Where is the link between industry and university?

One of the obstacles towards the realisation of Vision 2020, one can say is the weak linkage between institutions of higher learning and industry. The dream could be derailed by the poor uptake of research products from research and technology organisations by industry. Lack of a clear policy, limited or non-existent funding for research and apathy among universities to develop applied research has resulted in a lukewarm relationship between universities and industry. The scenario is different in more developed countries where the synergy between institutions of higher learning and industry led to rapid growth of the latter, especially in the 21st century. In addition to investing heavily in in-house research, industries in Europe and the US also collaborate with local universities to research. As local universities continue to perform dismally in the world ranking of universities, there are mixed views why local institutions of higher learning do poorly. As at January, according to Webometrics’ Ranking Web of World, the National University of Rwanda is the highest ranked university. It took position 35 in Africa and 4,310 globally. The top eight universities and those in the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth positions in Africa are from South Africa. Local scholars attribute the dismal performance to lack of research by local universities and publishing by lecturers in renowned journals. But others say it is unfair to rank local universities against western ones as they operate in different environments.Such rankings are based on various factors including the research output of the individual universities, publications in international journals and their communication technology (ICT) status. But there is no doubt that lack of research at universities and poor linkage to industry is the biggest obstacle to industrial growth Industrial development hinges on three principally intertwined institutions including government, industry and research and institutions of learning. Unless there is a clear policy governing the role of each, one cannot define how they work together. Lack of funding for research contributes to the research apathy in universities. The problem of linkage between universities and industry is two-pronged. However, the structure of the local industry is such that it is dominated by multinationals that are reluctant to use and invest in local research. Universities give low priority to research and most industries are satellites of major industries in the West which mostly use research products from back home.Universities have opted for the softer “stuff”, market driven and profit motivated options which are regrettable. The main undoing for the local universities is that they take a long time to adjust to emerging realities part of which can be attributed to resistance to change by universities. dedantos2002@yahoo.com