. Nevertheless, applying such a procedure periodically would be too expensive. Thus, the procedure must also aim at developing and embedding better tools and methodologies for a periodic analysis of training needs following new developments (Horvat, Reichl 1994; Steiner, Reichl, Horvat 1995)

DISTANCE LEARNING

Considering the increasing demand for continuing education at university level, the role of open distance learning will increase significantly in the near future. Again, the design and implementation of communication processes is essential; this holds for support of learning processes as wella s for co-operation among study centres and providers of distance education.

The University Extension Centre of Vienna University of Technology will implement Open Distance Learning for its Continuing Engineering Education activities. Central elements of our approach to Open Distance Learning are:

Our approach to distance learning is based on a step-by-step procedure:

We are currently exploring the first steps on an experimental basis.

Learning situations and learning environments

A specific learning situation is characterised by a large variety of different interlinked factors. Educational design has to determine an instructional strategy in order to meet the way of learning most appropriate for the specific situation. for a number of reasons, among them economies of scale, it is not appropriate to deliver completely different learning packages for all the different learning situations. At a first glance, distance teaching may thus seem less flexible than face-to-face teaching methods. Thus, the selection of an appropriate educational method and delivery system has to provide a certain amount of flexibility to enable its adaption to different requirements. Adequate learner support may increase the flexibility for adaption to specific situations. Educational design has to foster this learner support.

A learning situation is a very complex setting - it involves many different actors (the most important ones are learners, lecturers, learning materials, and tutors), interlinked by various communication processes. The communication channel - which may be face-to-face or "mediated" by telecommunication - between learner and lecturer is usually not one-way, it enables feedback which is a very important factor for the success of learning.

Usually, a learning situation involves a group of learners, interaction between these learners is a very important factor for the effectiveness of learning. A group of learners can be supported by a tutor. Usually, this tutor is present with the group, but one can also think of someone within walking distance or connected by an electronic communication medium. Groups of distance learners may be organised by a learning centre which can also provide access to additional learning materials (e.g. a media library) and other resources (e.g. telematics equipment). The learning centre is usually responsible for tutor selection, tutor training and support for the tutor. A network of learning centres can support the interaction between dislocated learners. Tutors can again play an important role in such an interaction.

Several of the elements constituting a learning situation are fixed by conditions that cannot (or not easily) be influenced by a learning centre providing distance education. Some others can partly be influenced by the learning centre. Many parameters can be "tuned" by the learning centre and the learners. One of the main topics on the agenda for research on distance learning is to optimise combinations of the "values" for the different parameters. Of course, there cannot be a simple "deterministic function" resulting in the best combination of values for the "output parameters" for a given set of values of "input parameters". But, it is assumed that it is possible to distinguish the more appropriate combinations from the less appropriate ones.

Learner centered approaches to distance learning

Although many discussions and scientific publications give the impression that the technology of distance learning materials and of the distribution channels are the central factors for distance learning, we do think that the most important actors in a learning situation are the learners. Individual learners differ from each other significantly: they learn for different reasons, want to achieve different objectives, have different previous knowledge, want to reach different levels of expertise, develop different strategies to acquire knowledge, etc.

Some of these characteristics are intrinsic factors of the learner, others are related to contents and level of the subject to be learned. In reality, many of these characteristics are interlinked, and specific categorisations cannot be exactly distinguished from each other. We do not mean to imply that a learner should be categorised according to these characteristics, we just want to indicate that such factors have to be considered by educational design (Reichl 1996).

Distance learning materials

Learners as well as lecturers can refer to additional learning material which is usually produced by someone else. The learning material can be provided by traditional channels as well as via electronic networks. There are also networks of providers of distance learning materials (in engineering education e.g. NTU in the USA or EuroPace 2000 in Europe).

We can distinguish between different formats of learning materials, e.g.: written material; electronic resources, audio, video (sequential or interactive); hypertexts, multimedia, distributed multimedia. Each type of learning material has its own specific features and thus strengths and weaknesses in relation to learning types, learning styles, level of expertise, learning strategies, etc. For many areas of engineering, where an understanding of processes should be acquired, audiovisual materials may be well suited to explain dynamic aspects of processes. Reading printed material also available in written form is not appropriate for this medium. In many cases, one single learning medium cannot fulfil all requirements in an economically appropriate way. Thus, a mix of different media is usually required.

