5.5 Partnerships
Background
Partnerships with other public and private entities provide SCSU students, faculty,
and staff with valuable opportunities and experiences in high-tech workplaces.
Such formal and informal partnerships also contribute to the larger community and
build local relationships as well as provide resource benefits that will become
even more critical in the current financial environment.
We should encourage the development of formal and informal partnerships with international,
national, state, local community and business groups, elementary and secondary
educators, and other higher education systems to enhance collaboration and to meet
the professional development needs of students, faculty, and staff living in our
increasingly technological society. Given increasingly scarce resources and funding,
we should encourage partnerships involving barters or in-kind relationships as
well as those requiring little or no fiscal investment on our part.
Goals
In the next five years, we should encourage informal collaboration as well as
formal partnerships by raising awareness of the benefits of establishing partnerships
with other public and private entities. Specifically, SCSU should
- clarify the processes for establishing formal partnerships
- develop strategies to help constituencies at SCSU to leverage products, services
or resources that may have value to other public or private entities
- find ways to encourage, assist, and reward people for partnering that is appropriate
to their professional development.
Specific Actions and Timeline
By May 2004, TLTR will request that the Provost consider a campus-wide initiative
for technology partnerships. This request will include designation of responsible
parties, formed as a committee, for developing and implementing this initiative.
- The committee will follow the standard timeline (see 5.0) for carrying out and
reporting on specific actions.
- The committee will investigate partnerships across the university, will determine
what sorts of partnerships can and cannot be developed, and will clarify the
procedures for developing a formal partnership at SCSU, including who must be
consulted and must sign off on partnering projects. In the process of researching,
the committee will identify SCSU constituencies experienced in developing such
partnerships and solicit their input as well as input from those interested in
developing partnerships. Based on this investigation, the committee will develop
a planning guide that includes policies and procedures for setting up a partnership
to assist those on campus who wish to partner.
- The committee will determine additional strategies for assisting, encouraging,
and rewarding partnering. The committee might investigate such topics as the
possibility of mentoring programs or the opportunity to reward partnering projects
appropriate to professional development under contractual reviews, like Article
22.
- During the 2007/2008 academic year, the committee will produce a final report
on partnerships and a planning document for the next five-year plan. These will
be submitted to TLTR by February 1, 2008, for review.
Resources
Many partnering projects may have no fiscal impact at all. However, some partnering
efforts may require seed money for startup costs. In addition, setting up mechanisms
for payments, receipts, and disbursement may have associated costs.
Evaluation
- Is a clear process for setting up a formal partnership documented in
a policies and procedures guide?
- Is data on the number and size of formal partnering projects being collected
by college deans for annual reports?
- Are MnSCU, the President's Office, and Public Relations compiling this data for
use in reporting on and encouraging partnerships?
- Are incentives in place for assisting, encouraging, and rewarding the development
of partnerships?
Revised: May 2003
