Industry sometimes complains that students coming out of university do not have the skills they need to work and be useful straight away. They may also indicate that much of the research being undertaken by universities does not address many of the day-to-day issues faced by Industry.

At the same time, Academia may complain that Industry does not offer sufficient work and training experience for students. They may also indicate a wish for greater involvement of Industry in defining and sponsoring research.

Industry Academia Boards are designed to help span this chasm. Having been part of one of these recently for the University of Witwatersrand, these can help. One of the ideas we explored is that of the idea of Research Area Development and Sharing (RADS). RADS describe collaboration between Industry and Academia in identifying topics and undertaking research by Honours, Master and PhD students. This requires the following questions to be explored:

• Industry: Can Industry develop and share topics that they would like researched with Academia? Would they be prepared to come and talk through these topics? Where there was interest, would they be prepared to support interested students with access to data, sites and people? Could they provide feedback on the resulting work developed by students?
• Academia: Can Academia organise ‘RADS’ days, where potential topics are shared and discussed? Could these include presentations on new research, policy and technologies to stimulate discussion and make the day attractive to Industry and students? Where Industry indicates a need to research a new area or technology, can Academia respond by investing resources in the relevant technologies and accessing specialist input to stimulate work in this area?

It will be interesting to explore how these ideas could work as a way of developing more dynamic and responsive education and research programmes. Picture: SevenStorm JUHASZIMRUS