Learner support by Tutored Media Instruction

The effectiveness of a learning situation significantly profits from interaction between individual learners who may gain different viewpoints by discussing with their colleagues on the subject. Important characteristics of a learning group may be group size, group composition, and ways of interaction. A minimum number of learners is required to maintain a certain level of discussion in a learning group and to have represented different viewpoints; but a maximum number should also not be exceeded. Experiences with Tutored Video Instruction show that a group size of fewer than two or three students does not lead to good interaction, while a group size greater than eight to ten tends to inhibit discussion; a group size of 3-8 seems optimal, although this can vary with student personalities and acquaintance with each other (Gibbons 1977, pp.18-19). Following experiences with the moderation of electronic discussions, it can be assumed that the optimal number for asynchronous telecommunication should rather be larger to keep discussions going.

Homogeneity according to the individual learners' characteristics is another important factor for learning groups; a certain amount of differences can be fruitful to discuss different aspects and viewpoints and to learn from each other's backgrounds. Interaction among groups of learners in a specific course can be spontaneous, moderated, media driven, etc.

The TVI (Tutored Video Instruction) method was developed some 20 years ago at Stanford University (Gibbons, Kincheloe, Down 1977) for the use of educational audiovisual material for open distance learning. TVI supports communication processes by providing a tutor who acts as a catalyst between the individual learners, the audiovisual material, the other learning materials, and the instructor. At remote company sites, small groups of three to ten students meet with a company-assigned tutor to study a subject of relevance for the learners as well as for the company. They view an unedited classroom video tape and have the same textbooks, assignments and additional learning material as regular students. The instructor organises the study process through the videotape, and presents some of the subject content there. The tutor is responsible for stopping the tape as a means to foster class discussion and group learning, whenever (s)he or one of the students find it appropriate for a better understanding of the subject. TVI students benefit from this intensive way of learning; for universities and companies, it provides a very cost effective form for learning from audiovisual material (Gibbons 1977; Sparkes 1985; Fleetwood-Walker, Fletcher-Campbell).

Gibbons, Kincheloe and Down describe the success of TVI as follows: It seems reasonable to conclude that, for science and engineering courses, the TVI format is at least as good as the other methods of delivery with which it has been compared. As a group, the TVI students out-performed their on-campus counterparts; the average grade point advantage of the TVI students is higher than that of the on-campus students, even though the average of the admission qualification scores for the TVI students is significantly lower than that of the on-campus students. For students with lower admission qualifications, the TVI method of teaching appeared to be more effective than the regular classes.

Among the important factors for success of TVI are tutor attitude, personality and instructional style. The tutor should be willing and interested in helping the students; it is better if (s)he is not so over-qualified to become bored or impatient (Gibbons 1977, pp.1819). Tutors should not repeat the contents or immediately answer the learners' questions; they shall instead help the group of learners to discover the answers by themselves: "new tutors are warned against re-teaching all the contents of the package. They are encouraged to check whether learners have had any difficulties with the ideas in the package and to give remedial help if necessary. But the main function of the scarce and expensive time face-to face with learners is to help them build on what they have already learned - and achieve objectives that they are not so easily attained on one's own" (Rowntree 1992, pp.79-80).

Experiences with TVI show that people do not learn directly from the videotape. They learn by being brought into a situation where they have a motivation and an opportunity to do meaningful learning. The videotape and the low costs enable such situations, and the videotape is an "organiser" of the learning process. For the success of the learning process, it is of utmost importance to stress the individual work with textbooks, assignments, exercises and other material. This additional material is just as important for the group learning process as the videotape, but it does not provide the function of "organising" the learning (Jørgensen). The best results seem to occur when the participants can bring problems, examples and experience from their own work into the learning process. Thus, it is important to integrate real-life experience and problems into the process.

