Małgorzata Iwona SZYNKOWSKA, Aneta WĘGLIŃSKA, Piotr MALINOWSKI ? Institute of General and Ecological Chemistry, Lodz University of Technology, Łódź; Anna KAMIŃSKA, Dariusz KOPERCZAK ? The City of Lodz Office, Łódź, Poland

Abstract:
Forms of science-business co-operation concerning student skills development were presented. The most import forms of the cooperation, including their problem areas, were described. Moreover, barriers in such cooperation were also discussed. The results of the pilot action ?innovative internships? based on the mentoring method and organized within IDEA Project were summed up.

Please cite as: CHEMIK 2013, 67, 3, 192-197

Skills and knowledge but above all the necessary personal qualities: curiosity and willingness to take challenges, perseverance, determination, analytical thinking, self-presentation, easy and effective communication with other people, adapting to different situations are still the key for a career. Today employers representing innovative sectors of economy want to invest in the people who guarantee them a rapid rate of return. Employers do not hide that the starting point of their co-operation with the graduates is usually integrated training covering both preparation for working on different posts, foreign language courses as well as development of soft skills e.g. team activities. Employers find the quality of education increasingly lacking Poor preparation of graduates for entering the labour market results in the need to expand the recruitment process. In order to change this situation a modification of the teaching method is required. Universities should focus on practical aspects, hire experts and update curricula more dynamically. Representatives of universities claim that poor preparation of graduates for entering the labour market is a problem of the whole educational system in Poland. Intensification of co-operation between science and business can help to match the needs and expectations of both sides.

Although there are many and varied forms of co-operation, student training still takes the predominant position among them. Other forms of co-operation can be presented as follows:
? Participation of enterprises in university job fairs
? Organization of workshops or meetings for university students by companies
? Supporting activities of students? research clubs
? Commissioning certain tasks to students? research clubs
? Conducting classes with or without co-operation at universities
? Theses commissioned by enterprises
? Consulting curricula
? Conducting common research projects
? Financial or material support of business universities
? Participation in employers?/business council meetings
? Companies giving lectures at universities
? Common research projects.

Student training
Internships are definitely the most common form of co-operation between science and business within the skills development. The majority of faculties introduced compulsory internships. Almost every enterprise admits students to do their internships, although this is not always done within the frame of a previously agreed memorandum with a university. Some companies, particularly large ones, instigate their own programme of internship, which usually lasts three months and is preceded by candidate selection process. If a student wishes to take their compulsory internship within such a programme, companies sign appropriate documents. However, they are required to complete the whole programme of the internship. The current system of internships has the following disadvantages:
? too short time of training, which makes gaining a level of development of competence and skills difficult
? lack of student motivation during the training
? lack of additional financial resources for trainees? supervisors
? lack of proper recruitment system (as a consequence, students have no suitable basic qualifications for doing proposed work)
? internships are taken at a too early stage ? in the first years of studies students are not prepared well enough to work in a company.

Conducting courses at universities by companies
Participation in conducting courses is one of the forms of introducing practitioners into the process of higher education. Participation of companies can be realized in one of the three following forms: (1) independent conducting of a whole course by an enterprise employee, (2) common conducting of a course by a practitioner and university teacher (some classes are conducted by a practitioner, others by a university teacher), (3) a course prepared by an enterprise but conducted by a university teacher. Entrepreneurs involved in such activities have ambiguous feelings on this form of co-operation. On the one hand, they stressed that similar activities resulted in better preparation of the graduates, which might later result in better effects of recruitment. On the other hand, employers are not entirely convinced what their role in this undertaking should be. According to the entrepreneurs, it is universities that should be responsible for education. If a company agrees to conduct a course, it is mainly because in their opinion they have no other choice. Conducting courses at universities, however, is related to several problems for the enterprises. The time devoted to didactics is in a way a cost for the company. Representatives of enterprises organize various workshops and meetings, more often than optional courses, which are addressed to students. They are held i.e. during job fairs and on other occasions, while universities are open to lending their lecture rooms for this purpose. Such initiatives usually play two roles ? educational and promotional. It is an opportunity for a company to present itself as well as to engage students? interest in taking a job there in the future.

