I-I Model for Sustainable Partnership between Institute and Industry – An Indian Success Story

Unlike business organizations, the integral business of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) is research and teaching. Yet, what sets a top university apart from its competitors is its performance with respect to successful job placements of students in industries. Therefore, these institutions strive hard to achieve competitive advantage by forging sustainable partnership with industries in order to update their practices, services, and competitiveness. Further, the industry also stands to gain with a quality workforce by recruiting the students from these institutes to meet its set objectives. Thus, a strategic partnership between an institute and an organization is a win-win situation for all the stakeholders involved. The present study adopts a systematic review on the management concepts to synthesis the knowledge on the factors that promote sustainable partnership between education institutes and industries. The methodology used in this paper is a case study of a leading education institution in Tamil Nadu. The primary findings include a good practice model known as ‘I-I Sustainable Partnership Model' for successful institute–industry collaborations. The model explicates three factors that influence sustainable partnership outcomes viz., Learning Organization Culture, Creative Organizational Climate and Knowledge Creation Practices. Finally, the paper concludes with recommendations for sustainable partnership between institutes and industries.