Fostering Deeper Engagement between Industry and Higher Education: Towards a Construction Knowledge Exchange Approach

AbstractHigher education institutions in the UK increasingly have to engage with industry, with government reports such as the Lambert Review (2003) and more recently the Leitch Review (2006) highlighting the necessity for academia and industry to collaborate to keep up to date with rapidly changing industry requirements. This is evident within the built environment sector with seminal UK government reports such as the Fairclough report (2002). Previously, some of this engagement has been seen as somewhat ‘shallow’ with few academics and/or institutions having a deep and continuing engagement with practitioners. The Construction Knowledge Exchange, is one of 22 national knowledge exchanges in the UK which aim to develop good practice in knowledge exchange between institutions and businesses within a specific sector through the establishment of innovative partnerships.Within the West Midlands region of the UK, a new model has been developed through the Construction Knowledge Exchange initiative centred aro...