Commissioning theses
One of the forms of co-operation which is very much desired by universities is writing theses (BA and MA) on themes which employers are interested in or which are directly related to their activities. The idea is that students who prepare themselves for BA or MA exams describe some practical aspects or assumptions in their theses, which might be put into practice in the future. This form of co-operation is still in its infancy and has no
systemic character and is often through the specific initiative of students themselves.

In spite of huge interest of universities, entrepreneurs remain rather sceptical about this form of co-operation. According to them, challenges faced by business required much more knowledge than students possessed. The time frame for realization of a theme poses another important obstacle. Companies usually have little time to find solutions to their problems, whereas writing a comprehensive thesis takes upwards of a year. An additional obstacle is the reality that supervision by the company is required for a thesis to be accurate. This, however, generates additional costs on the part of enterprises.

Business/employers? councils
Business/employers? councils have a presence at an increasing number of faculties. The councils gather representatives of universities, enterprises and institutions employing employers. They are a forum for exchange of observation of both parts on the curricula, preparation of graduates, or business needs. They also become an area for creating new ideas of co-operation. The level of activity and effectiveness of specific business councils varies depending on the faculty. Some of these bodies function only in theory, whereas other perform some activities e.g. consult curricula. Effectiveness of function of such councils can be increased by shifting activity towards the operational level with knowledge transfer between lecturer-employer.

Commissioning work to students
Commissioning work to students gives them a chance to gain practical experience. A good opportunity to take up such initiatives is the implementation of various projects, whereby members of research clubs can be involved. Such initiatives are not well supported as they have no systemic character.

Science-business co-operation within student skills development programme
On the bases of the research carried out within IDEA project Pilot Action: ?innovative internships? was organized to solve the problem of poor quality of the internships system. 7 local SMEs: AMG.net, Redan, Tool Store, Catch It, Portal D, Portal HR and Institute of Occupational Medicine were involved in the action. Students were trained from the beginning of July to the end of September. We proposed a new innovative formula of internships known as the mentoring method.

Mentoring is a professional relationship in which an experienced person (the mentor) assists another (the mentee) in developing specific skills and knowledge that will enhance the less-experienced person?s professional and personal growth. Such an approach improves logistic and communication processes in organization, helps to clearly define goals of a trainee?s work, facilitates the monitoring of progress and evaluation of the effects of work. Thus, for each student a mentor was provided by companies involved in IDEA Pilot Action. The main tasks of the mentors were: elaboration of internship programme/scheldue, organization of trainee?s work, introduction of a trainee into company?s environment including team, daily support in performing a trainee?s professional tasks and their monitoring, monitoring of competence development.
The final stage of internships included evaluation of internships in terms of mentor-mentee cooperation, trainee?s competence development, system of monitoring, usefulness of such forms of practice both for students as well as for a company.

Taking into account previous experts? opinions about the disadvantages of interships, IDEA  nsured financial gratification for mentors for their additional duties in work as well as organized recruitment for the best students to companies. Moreover, within IDEA?s pilot action mentors were obliged to prepare a professional and ambitious programme of internship for their trainees. Thus, students were involved in tasks/projects actually implemented in companies. They had a possibility to work in groups, gain knowledge about project?s methods of work, gain knowledge about methods of generation of new ideas e.g. brainstorming. Employers also guaranteed gratification for students for their better work motivation.

Science-business co-operation within the organization of a system of professional internships can provide benefits for all parties involved in the system. Trainees have a possibility to gain new knowledge, know-how and competence/skills by direct learning from their mentors, who are truly engaged in their supervisor?s role. On the other hand, employers have a possibility to recruit the best people for their companies.

Obstacles in co-operation between science and business within student skills development
Improving the quality of education by providing practical elements requires a lot of commitment from both universities and employers. Currently, however, there are still a lot of obstacles in such cooperation.

Obstacles in co-operation indicated by both sides ? the representatives of science and business- are communication and mutual exchange of information, as well as lack of a motivating system for researchers for establishing co-operation with a business partner. Another problem is the necessity of maintaining technological secrecy and limitations of the  tructure of the educational system in Poland. Representatives of both parties complain about a large number of students (it makes it impossible to maintain a high quality of education), poor academic infrastructure, lack of qualifications of teachers regarding practical skills and lack of support mechanisms for knowledge transfer. They also mention the high costs of co-operation for both parties, the rapid technological progress that prevents updating of curricula and a long time required to implement commonly developed  olutions.