There is no need to restrict the application of TVI to group discussions on audiovisual learning material. The TVI Model can easily be extended to support the use of other instructional media such as, for example, computer aided instruction and multimedia. Media can be co-ordinated with various tutor activities, both in work with individual students (e.g. reviewing of additional material, reflection on the learning process) or with groups (e.g. experiments, role-plays, field visits). Tutored Media Instruction (TMI) supports self directed learning. Tutors can act as mentors, facilitators, counsellors, trainers or coaches; they can be experienced students, peers or colleagues.

The rapidly increasing pace of developments in telecommunication opens distance education to yet additional learners, eases the access to sources of information and enables cross-cultural co-operation in learning. Interactions between the different actors involved in the learning process can become independent of place and time by using computer-mediated communication. However, one has to be aware of the fact that the quality of interaction by telecommunication is different from face-to-face communication. "Teletutoring" enables tutors and mentors to support larger groups of distance learners - but the interaction can of course not be as personal and as intensive as with face-to-face contact. Thus, we assume that telecommunication cannot replace all face-to-face contacts; a certain amount of communication has to remain face-to-face. Experiences have yet to be gained and research has yet to be carried out to make best use of appropriate combinations of the different forms of communication (Reichl 1996).

The University Extension Centre of Vienna University of Technology initiated the IACEE Project "Learner Centered Approaches to Tutored Video Instruction (TVI) for Continuing Engineering Education". The project takes into account different ways and processes of knowledge acquisition and of learning in order to determine how these processes can be supported efficiently.

Several centres for Continuing Engineering Education implemented the TMI methodology, evaluated its effectiveness and adapted it for their needs, developing an understanding of how TMI might work under specific environmental conditions. Based on these experiences, several additional experiments will be carried out and evaluated. This international project provides its partners with a network supporting the exchange of information and experiences. Within that framework, a number of different projects can be generated.

In the near future, the international group will concentrate on specific test cases within different educational settings. The research will concentrate on the comparison between combinations of different values for the most important characteristics of specific learning situations. We distinguish different forms of learning materials:

As it is impossible to investigate all possible combinations of the parameter values, special emphasis will be laid on the most interesting and promising ones, e.g.:

For a future research agenda, special emphasis has to be laid on: generating comparable results, concentrating on "mixed forms" and combinations between different methods, necessary adaption and redesign of learning materials for best use with TMI, training for original lecturers and for tutors.

The framework of the "Tutored Media Instruction" model offers flexibility with regard to different learners' needs and individual learners' characteristics while allowing heterogeneous composition of learners' groups. TMI provides a possible solution to the problem that a single methodology does not exist for the application of learning technology in all learning environments. It is thus assumed that Tutored Media Instruction will play an even more important role in the future.

Nevertheless, concerted research activities have still to be carried out, resulting in early knowhow on the elements in the future learning processes when multimedia electronic networks presumably will constitute a basic element in the infrastructure for learning and in know-how on efficient and effective use of distance learning materials and on appropriate ways of production of distance learning materials in order to maintain learner support in an optimised way.

CONCLUSIONS

Formally organised co-operation with partners from the "real world" is a relatively new challenge for institutions of higher education. Consortia and agreements on collaboration with regional authorities or other institutions are suitable means for coping with these problems. Clear definitions of purpose, scope, range and organisation of collaboration as well as of the responsibilities of the partners involved form a good basis for the success of such cooperation activities.

To achieve long-term effects, it is necessary to approach university-industry co-operation from the viewpoint of communication processes between the university and its environment instead of following a short-term product orientation. All partners involved have to be stimulated to take an active role in a process of mutual exchange. Collaborative structures have to act as catalysts and delivering systems. Their main objectives are to strengthen the competitive position of their partner institutions, to raise awareness on a broader scale, to combine efforts to multiply success and impact and thus increase the impetus, and to stimulate and broaden debate by means of new working structures.

Continuing education and technology transfer should not be understood as a one-way streets; it is necessary to see communication as mutual exchange between complementary partners. Consequently, this also implies for new roles of teachers and learners, both of them to be seen as equal partners. Such an orientation towards long-term effects may require more effort than delivering short-term oriented products or transmitting knowledge or information from inside the university one way to the university's environment. But in the long run, our approach will produce more sustainable results and result in more efficient use of resources.

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