AN INTEGRATED MODEL FOR EDUCATION, RESEARCH AND INNOVATION FOR COLLABORATION OF THIRD GENERATION UNIVERSITY`S WITH INDUSTRY

Industrial engineering training has been recognized as a tool for transferring the industrial experience into university and implementing to improve the quality of academic engineering education. This paper introduces an integrated model of collaboration between a third generation, entrepreneurial university and industry. The suggested model includes industrial visits, technical meetings, industrial engineering training, problem definition, idea generation, and innovation. The elements of this model form a network of university professors, undergraduate and graduate students, fresh graduates, postdoc researchers, domestic as well as overseas academics and industrial experts. In this model, all activities merge to some extent and each activity affects and is affected by other activities. Results of implementing the proposed model for three years in a gas plant are presented and discussed as a case study. Results indicate a better learning, transformation in curriculum of industrial training course, more effective communication between industry and academic experts, creation of more innovative ideas. Its implementation indicate more effective transfer of experiences from industry to university in an integrated platform of engineering training, research and innovation.