Representatives of universities recommend the following solutions to overcome the obstacles:
? Putting more emphasis on lecturers? didactic competence as well as practical skills and experience of co-operation with enterprises
? Verification of research workers
? Establishing a motivating system which would encourage to better contacts with business
? Finding additional financing for co-operation with enterprises
? Elaborating a strategy which would include introduction of practitioners in the course schedule and verification of companies willing to collaborate with universities
? Organizing workshops by representatives of companies, whose task would be to show how to transfer theoretical knowledge into practice
? Introduction of an external system of certification of language and computer competence
? Elaborating financial mechanisms of support in these scientific fields in which education of students is difficult and expensive
? Setting up a website or a web portal for facilitation of information flown between employers and universities
? Intensification of co-operation with the City Office and the Marshal Office regarding commissioning of theses? themes
? Financial support for faculties of experimental sciences.

However, representatives of enterprises suggest:
? Raising quality of human capital at universities
? Appointing people responsible at universities for maintaining contacts with business
? More frequent organization of meetings on a neutral ground (e.g. conferences whose aim would be to present best practices of transferring solutions prepared at universities to enterprises).

Co-operation of science and business within student skills development programme is still an open problem. Establishing and strengthening the co-operation requires a large commitment of both parties. Creating a platform for discussion, exchange of experiences and good practices seem to be essential as a starting point for co-operation. In the times of fast changes in the labour market the co-operation of science and business within student skills development gives young people the opportunity to enter the labor market more easily.

[1] Research on co-operation of Łódź universities with business in the Region of Łódź in the  cope of adjustment of graduates? qualifications, conducted within the framework of a project ?IDEA – Innovative Development of European Areas by Fostering Transnational Knowledge Development? ? analysis of focus grup ? report, ASM Centrum Badań i Analiz Rynku Sp. z o.o., July 2011

[2] Research on co-operation of Łódź universities with business in the Region of Łódź in the scope of adjustment of graduates? qualifications, conducted within the framework of a project ?IDEA – Innovative Development of European Areas by Fostering Transnational Knowledge Development? ? IDI analysis? report, ASM Centrum Badań i Analiz Rynku Sp. z o.o., August 2011

 

Małgorzata Iwona SZYNKOWSKA ? Sc.D., (Eng), graduated from the Faculty of Chemistry at the Łódź University of Technology, major: Technology of Inorganic Chemistry. In 1999, she obtained an academic degree of doctor of chemical sciences and habilitated doctor in 2008. Since 2010 she has been holding the position of Associate Professor at the Institute of General and Ecological Chemistry at the Łódź University of Technology. Specialisation ? adsorption and catalysis, instrumental analysis. She is also currently involved in supervising the international project ?IDEA ? Innovation by Knowledge?.
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Aneta WĘGLIŃSKA ? obtained an academic degree of doctor of technical sciences in the field of chemical technology in 2009. Since 2010 she has been working in the Institute of the General and Ecological Chemistry at the Łódź University of Technology. She is involved in realising projects financed from the EU funds.

Piotr MALINOWSKI graduated from the Faculty of Chemistry at the Łódź University of Technology. Since 1987 he has been working in the Institute of the General and Ecological Chemistry at the Łódź University of Technology. Research interests: electron microscopy, catalysis.

Anna KAMIŃSKA graduated from the Faculty of International and Political Studies at the University of Łódź. Since 2002 she has been involved in preparing and realising projects financed from the EU funds, counselling and providing training courses. At first, she was working in a counselling and training company, now she is a member of the team at the City of Łódź office, involved in realisation of projects financed from the EU funds. She is also currently involved in supervising the international project ?IDEA ? Innovation by Knowledge?.

Dariusz KOPERCZAS graduated from the Faculty of Management at the University of Łódź. Since 2003 he has been involved in projects connected with the labour market and related to the co-operation between higher education institutions and economic environment. He is working in the City of Łódź Office.