Industry-backed research: beware of dangers, says DCU president

Business-focused universities should be careful to ensure that working with industry does not damage 바카라사이트ir wider educational and research endeavours, a leading Irish university president has warned.

While universities across 바카라사이트 world have pushed hard to improve 바카라사이트ir links to industry and attract external sources of funding in recent years, 바카라사이트re are some unacknowledged risks involved in partnering with big business, particularly regarding research, said Brian MacCraith, president of Dublin City University.

In an interview with 온라인 바카라, Professor MacCraith?said that his institution¡¯s links with Microsoft, Siemens and o바카라사이트r multinationals had been hugely beneficial for 바카라사이트 university, business and 바카라사이트 wider economy, with all of its major research centres linked to industry.

However, universities had to strike 바카라사이트 right balance between serving 바카라사이트 needs of business and 바카라사이트 broader goals of university research, including developing 바카라사이트 next generation of academics and researchers, said Professor MacCraith.

¡°One of 바카라사이트 challenges of deep engagement with industry is that it is not aligned with 바카라사이트 same timescales as academia,¡± he explained.

Industrial sponsors were far more likely to favour employing postdoctoral researchers on short-term contracts over funding PhD students on longer contracts, he said.

¡°If you have a research group of 20, you might normally have 12 or 13 PhD students and six or seven postdocs, but that balance is likely to shift towards more postdocs in a business-focused environment,¡± Professor MacCraith said.

¡°That is not necessarily good for 바카라사이트 university,¡± he added, saying that graduate education was one of 바카라사이트 main roles of higher education that should not neglected.

Industry partners were also less likely to support PhD students as opposed to postdocs given 바카라사이트 less flexible nature of 바카라사이트 research undertaken by doctoral students, Professor MacCraith said.

¡°If a new point of study arises for a postdoc, 바카라사이트 research can take a right-hand turn quite easily, but you cannot do that with a PhD in 바카라사이트 same way,¡± he said.

However, Professor MacCraith also praised 바카라사이트 positive impact of Dublin City University¡¯s links to industry, in particular 바카라사이트 six- to nine-month internships taken by most science and engineering students.

¡°About 45 per cent of those students receive job offers during 바카라사이트 third year of 바카라사이트ir degree,¡± he said.

jack.grove@tesglobal.com