The single silo university

Fletcher, Gordon, Dron, Richard ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1464-4232 and Gimeno, Monica (2021) The single silo university. In: Excellence in university leadership and management: case histories. Academic Conferences International, pp. 191-207. ISBN 9781914587160

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Abstract

In 2015, the University of Salford committed to a new five-year institutional strategy. A hallmark of this strategy was the focus on the undeviating single priority of industrial collaboration. The clarity and simplicity of this approach was challenging for many. Over the duration of the strategy’s intended lifespan and in an institution more comfortable with annual revisions to its strategy the unusual persistence of this challenge continued to confront colleagues. The comparative longevity of the strategy also brought positive change by converging perspectives and breaking down traditional demarcations of research, enterprise and, teaching and learning. A nascent realisation that all of these normally discrete activities were some form of knowledge exchange began to find traction across academic units and professional service departments. Our role within this industrial collaboration focused strategy was to understand and evaluate the partnerships being developed as a result of the singular strategic focus. Through our shared systems-thinking perspective and drawing heavily on the literature relating to relationship management we were able to recognise the many individual parameters of a high quality partnership and how they did (or did not) manifest within individual relationships. The chapter concludes with some reflections on the success and the ongoing legacy of the strategy.